Action heroes
Soldiers who lost arms or legs ‘star’ as casualties to lend realism to war films
Ex-medic Simon was a stretcher case in film Jez played a soldier on crutches in same movie ‘Wounded‘ in Wonder Woman military charities. Simon, who appeared as a stretcher case in Wonder Woman, said: “I registered with a few agencies and it is good fun. The days are often long but you meet a lot of people and can earn some cash.”
Ex-marine Jez Scarratt, 58, also appeared in Wonder Woman and played a screaming casualty in the opening scenes of Brad Pitt tank movie Fury.
Jez, who lost a leg below the knee in a motorbike crash, said of being an extra: “It’s good fun and a great experience. You meet new people and keep in touch with other service guys.”
Ben Hartley, a former Fleet Air Arm helicopter pilot who set up MFS Casting agency with ex-marine Andrew Buckley to supply veteran personnel, said: “They don’t have to do too much to look authentic.
“If you hire 50 students to play marching soldiers you’d probably need to put them through a two day boot camp.
“A lot of assistant directors say you only have to ask exmilitary people once and they snap to it – with civvies it can be like herding cats.
“Also military people are pretty hardy. They don’t mind if the weather’s rubbish.”
d.buckland@mirror.co.uk