By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
EVEN at 16 years of age, nothing was stopping Richard Williams.
The aspiring stunt actor, now 27 and from Berwick, would get a lift to the nearest station, catch the train to Southern Cross, and then the V-Line out to Geelong where he would practise with a specialised stunt group.
Richard’s aunt used to be an animal wrangler for film and TV, and he was bitten by the same bug at a young age.
“She got me started, I would ask her about stunt acting and she put me onto a stunt acting group in Geelong,” he said.
“Once I was 18, I got my stunt certification.”
And from there, Richard went on to do work for a range of films and TV shows, including his involvement in the Robert De Niro and Jason Statham film, Killer Elite, which was released in 2011.
Richard said stunt work could be sporadic, but still required peak physical fitness all-year around.
“If you want work when it does come up, you have to be ready,” he said.
“Sometimes, it’s just a phone call away ‘are you available tomorrow?’ and you have to be ready to go.”
It’s no surprise that to keep in top condition Richard now runs regular Endurance Boot Camps in Berwick, which he started up just over a year ago.
Now having enlisted more trainers to help with the workload, Richard still has time to spare for his stunt work.
“I was just doing average personal training, and stunt work, but at the gym I saw a missing link in the way people were treated and approached,” he said.
“I wanted to make the focus about gaining things, not losing things. People say they want to “lose” weight but I wanted them to “gain” fitness and “gain” strength.
“You don’t want to operate on negative goals; you need to look for positives.
“Once I had those values in place, I was able to get things expanding quickly.”
Richard also said his boot camps allowed participants the unique opportunity to learn how to train others, and become trainers for free.
“When I was at the gym I noticed that people weren’t worried about new trainers, I offer a traineeship for people and they cost nothing,” he said.
“I train them to be trainers, I teach them the structure to run a boot camp.
“The stronger the industry the better it is for me.”
