May 2, 2026 • 11 mins
Olympic paddler Luuka Jones-Yaxley's lined up an unexpected project after her success in Paris.
Shortly after retiring from the high-performance canoe Slalom at the Paris Olympics, Luuka received a call and an offer to appear as Charlize Theron’s stunt double in the Netflix film Apex.
She says the offer felt like an 'April Fools joke' at first, but she was on a plane to the South Island to begin filming before she knew it.
"I just received at text from a friend down in the South Island and he called me and said he's been doing a bunch of water safety on some films and that this film had approached him and they needs a kayak double for Charlize Theron - and it kind of went from there."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB from.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Olympic silver medallist to Hollywood stunt woman. It's quite the
career turn, and I'm not sure it's one that Kiwi
kayaker Luca Jones Yaxley Yaxley saw coming. Shortly after retiring
from the high performance canoe slalom at the Paras Olympics,
Luca received a call and an offer to appear as
Charlie's Theron's stunt double in Netflix film Apex. The film
(00:34):
is out now and Luca Jones Yaxley joins me. Now,
good morning, Luca.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Good morning Francesca.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So tell me how did you bing Charlie's Theron's stunt
double come about?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Very randomly? Actually, I just received a text from a
friend down the South Island and he called me and
said he's been doing a bunch of water safety on
some films and that this film had approached him and
they needed a kayak double for Charlie's Theron. And yeah,
it kind of went from there. I didn't believe that
(01:09):
it was actually going to come to anything. I thought,
you know, if it sounded more like an April fool's
joke than something that was actually real. But yeah, in January,
River Mutton, who was also her double, and I were
on a plane to the South Island to begin filming.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The Whitewater scenes. A lot of them filmed here in
New Zealand. The film was sort of set in Australia,
but it was so obvious from the you know, from
the flora and things, you know, you could tell it
was in New Zealand. But my understanding is that some
of those locations aren't easily accessible had you paddled them before.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I hadn't, But they're really famous rivers in the whitewater world.
And it was actually a bucket. Ka checked off so
many kind of dream goals throughout this experience, and one
of them was paddling on these incredible West Coast rivers
and some of them to get into paddle you'd have
to carry your kayak in for you know, ten hours
(02:05):
and really work for these rapids. But we got helicoptered
in and it was pretty bougie.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Really not a big way of doing it right. Taking
off that pitt list, what were the spots like when
it comes to the actual sort of river and kayaking
and things.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Kind of like your classic West Coast rivers like beautiful aqua,
blue water, which you didn't see in the movie, but
that was our experience, and you know, huge boulders, those
sorts of things. So they'd come in and scouted all
of these different locations and we flew in to film them.
But with anything on the West Coast, like if it's raining,
(02:44):
the rivers are flowing. Well, if it's not, then you know,
there's not a lot of water and it doesn't look
good on film. But luckily, halfway through shooting down there,
the rains came in and the rivers went from like
a Grade three, which is kind of a medium level
of rapid, into like a Grade five, which is big
and chunky and scary. And yeah, there was a lot
(03:04):
of adrenaline.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So what is it like being on a movie set
with a star like Challie's.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
They're on pretty cold actually, you know, I thought coming
into it, she's just a class Hollywood actor, and she'd
be really precious and just kind of surrounded by her
crew and she had a close knit group of people,
but she was also really approachable, happy to have a chat,
really wanted to do well in her role as a paddler,
(03:30):
so asked a lot of questions and was working hard
to get things right, and she was definitely out of
her comfort zone and I just left kind of having
so much respect for her and her craft and yeah
what she does.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Okay, So you were also there sort of part of
your role was coaching her through those kayaking scenes.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, we had River and I as well as a
guy called Callen in Australia. We were all kind of
helping her. And yeah, we flew to Australia. I think
I was there four times, and each time, you know,
Challie's would be doing different aspects of kayaking on flatwater
or kind of low grade white water, and yeah, we'd
give her tips and help her find the right lines
(04:11):
and help her look like a natural paddler.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And in turn, you had to have some coaching as well,
because while you're concentrating on probably you're probably thinking, right,
I'm just going to get down this canyon or whatever
I have to do. But actually you were required to
do some acting as well.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I was, yeah, and that was actually one of my
favorite parts, just kind of getting you know, in Kinosalim
you're a performer, but in a completely different sense and
so yeah, I was learning from the director and the
stunt coordinator how to kind of act and how they
wanted me to look, and then i'd obviously do the
visualization and try and get myself into that kind of
(04:50):
mindset of either being chased or going for a chill
paddle down the rapids. And there are a few other
scenes where I had to do some swimming or pretend
to hit my head on a rock. So yeah, that
was really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's so funny because I've seen the film now and
I knew you. I knew you'd been the stunt doubles.
