Bobby Holland Hanton: Stuntman and body double to the stars
Bobby Holland Hanton puts his body on the line for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The body double and stuntman has stood in for the likes of Chris Hemsworth in Thor, Henry Cavill in Mission Impossible and Chris Pine in Wonder Woman.
Entertainment
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Most blokes would kill to bear even a small resemblance to Hollywood heart-throb Chris Hemsworth — but for Bobby Holland Hanton it is simply a job.
The 34-year-old has worked as Hemsworth’s body double for the past seven years on 11 movies.
“Chris is a unique specimen,” Bobby tells BW Magazine, taking a break from his busy shooting schedule to sit down for a chat on the phone from his London home.
“I think we would all love to look like Chris Hemsworth, that would be amazing.
“Not everyone can look like a Hollywood movie star — it is their job to look a certain way — otherwise every single person out there would be a film star.”
Bobby has recently returned home from Thailand and India where he and Hemsworth were working on movie thriller, Dhaka.
The pair are workmates but also close friends and Bobby has now also signed on as part of Hemsworth’s new fitness and wellness platform, Centr, to provide his expert tips for keeping healthy.
“What Chris is trying to do in giving back is showing he is not a robot,” Bobby says.
“He is saying, ‘Guys, this is what I do and here’s an insight into what I do.’ The site caters for everyone with anything they want.”
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Bobby grew up in Portsmouth and now lives in London with wife Rachel and his six-year-old stepdaughter, Tayla.
Before becoming a stuntman and body double, he was a gymnast and has also modelled for the likes of Tag Heuer, Ford and K-Swiss.
Football is a passion and he has also worked as a double for English professional football manager and former player Steven Gerrard shooting for Adidas.
He has won several Screen Actors Guild Awards for being part of the Best Stunt Ensemble on films, including Harry Potter, Inception and Skyfall, as well the cult series Game Of Thrones.
As a body double, he has stood in for the likes of Henry Cavill on Mission Impossible, Chris Pine in Wonder Woman, Christian Bale in The Promise, Ryan Reynolds in The Green Lantern, Channing Tatum in Jupiter Ascending and Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince Of Persia.
And he’s performed general stunt work on films Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, James Bond Spectre, Star Wars and Robin Hood.
He has been Hemsworth’s body double in Avengers, Thor, Bad Times At The El Royale, The Huntsman and In The Heart Of The Sea.
His first job was working with Daniel Craig in Quantum Of Solace.
“I have to change my body size depending on which actor I stunt double and which character,” he says. “Henry Cavill, for example, is a big strong guy, like a rugby man physique, whereas Chris is more athletic and has like almost a swimmer’s physique.”
Right now, though, with Hemsworth between films, he is focusing on Centr.
“What do Thor, James Bond and a Stormtrooper have in common?” the Centr website reads. “They couldn’t have saved the world (or tried to destroy the galaxy) without gymnastics gold medallist and Hollywood stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton.”
Bobby was a teenage gymnast who had to give up the sport at the age of 17 due to a growth spurt.
“I was at one point the smallest in the region for my age and within the space of 18 months I was the tallest in the country in all age groups,”
he says, now standing at 185cm. Hemsworth, Bobby has said, is even taller — meaning as his double he has to wear lifts in his shoes. But that’s the easy part.
“Chris is already huge, he’s much bigger than me naturally so I have to train twice a day,” he says.
“Getting into Thor shape is a job in itself, really.”
A quick look at Bobby’s social media feed clearly shows the Aussie actor and his stand-in are good mates, as well as colleagues, and Bobby has previously said that it is “an honour to work with someone who’s so down to earth”.
He has also said he looks up to Hemsworth’s ability to juggle the demands of Hollywood with his most important role — as a father to India Rose, 6, and four-year-old twins Sasha and Tristan.
“Chris is such a great guy … he’s a great dad and a husband and he really prioritises family,” Bobby says.
“He looks at the positives in what his hard work can provide for his family.” Bobby says he and Hemsworth also “laugh at the same things”, and that the actor is “very loyal” when it comes to the team of people he works with.
That loyalty is carried into Centr, where Hemsworth has brought together a bunch of trainers and professionals he has worked with over the years.
It also features wife Elsa Pataky, former Biggest Loser expert Tiffiny Hall and chef Darren Robertson.
Bobby says Hemsworth’s aim was to take all the fitness training and advice he has had over the years and “bring all of us under one umbrella and give that to the rest of people around the world”.
“Things like the nutrition he follows and the way he has got to the shape he is,” he says.
“Chris has taken bits from everyone and … he has turned himself into a mountain of a man.
“This app involves everything — there is yoga, there is boxing, chefs and cooking.”
Bobby earlier this month underwent back surgery in the US.
“I have lower back problems, so it is about trying to maintain my own ability to continue doing my job, which is difficult enough being a stuntman let alone with a bad back,” he says. “A lot of my stuff is using my own body weight … My training is based on that but also my background of gymnastics.”
As for imparting his own knowledge to others, Bobby’s first tip is to steer clear of scales.
“Weighing yourself is not the answer because I have weighed myself when I have been in the best shape of my life and I am heavier than I am when I am not,” he says.
“Muscle weighs more than fat, that is a fact. I would totally scrap the scales. It is how you feel and how you feel you look in how you have changed your body. I would throw
the scales out of the window, they mean nothing.”
Bobby is a firm believer in working out to the best of your ability — daily.
“I’m sorry, if you can’t find 20 minutes of your day it is an excuse,” he says.
HOLLAND HANTON’S BASIC TIPS TO HEALTH AND WELLBEING
* Don’t weigh yourself.
* Try the 12pm to 8pm diet. “If I am trying to scale down in weight size, I don’t eat before 12pm. Try and be fairly strict with that and eat good things. Eat healthy food and if you want to lose weight fast, that is a great way. Some people can’t go without breakfast and that is fine but try and eat something clean to kick start your day.
* When you do eat, eat good things.
* What works for me is not having carbs in the morning because your body is just waking up and it is not at its full potential as when it is fully running.
* If you eat very clean, you can crave sugar. I would say if you are craving sugar, instead of reaching for that chocolate bar, have some natural organic honey in the cupboard and just have a teaspoon of clean honey and it will take away that need to eat. A spoon full of natural honey will help.
* Set yourself realistic goals. If you do your best, that is all you can ask for. You know in yourself if you have done your best or not. You are only lying to yourself if you don’t.
Originally published as Bobby Holland Hanton: Stuntman and body double to the stars
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