While many UF Law students had various experiences during their first law school summer, part of Christie Sanders’ summer would make many other law students jealous.

Sanders (3L), who was a Hollywood stunt double before law school, filmed the recently released A Perfect Getaway, doubling Kiele Sanchez. She found herself in an interesting scene that many of her friends have asked about.

“It’s a catfight rolling around on the ground with Mila Jovovich, so there has been a lot of excitement over that,” Sanders said. “It was a good time. It was really intense. Basically it was lava rocks on the edge of the cliff.”

Sanders worked with the stunt coordinator and Jovovich’s double as well as with the actresses on the fight scene.

“There’s no way these actresses could do everything that we do as physically as we do,” she said. “I was flipped and hit the ground; Mila Jovovich actually punched me square in the face. I had a nice little lump from that.” Sanders started filming in Puerto Rico right after finals, but a cave collapsed and they had to relocate to Jamaica. The delay caused her to start her externship a week late. After the externship, she worked in Orlando on My Family’s Got Guts, a new incarnation of the Nickelodeon classic Guts.

Sanders got into stunts while working at Universal Studios. She grew up in Texas and went to the University of Texas where she majored in acting. After school, she got a job at Universal playing BJ, a dancing dinosaur in The Barney Show. While working there, she met stunt performers from The Wild West Show who trained her for free.

“They had me repelling out of the 60-foot catwalk, jumping off of buildings, they had a high-fall tower,” Sanders said. “I spent every lunch period going over there.”

After the show closed, they moved to Hollywood and became very successful. She kept in touch with them and eventually got her break on Dawson’s Creek.

Sanders has had many memorable moments in her stunt career. One time, she was having her hair done and she turned around only to find Billy Bob Thornton standing there playing with her hair.

One of Sanders’ craziest stories comes from when she was filming Major Movie Star, a movie in which she doubled Jessica Simpson. The director wanted Simpson to swing around a pole with a gun and somehow her neck got caught in the strap of her gun.

“Basically she was hung up and choking, and I had a weird feeling right before we shot that part, so I went sliding like a seal on my stomach as they said ‘Rolling!’ Right before action, I hid in the boxes, and she got caught on that and was choking,” Sanders said. “I pushed her butt a few times, unhooked her, and saved her life, basically.”

A week after that, Sanders started her first year at UF Law. Sanders took the LSAT on a recommendation from her friend’s father, a judge in Union County. She applied to nine law schools and got into eight.

“I’ve always been intrigued by law and thought it was interesting; I just never saw myself doing this as a career,” Sanders said. “After 50 films and 13 years in the business you kind of know [it will end] one day. You’re being hit by cars and thrown through windows; I’ve been set on fire, I’ve jumped off cliffs.”

Sanders came to law school interested in entertainment law and is the vice president of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society. In the current economy, Sanders took an offer for next year with Wetherington, Hamilton, Harrison & Fair working on commercial litigation. But if another stunt opportunity comes up, she might have trouble saying no.

“I don’t think that many actors can ever say goodbye,” she said. I don’t think I could ever just say goodbye to the entertainment world. I don’t think that’s possible; its been my dream since I was a little girl. I think I did my first play – The Little Red Hen – when I was in kindergarten.”

And although she said coming to law school was one of the hardest decisions she’s ever made, she has no regrets with her choice to come to UF Law.

“It’s something they can never take away from me. I can get older, break in half and not be able to do stunts, but you can do law forever,” Sanders said. I was really excited and it’s great to learn again. I took a break from school so it’s a lot different from when I first went to undergrad, but I think I made the right decision.”