So when you watch the film and everyone else is
going to do this, now, I was going, okay, oh, okay,
that's Charlie's Okay, no, I think that that's Luca or
that could be really like, yeah, you watch it completely differently,
trying to go, oh, there's look, oh that'll be her. There, oh,
that'll be that. You know, that's what she's doing, And
(05:22):
I assume it is a bit different because, as you say,
when you're at the Olympics, you're trying to name your technique,
you're trying to perform, but here, actually you're fighting for
your life, so you're probably not quite so concerned about
some of those things.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, And actually, like when you're peddling really well in
Kino salam or in whitewater, you're smooth and you're running
the boat and you're on top of the water, but
that doesn't look good in a movie, and so I
had to kind of undo a lot of techniques and
just plow through the middle of these big features on
the white water. And the more splashes and the more
(05:54):
drama and the more edges on the boat, the better.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So have you have you watched the film? Have you
critiqued your performance?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, River and I got together and watched it, which
was it was really cool to watch it with her
and we were comparing the different scenes that we did
and trying to pack each other out, which I'd say
eighty percent of it we were quite sure, but then
there were other parts that we just had no idea.
But yeah, it was just really cool. I think to
see whitewater kayaking on the big screen. It is such
(06:24):
a cool sport to watch, but it doesn't get a
lot of spotlight, I guess, and kind of Hollywood or
in films, So I think that was a really special part.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I imagine that you know when you're when you're training,
it's a lot about you. It's pretty low key. You're
probably working to a budget. You've already mentioned, you know,
you kind of got hall coopped into these spots and things.
But what else was a little bit different in this
job when it came to your role as a kayiker.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh, Like we'd get packed out from our accommodation and
like a private shuttle and we'd arrive on set and
there'd be breakfast laid out for everyone, and then we'd
kind of get shuttled up to where we were actually
filming and there'd be a hot tent and be people
kind of wrapping you in a blanket after you got
off the water and I don't know, fassing over your
(07:17):
hair and makeup and everything like that, and it just, yeah,
it was completely different. And I thought afterwards, I was
like I could have done with a hot tent and
some of this and my actual Khia king career.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, it's a little bit of It's a different world,
isn't it. Yes, it probably sport you a little bit. Look, yes,
this is probably a bit of a net thing that
you've done this stunt role. But is it something that
you'd like to do again.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I would love to have the opportunity came up. Yeah,
I have a huge amount of respect for the stunt professionals.
You know, they're rolling down banks and jumping off things,
and you know, it's just a complete It's a profession
that now I know more about it, I have so
much respect for them. But yeah, absolutely, if there's an
(08:05):
opportunity that comes up, I would jump on it.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You retired after the last Olympics in twenty twenty four,
and I'm assuming that this, as you've said, you know,
this sort of came out of the blue, this Hollywood work.
But what has life been like since Paris?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
It has been, to be honest, a bit of an adjustment.
You know, like you look forward to retiring because you've
spent your whole life doing this sport and it's all encompassing.
You know, there's even on a day off, you're still
thinking about how you're eating and sleeping and those sorts
of things. And so I enjoyed having a bit of downtime,
but then started to really mess a lot of aspects
of being a full time athlete and just having that
(08:43):
goal to chase, and it's so clear and you're so
motivated towards it. I went into an office role where
sport bab plenty, trying to get more young girls active,
so trying to kind of stop the drop off in
sport participation as they go through teenage years, which has
been really cool and it's a really meaningful role, but
(09:06):
just very different being in an office.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So then how do you find that fulfillment. How do
you find another little goal in life that kind of
keeps you going.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I think just like doing other activities that I was
never able to do. You know, when you're full time training,
you need to rest and so you can't go hiking
and biking and surfing and doing all these other coll activities.
