Stunt performers finally catch a break with new Oscar category

The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 10, 2025 9:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

After galore years of impassioned calls for an Oscar recognizing the creation of the stunt, the movie academy has decided to springiness it an authoritative award.

An accomplishment successful stunt plan prize volition beryllium added starting with the 100th Academy Awards successful 2028, which volition recognize films released successful 2027, the movie academy said Thursday.

"Since the aboriginal days of cinema, stunt plan has been an integral portion of filmmaking," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said successful a associated statement.

"We are arrogant to honour the innovative enactment of these method and originative artists, and we congratulate them for their committedness and dedication successful reaching this momentous occasion."

The movie academy's accumulation and exertion subdivision has much than 100 stunt performers among its ranks.

WATCH | The lawsuit for a stunt-related Oscar: 

David Leitch, who directed The Fall Guy, which was itself an ode to stunt performers, helped pb the complaint for the caller prize.

Leitch began his vocation arsenic a stuntman for stars similar Brad Pitt earlier transitioning to making stunt-heavy films similar John Wick. He and stunt co-ordinator and decorator Chris O'Hara of Stunts Unlimited made presentations to the academy advocating for the summation of a caller award.

'Essential to each genre'

"Stunts are indispensable to each genre of movie and rooted heavy successful our industry's past — from the groundbreaking enactment of aboriginal pioneers similar Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin, to the inspiring artistry of today's stunt designers, co-ordinators, performers, and choreographers," Leitch said successful a connection Thursday.

"Chris O'Hara and I person spent years moving to bring this infinitesimal to life, lasting connected the shoulders of the stunt professionals who've fought tirelessly for designation implicit the decades. We are incredibly grateful."

Stunt decorator is simply a comparatively caller designation. For his enactment connected The Fall Guy, O'Hara was the archetypal idiosyncratic to beryllium credited arsenic such.

"To beryllium seen by the movie assemblage arsenic stunt designers hopefully brings much airy to what we truly do," O'Hara told The Associated Press successful 2024.

"Back successful the day, stunt guys were the cowboys. Now we are creative. We make astonishing things, conscionable similar a accumulation decorator does oregon a costume decorator does."

The Oscars paid tribute to the stunt assemblage with a video montage astatine the 2024 ceremony, looking backmost astatine implicit 100 years of Hollywood stunts from Chaplin and Keaton each the mode to Mission: Impossible and The Matrix. 

Other awards shows were up of the curve successful celebrating stunts: The Emmys honours stunt co-ordination and stunt performance, portion the Screen Actors Guild Awards admit stunt ensembles successful tv and film.

Still enactment to beryllium done, manager says

The Oscars besides precocious added a prize for accomplishment successful casting, starting with films released successful 2025. As with the casting award, it remains unclear whether it volition beryllium added to the unrecorded Oscars broadcast.

Chad Stahelski, who co-directed John Wick and did stunts for Keanu Reeves, told the AP Thursday that there's inactive enactment to beryllium done.

"The thought of giving an Academy Award for stunt plan is awesome — don't get maine wrong," helium said.

"Now, I would similar to cognize who's going to determine who gets it, and who really gets the award? It's not similar it was 100 years agone erstwhile determination was 1 idiosyncratic designing it. It's a collaborative effort."

Stahelski added: "Stunts is specified a collaborative and analyzable department, however are we going to find who this goes to? We've spent 100 years getting the award, let's conscionable marque definite it goes to the close people."