BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - Blame it on Scooby Doo.
“Scooby-Doo And The Samurai Sword” from 2009 could be responsible for landing Berthoud’s 11-year-old Nayah Murphy in “Logan,” which hits screens nationwide today and is the final film in the Wolverine franchise that.
It could be a stretch, but Murphy said that when she was 3 years old, watching the animated Great Dane and his gang solving the ultimate martial arts mystery, she decided she wanted to start karate.
“It looked fun,” Murphy said. “Then I went to my first martial arts class and it kind of just went from there.”
Murphy is now a five-time North American Sport Karate Association world champion, a competitive rodeo barrel racer - and recently added to her resume is Hollywood performer. She had a role as a Mutant Child and was one of three stunt doubles for Marvel Comics’ latest mutant X-23 in “Logan.”
The job included various stunts with Hugh Jackman. (Murphy said her fondest memory of Jackman was when he gave her lottery tickets on Fridays during filming.)
Murphy spent the summer of 2016 traveling to Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and California to work as a stunt double for actress Dafne Keen, who plays X-23, the female clone of Wolverine. Murphy, who travels pretty extensively for martial arts competitions and is in her first year of home schooling, said the movie experience was her favorite job yet.
“I did stunts mostly, and a little bit of acting for the mutant role,” she said. “I liked doing the stunts the best.”
She said that in one of the scenes, she was dropped pretty dramatically - “because they don’t want the actress getting hurt.” (She couldn’t reveal details about scene, lest she divulge spoilers.)
“We fought with the bad guys, pretty much - the people who were playing the bad guys,” she said.
With all the live-action flipping, tricking, learning new stunts and general butt-kicking, Murphy said that one of the toughest parts of her work on the set was having a wig adhered to her head.
“We’d go (to the set) pretty early,” Murphy said. “It took about 40 minutes to put a wig on. They glued it and put pins in there and it hurt pretty bad. They had to secure the wig with pins so when I did flips and stuff, it wouldn’t come off.”
As for her role as one of 10 mutant kids, the process was a little easier. Sitting in the makeup chair took just a short amount of time to have fake dirt applied. (“That stuff did not come off at all,” she said, laughing.)
But for the other mutant actors, it wasn’t so easy.
“For a lot of kids, they had to have their hair straightened and made to look gross, but mine already looks gross, so they didn’t do much to my hair,” she said, she and her mom Stephanie Murphy erupting into laughter.
Since Nayah has yet to see the final product, catching herself in the “Logan” trailer that premiered on Super Bowl Sunday was a major highlight, she said.
“It was crazy because there were a lot of mutant kids and only three were in the trailer,” Nayah said. “It was so cool being one of them. I was just like, “Oh my gosh, there’s me!’”
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
Stephanie said she submitted a demo reel full of her daughter’s talents after Nayah’s karate instructor told them about auditions for the film. The movie crew liked what they saw and flew out the Murphys within a week, Stephanie said. The summer was a bit of a whirl, Stephanie said, as flying to the sets was sometimes a bit challenging.
“Literally, we’d get notice in less than 24 hours (to be on location),” Stephanie said. “They’d be like, ’Pack your bags, we need you at this location by 2 o’clock tomorrow.’ It was insane, because it was hard to plan. Nayah was still in school for some of it, because we didn’t start home schooling her until this year.”
Nayah had to be pulled out of school with little warning a couple times.
The rapid turnarounds seem to be in synch with Nayah’s accelerated success. Stephanie said her daughter has been very driven from an early age.
“She knew what she wanted and she went after it,” said Stephanie. “Even when she started karate at 3, she was always pushing to get to that next level. She wouldn’t stop until she got there. And she’s still going.”
And as for this being the first-ever R-rated Wolverine film, Stephanie said she quickly let go of initial reservations.
“I realized it was rated R for language and violence,” she said. “It was better, you know, as opposed to other things it could have been.”
FARM GIRL AT HEART
Nayah was born at Foothills Hospital in Boulder and has lived her 11 years on her family’s 50-acre Berthoud farm.
“We’ve never moved,” said Nayah. “And I never want to.”
Her mom, her dad, John Murphy, and “lots of critters” share the farm space. The farm houses five horses, a bunch of chickens, six cats and some dogs, and it once raised yaks and goats.
Nayah and Stephanie use a chunk of the land to practice barrel racing, as they both compete in rodeos. (“It’s a fun thing we can do together,” said Stephanie, who has been barrel racing since she was just five years older than Nayah is now.)
“When I was little, I didn’t really like to ride horses much,” said Nayah. “But when I was about 6, I started doing barrel racing and then I really liked riding. I began riding a lot more often.”
Her horse Chivas is the fastest, Nayah said. She plans to take Chivas to the American Junior Rodeo Association in Las Vegas in December. The qualifier is in April, but Nayah said, brimming with confidence, “I think I’ll make it.”
Nayah also has her “old horse,” Mick, which she said she’d like to start running again, along with her little black-and-white pony, Sierra.
