Model 'plays it cool' on set with celebs - May 2016

From River City to runways in Melbourne
LEAPS AND BOUNDS: Former WHS student Jack Stratton-Smith moved to Melbourne to pursue an acting career, and has already met numerous A-list actors.

When former Whanganui man Jack Stratton-Smith isn't getting his clothes "ripped off by six people" backstage at Fashion Week, he's rubbing shoulders with A-listers and trying to "play it cool".

The 21-year-old, who was born and bred in the River City, moved to Melbourne in 2013 in pursuit of a career in acting, and has since "fallen into" modelling with agency Chadwick Models.

Breaking into the film industry is still the ex-Whanganui High School student's goal.

Mr Stratton-Smith was able to spend January to March working as a "picture double" for Night Manager and Thor actor Tom Hiddleston on the set of the latest King Kong movie, Kong: Skull Island.

"Tom and I are attached for six weeks. I basically go into the set and do the scene for the lighting guys."

The role involved him doing takes, sometimes alongside other stars of the film.

His first day on the job, he was almost immediately thrust into a practice take with the other actors, including Samuel L. Jackson, Roseanne and Monsters Inc's John Goodman, Room's Brie Larson, and Talladega Nights' John C. Rielly.

"I was actually *****ing myself," he said. "Every big name in the film was in the scene.

"You're hanging on set with them. You just have free range to basically everyone. Everyone was just so chill and so lovely."

Mr Stratton-Smith said there was an "element" of being starstruck when he first saw them, but said that it was important to "play it cool".