Stand-ins appear from time to time in popular culture. In this entry of Stand-In Central, we look at an appearance of the stand-in in the television show Life’s Too Short.

– The Editor

In Episode 3 of the first season of 2011’s television show Life’s Too Short, Warwick Davis, a dwarf actor and owner of the agency DwarvesForHire.com, gets a call that a dwarf actor is needed for a scene opposite Helena Bonham Carter.  Passing over his own clients, Warwick selfishly takes the role and reports to set.

When he arrives in full costume dressed as Little Lord Fauntleroy, he’s shocked to find that he’s not going to be the principal actor–instead, he’s the stand-in for a little boy!

Warwick: Stand-in for a child. Yeah, kids can only work a certain number of hours on a film, so if they’re going to shoot from behind a kid’s head, they’ll often use dwarves. So it means I’m not going to be in the film. Just here so Helena Bonham Carter’s got someone to look at. Could have used any old dwarf.

Warwick is there for Helena’s close-up, and Helena has trouble acting with stand-in Warwick, whose face is comically large compared to the little boy’s and whose voice is much more masculine than the child actor’s.

Helena complains about Warwick as if he’s not three feet in front of her, then proceeds to make escalating requests in order to complete her scene, requests that deepen Warwick’s humiliation.

Below is a clip from the hilarious scene.

It is not uncommon for diminutive people to stand in for children in television and film. However, the humiliation that Warwick is subjected to in this scene is quite uncommon and for comic effect.

Do you know of other emergences of stand-ins in television shows? If so, reply below. Even better, write to Stand-In Central with a review of an episode!