Her amber eyes lit up when she talked about her next pet.
“We’re getting a puppy in a few days,” Nayah said. “She’s a Dachshund mixed with Australian Shepherd and she’s like this big (holds out her palm).”
She’ll name her Dory, like the fish, Stephanie said.
Agility definitely runs in the family, as Stephanie was also a professional triathlete for 15 years. Nayah’s father, John, is an adventure racer. He competed in the 2012 Death Race, billed as one of the toughest obstacle races in the world.
FILM IN HER FUTURE
After “Logan,” Nayah has the silver-screen bug. She said she hopes to pursue a career in film. If any jobs arise in the industry, she said she’ll take them. Her karate instructor, who also acts as her agent, will keep the Murphys apprised of any opportunities.
Her future as a stunt-double for X-23 could be bright. The acclaimed “Logan,” that operated on a nearly $130 million budget, marks the last journey for Jackman as Wolverine. As teased at the end of “X-Men: Apocalypse,” Laura Kinney (X-23) was revealed as Wolverine’s female clone created from his blood. The end of Wolverine’s run may mark the beginning of life on the big screen for X-23, along with a younger class of debuting mutants.
According to “Logan” director James Mangold, during a Facebook Live Q&A last month, newcomer Keen is does an “incredible job” as X-23.
“Personally, I would be shocked if we don’t look into trying to develop that character further,” Mangold said in the Facebook video.
This could offer options for Nayah in the franchise.
“My understanding is the actress gets to select who she wants to have as her stunt doubles,” Stephanie Murphy said. “Nayah and Dafne (Keen) got to be very good friends, so there’s a good chance.”
Nayah said she and the actress hung out, went swimming together and had sleepovers at Keen’s apartment during their off-time.
“She was really, really nice,” said Nayah. “We became really good friends. We didn’t see each other much all the time, but when we did, it was really fun. It was really awesome to work with her.”
They still keep in touch when they can, said Nayah, but Keen lives in Madrid, Spain, so it can be challenging.
Nayah said she became friends with most of the other child actors and stunt doubles who worked on “Logan.” Stephanie said some of the stunt doubles are fellow martial arts competitors that Nayah competed with on the NASKA circuit for karate. Though they may have been competitors on the mat, Nayah said there was no animosity on set.
“During tournaments, everybody’s nice until they step on the mat,” Nayah explained. “It’s just getting in the zone. And then they step off and they’re nice again. After the whole movie thing, everyone became best friends and it was really sad when we all left.”
They all belong to a chat group to keep in touch, she said.
Nayah is a pretty competitive person, she and her mom agreed.
“Her nature, she’s competitive with everything, we even sit down to play board games and she’s all about winning,” Stephanie said.
But she has learned how to handle defeat.
“If I lose something, I just step off the mat and train harder,” Nayah said, adding, “And then go back and win.”
NAYAH THE NINJA
Berthoud’s 11-year-old Nayah Murphy, a five-time North American Sport Karate Association world champion, is also a competitive rodeo barrel racer. She just added to her resume a Hollywood role as a Mutant Child and acted as one of three stunt doubles for Dafne Keen in the latest feature in the Marvel Comics Wolverine franchise, “Logan.”
Nayah and her mom, Stephanie Murphy, talked with the Daily Camera.
What do you want to do when you grow up?
Nayah: Probably a lot of acting. I kind of want to go in that direction.
Is it hard to get acting jobs?
Nayah: I think so, I’m really surprised I got that big of a project this time around.
That’s great, though, because people will see that on your resume. You have a resume at 11. That’s crazy. Plus, you have an IMDB page.
Nayah: Yeah. (Laughing.) It is cool.
Stephanie, do any of the stunts make you nervous?
Stephanie: Oh yeah. Every time she competes I just hold my breath and my heart stops. I just want her to be safe.
Nayah, do you ever get nervous?
Nayah: No, not really. My hands get sweaty sometimes if I do something new, but not really if I do it a lot.
Do you plan on going to college?
Nayah: (Asking her mom.) Um. Should I? I don’t know?
Stephanie Murphy: Yes, it’s not negotiable.
It’s pretty cool that you are a young girl working in the male-dominated stunt industry … Do you feel like they were fair with you as a female on the set?
Nayah: Yeah. The other stunt double was a boy, he was my age, he also played the stunt-double girl. They had to put a wig on him, too.
Did you get any cool swag from the movie?
Nayah: They sent me a really cool bluetooth speaker that has Wolverine claws on it.
. Naya loves the X-Men series, she said. “Logan” is obviously her favorite of the franchise even though she hasn’t seen the final product.
. “Jaws” is Nayah’s favorite film of all-time, she said.
. Yes, she got to wear X-23’s claws: Nayah said she didn’t film her stunt double scenes with X-23’s claws on, as the mutation was added using computer animation. But Stephanie said Nayah trained and practiced while wearing the claws to get down the motions needed.
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Information from: Daily Camera, https://www.dailycamera.com/
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