World's shortest stuntman who battled stormtroopers and orcs fears AI in films

07 January 2024 , 19:16

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Kiran Shah is the world's shortest stuntman at 4ft1ins and says he fears rise of AI (Image: Getty Images)

He has been shot at by stormtroopers, thrown from a horse in Middle Earth and hurled himself off the top of a ship’s mast while battling Charlton Heston’s Sherlock Holmes. Now actor and stuntman Kiran Shah is facing his biggest challenge yet – AI.

The 4ft 1in star, who is in the Guinness Book Of Records the world’s shortest stuntman, fears new technology will soon allow directors to shrink tall actors to elvish and dwarven proportions. “That’s going to happen,” says the 67-year-old. “It’s going to put a lot of people out of work.”

Kiran has managed to stay ahead of the curve since he broke into the film industry in the 1970s, and plays the lead elf in new comedy There’s Something In The Barn. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he moved to London at the age of 12 and was studying mime at the Red Buddha Theatre Company when he decided to try to get into movies.

One of his earliest jobs was being a scale double for Christopher Reeve in the 1978 hit Superman. Whenever we see Superman flying in the distance, that’s a young Kiran. But even then, he felt threatened by the march of movie technology, in this case painted-on “blue screen” backgrounds. He recalls: “I thought ‘they won’t need me anymore’. So I thought I need to use that technology to my advantage.”

Kiran in Middle Earth with Elijah Woods as Frodo Baggins

Kiran with Tilda Swinton in icy Narnia (Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)

But even though AI may be a threat, he thinks things are looking up for little actors. He attributes a change in attitude to Terry Gilliam, who cast little people as leads in 1981’s Time Bandits. “That didn’t happen before and I do give him credit for that,” he says.

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“And there are a lot more opportunities for little people now. You just need to look at what Warwick Davis, Deep Roy and Peter Dinklage are doing. They can be doctors, accountants or anything. Why not use little people?”

Kiran in Raiders of the Lost Ark

Kiran served Indiana Jones poisoned dates in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), then broke into creature work in The Dark Crystal (1982). Sherlock Holmes fans may recognise him as Charlton Heston’s enemy Tonga from 1991’s Crucifer Of Blood, in which he performed his own stunts. He says the most memorable day involved jumping into a freezing River Thames from the mast of a tall ship. “I can’t swim,” he admits. “But I know I won’t sink”.

He narrowly missed out on playing R2-D2 in the first Star Wars movie. But he did play a robot, an Ewok and perform stunts in Return Of The Jedi. When the franchise rebooted with 2015’s The Force Awakens, Kiran went on to star in all five sequels and spin-offs. “Without that first Star Wars, I don’t know what I would be doing,” he says.

One of Kiran's earliest roles was doubling as Christopher Reeve's Superman

When Peter Jackson cast Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins in his Lord Of The Rings trilogy, he called on the talented mimic. “I was an acting double, not just a double,” he says. “You have to look like them, copy their mannerisms and feel what they feel.”

It was on Jackson’s blockbuster trilogy Kiran suffered his most serious stunt injury. “It was the last month of the last pickup from the very last fight in the last Lord Of The Rings film, The Return Of The King,” he says. “I was double riding the horse and fighting. I came off and broke my back”.

Kiran preparing for his role as an Ewok in Return of the Jedi

After three months, Kiran was back to work. His role as Ginarrbrik, Tilda Swinton’s sidekick in 2005’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe led directly to his latest part. In There’s Something In The Barn, Kiran plays “a barn elf”, a creature taken from Scandinavian mythology.

He says: “The director of photography’s wife was watching The Lion, Witch And The Wardrobe on TV. She called him in from the kitchen and said ‘I think you’ve got your little guy’.”

• There’s Something In The Barn is in cinemas nationwide.

Andy Lea