Fleur Van Eeden

Film The Devils Whore

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1050057/

Being burned at the stake is no mean feat, Van Eeden says.

“It’s the one stunt you have to do. But if something went wrong, it would be major.”

As it turned out, the preparation was worse than the burning.

“They painted me,” she says. “They cover your whole body with gel – straight from a freezer – and then two layers of special clothing.

“It’s a layer of water gel, then a layer of gel-impregnated clothing, then more gel, then an overall. And then your wardrobe on top of that. With the special gel, you get so cold. And then suddenly this heat. They have to have a paramedic standing by in case you get hypothermia.

“And then the actual burn, they explain you should preferably not breathe – it’s only 10 seconds. But if you have to, you must just take a tiny breath. If you gasp in air, you can burn your lungs.

“First you practice it and then, on the day we did it five times. So I burned five times.

“You know what’s weird – you really get into the whole thing. There I was tied to the stake. (I wasn’t really tied, of course.) And everyone was shouting, ‘Burn the witch, burn the witch!’”