Stunt coordinator Kari Sunnela knows adrenaline and dangers. He seeks a counterweight from amethysts that crystallized hundreds of millions of years ago.
– It is normal to fall off, for example, a snowmobile, an ATV or a horse. You get shot and you die.
– Fights, i.e. fight choreography, are also very normal, and other professionals in the film industry, such as pyrotechnicians and weapon technicians, also participate in them.
The signs of hard work can be seen and sometimes felt in the 54-year-old’s body.
– Let’s say in a Monty Python style that \”just a fleshwound\” means just muscle injuries, but there have been hits. The knees are gone and the tendons in the shoulder are torn. A few years ago, the right lung was operated on. Bones have gone a few times, like ribs, fingers, toes… that’s normal.
Bruises and muscle pains are commonplace for Sunnela in stunt work, and the work involves tolerating pain. Sunnela has partly grown attached to the pain in such a way that she tolerates it. Stunt, circus, acrobatics and martial arts have accompanied Sunnela since she was very young.
For his work filled with adrenaline and speed, he seeks and receives a counterweight from the amethyst mine located in Luosto’s Lampivaara, where he also serves as regional manager.
– Stunt jobs and amethyst mining are a perfect match because they complement and balance each other – the Yin and Yang of my life.
Floating in the rapids as corpses
However, the calmness and evenness in Sunnela’s life are broken from time to time and fully consciously, when Sunnela surrenders to her second passion, i.e. stunts.
In her work, Sunnela has also been at the border, so to speak, and these experiences have often come to her quite unexpectedly. He brings up the scene of the corpse wearing diving gear in the bubbling rapids.
– This doesn’t sound very difficult, but when you really start thinking about all the risks involved, it’s a completely different story. The hits to the rocks alone are extremely painful and the risk of losing consciousness is real. Not to mention that in such a situation you can drift very far away from the rest of the film crew with the current.
Sunnela says that jumping off a quad bike at speed doesn’t sound difficult, but when you think about the risk that your neck can actually twist, you’re in a new situation again.
– You have to be aware of the risks and you have to adapt to them.
– Similarly, when I was pulled behind a snowmobile on a 10-meter rope, the risks and above all the pain become very familiar. Even though the body is partly protected by the puddle protectors, it still hurts when the cold water and ice blocks on the ice of the lake tear the cheek to the bone. Not to mention all the bumps and knocks that come with hanging on a string.
How much should you sacrifice in the name of art?
– This is a big question to which there is no simple answer. You might as well ask why are you going again? Why do you take a hit on yourself and lick your wounds for a couple of weeks, then try to rehabilitate yourself.
The question is difficult for Sunnela and she says that it has also been thought about within the industry with colleagues. Functionality and the excitement it brings are addictive aspects.
However, the most important thing is the feeling of well-being you get from stunt tricks. Sunnela gets something from her work that she keeps doing it over and over again. What it is, he can’t verbalize.
– However, a person is a creature that sometimes ceases to exist, so you shouldn’t strive to go all the way to the limit, where you would see how much the body can really last. However, the journey is long and there are always bumps in this industry.
There hasn’t been an impossible task that Sunnela wouldn’t take on yet, but she strives to be invisible in her own work, and she also lists it as a virtue of a good stunt. To the same list, he adds odorlessness, insensitivity and tastelessness.
– Actors and stars have their own role and we have ours in these shadows.
*Kari Sunnela is Radio Suomen’s Sunday guest on March 26. Embark on Timo and Kari’s journey to the landscapes of Lampivaara.*
An amethyst mine creates permanence in life
Working at the amethyst mine also helps Kari Sunnela to recover and get grounded back into so-called everyday life.
– Of course, the mine also has its hectic times, when it comes to a working mine and a tourist destination. There is a lot of coordination here, as in stunt work.
Sunnela has been enjoying Luosto and the landscapes of Lampivaara for more than 20 years.
At Lampivaara’s amethyst mine, all digging is done by hand, and respect for nature plays a big role in the mining company’s values.
Sunnela rarely has time to guide groups arriving in the area anymore, but when he does, he is completely detached from the stunt work and focused only on the moment in question.
Amethyst always goes with you
Amethyst also accompanies Sunnela to stunt gigs, if not always in her pocket for safety reasons, then at least in the car.
– For safety reasons, you can’t keep anything in your pockets during stunt work, because it would increase the risk of injury.
Amethysts are said to balance emotional turmoil, relieve stress, anger, irritability and anxiety. Regarding the validity of the claim, Sunnela states that what works for others does not necessarily work for everyone.
– With this characterization, we are talking about pseudoscience, so if it works and you get help from it, then fine. Everyone has to find out for themselves.
*See in the video what digging for amethysts looks like in Lampivaara.*