So I've kind of been doing that. My husband and
I have been renovating houses.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
What else.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, just kind of enjoying a bit of normality.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, which is good, which is great. So I wonder though,
whether the timing of this project was sort of perfect
for you, something a little out of the ordinary to
remind you that there is still sort of a little
bit of excitement after sport.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yes, one hundred percent. Yeah, And it was cool and
it shows that, like outside of sport, there are other
opportunities that can come from sport. So yeah, that was
really special.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You mentioned before, you know how great it is to
see making on the big screen and it does it
look spectacular? What about the sport? Where is the future
of canoe slalom at? Do we have some good talent
coming through?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, we've obviously got Finn who's the Finn got a
medalist and behind him, Yeah, we have some younger guys
and girls who are kind of knocking at the door.
But you know, it is really difficult coming from New Zealand.
We're so isolated to perform on the world stage in Peninsulalem.
So it's just about getting that exposure, traveling overseas, doing
(10:41):
a lot of competitions, and yeah, I guess it takes
a lot of time. So if these young guys are
patient and they're happy to kind of stick with it
and you know, build up, then I think they'll do
really well.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, Lucas. So if someone sits down the Safter Inflicts
on Netflix and decides to check out this little this
this action packed film, this after what stunt was your
what are you? And pressed with? If there was a
moment if you can quickly describe the scene for us
so that we can clock you in it. What was
your favorite stunt that you did.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
I think just the whitewater paddling. It was really cool
to just see it from different angles. So I'm primarily
the when she's in the red life jacket and the
blue helmet. Okay, that's primarily me so before things start
to kick off, and I won't ruin the film, but yeah,
those were kind of my primary scenes. But I think, yeah,
maybe the hitting the head on the rock was quite
(11:39):
cool because it was just so different.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I love it. Oh, thank you so much for your
time today. I really appreciate it, and the film is
such fun and it's really nice to hear what you're
up to. That was Luca Jones Exley.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
There for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin,
listen live to News Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks AB from.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Olympic silver medallist to Hollywood stunt woman. It's quite the
career turn, and I'm not sure it's one that Kiwi
kayaker Luca Jones Yaxley Yaxley saw coming. Shortly after retiring
from the high performance canoe slalom at the Paras Olympics,
Luca received a call and an offer to appear as
Charlie's Theron's stunt double in Netflix film Apex. The film
(00:34):
is out now and Luca Jones Yaxley joins me. Now,
good morning, Luca.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Good morning Francesca.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
So tell me how did you bing Charlie's Theron's stunt
double come about?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Very randomly? Actually, I just received a text from a
friend down the South Island and he called me and
said he's been doing a bunch of water safety on
some films and that this film had approached him and
they needed a kayak double for Charlie's Theron. And yeah,
it kind of went from there. I didn't believe that
(01:09):
it was actually going to come to anything. I thought,
you know, if it sounded more like an April fool's
joke than something that was actually real. But yeah, in January,
River Mutton, who was also her double, and I were
on a plane to the South Island to begin filming.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
The Whitewater scenes. A lot of them filmed here in
New Zealand. The film was sort of set in Australia,
but it was so obvious from the you know, from
the flora and things, you know, you could tell it
was in New Zealand. But my understanding is that some
of those locations aren't easily accessible had you paddled them before.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
I hadn't, But they're really famous rivers in the whitewater world.
And it was actually a bucket. Ka checked off so
many kind of dream goals throughout this experience, and one
of them was paddling on these incredible West Coast rivers
and some of them to get into paddle you'd have
to carry your kayak in for you know, ten hours
(02:05):
and really work for these rapids. But we got helicoptered
in and it was pretty bougie.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Really not a big way of doing it right. Taking
off that pitt list, what were the spots like when
it comes to the actual sort of river and kayaking
and things.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Kind of like your classic West Coast rivers like beautiful aqua,
blue water, which you didn't see in the movie, but
that was our experience, and you know, huge boulders, those
sorts of things. So they'd come in and scouted all
of these different locations and we flew in to film them.
But with anything on the West Coast, like if it's raining,
(02:44):
the rivers are flowing. Well, if it's not, then you know,
there's not a lot of water and it doesn't look
good on film. But luckily, halfway through shooting down there,
the rains came in and the rivers went from like
a Grade three, which is kind of a medium level
of rapid, into like a Grade five, which is big
and chunky and scary. And yeah, there was a lot
(03:04):
of adrenaline.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
So what is it like being on a movie set
with a star like Challie's.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
They're on pretty cold actually, you know, I thought coming
into it, she's just a class Hollywood actor, and she'd
be really precious and just kind of surrounded by her
crew and she had a close knit group of people,
but she was also really approachable, happy to have a chat,
really wanted to do well in her role as a paddler,
(03:30):
so asked a lot of questions and was working hard
to get things right, and she was definitely out of
her comfort zone and I just left kind of having
so much respect for her and her craft and yeah
what she does.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Okay, So you were also there sort of part of
your role was coaching her through those kayaking scenes.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Yeah, we had River and I as well as a
guy called Callen in Australia. We were all kind of
helping her. And yeah, we flew to Australia. I think
I was there four times, and each time, you know,
Challie's would be doing different aspects of kayaking on flatwater
or kind of low grade white water, and yeah, we'd
give her tips and help her find the right lines
(04:11):
and help her look like a natural paddler.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
And in turn, you had to have some coaching as well,
because while you're concentrating on probably you're probably thinking, right,
I'm just going to get down this canyon or whatever
I have to do. But actually you were required to
do some acting as well.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I was, yeah, and that was actually one of my
favorite parts, just kind of getting you know, in Kinosalim
you're a performer, but in a completely different sense and
so yeah, I was learning from the director and the
stunt coordinator how to kind of act and how they
wanted me to look, and then i'd obviously do the
visualization and try and get myself into that kind of
(04:50):
mindset of either being chased or going for a chill
paddle down the rapids. And there are a few other
scenes where I had to do some swimming or pretend
to hit my head on a rock. So yeah, that
was really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's so funny because I've seen the film now and
I knew you. I knew you'd been the stunt doubles.
So when you watch the film and everyone else is
going to do this, now, I was going, okay, oh, okay,
that's Charlie's Okay, no, I think that that's Luca or
that could be really like, yeah, you watch it completely differently,
trying to go, oh, there's look, oh that'll be her. There, oh,
that'll be that. You know, that's what she's doing, And
(05:22):
I assume it is a bit different because, as you say,
when you're at the Olympics, you're trying to name your technique,
you're trying to perform, but here, actually you're fighting for
your life, so you're probably not quite so concerned about
some of those things.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, And actually, like when you're peddling really well in
Kino salam or in whitewater, you're smooth and you're running
the boat and you're on top of the water, but
that doesn't look good in a movie, and so I
had to kind of undo a lot of techniques and
just plow through the middle of these big features on
the white water. And the more splashes and the more
(05:54):
drama and the more edges on the boat, the better.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
So have you have you watched the film? Have you
critiqued your performance?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, River and I got together and watched it, which
was it was really cool to watch it with her
and we were comparing the different scenes that we did
and trying to pack each other out, which I'd say
eighty percent of it we were quite sure, but then
there were other parts that we just had no idea.
But yeah, it was just really cool. I think to
see whitewater kayaking on the big screen. It is such
(06:24):
a cool sport to watch, but it doesn't get a
lot of spotlight, I guess, and kind of Hollywood or
in films, So I think that was a really special part.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I imagine that you know when you're when you're training,
it's a lot about you. It's pretty low key. You're
probably working to a budget. You've already mentioned, you know,
you kind of got hall coopped into these spots and things.
But what else was a little bit different in this
job when it came to your role as a kayiker.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Oh, Like we'd get packed out from our accommodation and
like a private shuttle and we'd arrive on set and
there'd be breakfast laid out for everyone, and then we'd
kind of get shuttled up to where we were actually
filming and there'd be a hot tent and be people
kind of wrapping you in a blanket after you got
off the water and I don't know, fassing over your
(07:17):
hair and makeup and everything like that, and it just, yeah,
it was completely different. And I thought afterwards, I was
like I could have done with a hot tent and
some of this and my actual Khia king career.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, it's a little bit of It's a different world,
isn't it. Yes, it probably sport you a little bit. Look, yes,
this is probably a bit of a net thing that
you've done this stunt role. But is it something that
you'd like to do again.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I would love to have the opportunity came up. Yeah,
I have a huge amount of respect for the stunt professionals.
You know, they're rolling down banks and jumping off things,
and you know, it's just a complete It's a profession
that now I know more about it, I have so
much respect for them. But yeah, absolutely, if there's an
(08:05):
opportunity that comes up, I would jump on it.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
You retired after the last Olympics in twenty twenty four,
and I'm assuming that this, as you've said, you know,
this sort of came out of the blue, this Hollywood work.
But what has life been like since Paris?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
It has been, to be honest, a bit of an adjustment.
You know, like you look forward to retiring because you've
spent your whole life doing this sport and it's all encompassing.
You know, there's even on a day off, you're still
thinking about how you're eating and sleeping and those sorts
of things. And so I enjoyed having a bit of downtime,
but then started to really mess a lot of aspects
of being a full time athlete and just having that
(08:43):
goal to chase, and it's so clear and you're so
motivated towards it. I went into an office role where
sport bab plenty, trying to get more young girls active,
so trying to kind of stop the drop off in
sport participation as they go through teenage years, which has
been really cool and it's a really meaningful role, but
(09:06):
just very different being in an office.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
So then how do you find that fulfillment. How do
you find another little goal in life that kind of
keeps you going.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I think just like doing other activities that I was
never able to do. You know, when you're full time training,
you need to rest and so you can't go hiking
and biking and surfing and doing all these other coll activities.
So I've kind of been doing that. My husband and
I have been renovating houses.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
What else.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Yeah, just kind of enjoying a bit of normality.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, which is good, which is great. So I wonder though,
whether the timing of this project was sort of perfect
for you, something a little out of the ordinary to
remind you that there is still sort of a little
bit of excitement after sport.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yes, one hundred percent. Yeah, And it was cool and
it shows that, like outside of sport, there are other
opportunities that can come from sport. So yeah, that was
really special.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
You mentioned before, you know how great it is to
see making on the big screen and it does it
look spectacular? What about the sport? Where is the future
of canoe slalom at? Do we have some good talent
coming through?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, we've obviously got Finn who's the Finn got a
medalist and behind him, Yeah, we have some younger guys
and girls who are kind of knocking at the door.
But you know, it is really difficult coming from New Zealand.
We're so isolated to perform on the world stage in Peninsulalem.
So it's just about getting that exposure, traveling overseas, doing
(10:41):
a lot of competitions, and yeah, I guess it takes
a lot of time. So if these young guys are
patient and they're happy to kind of stick with it
and you know, build up, then I think they'll do
really well.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, Lucas. So if someone sits down the Safter Inflicts
on Netflix and decides to check out this little this
this action packed film, this after what stunt was your
what are you? And pressed with? If there was a
moment if you can quickly describe the scene for us
so that we can clock you in it. What was
your favorite stunt that you did.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
I think just the whitewater paddling. It was really cool
to just see it from different angles. So I'm primarily
the when she's in the red life jacket and the
blue helmet. Okay, that's primarily me so before things start
to kick off, and I won't ruin the film, but yeah,
those were kind of my primary scenes. But I think, yeah,
maybe the hitting the head on the rock was quite
(11:39):
cool because it was just so different.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I love it. Oh, thank you so much for your
time today. I really appreciate it, and the film is
such fun and it's really nice to hear what you're
up to. That was Luca Jones Exley.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
There for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin,
listen live to News Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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