LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has declined to create an Oscar category for stunt coordinators, a group that's been trying for 20 years to achieve such recognition.
Stunt coordinator Jack Gill, who has been leading that effort, told The Hollywood Reporter that the Academy informed him that it appreciates the work coordinators put into movies but will not add any new categories, even if the coordinators agreed to be in a non-telecast pre-Oscars ceremony.
In an e-mail, Gill said, "I will try again next year and gather more and more support."
Past efforts have received the support of big-screen action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Stunt coordinators can become members of the Academy, but in the At-Large branch (which also includes casting directors). Only 19 are members, however, and at most two are admitted per year. At-Large members have all the privileges of branch membership except for representation on the board.
One stunt performer (not coordinator) has actually won a statuette from the Academy, Yakima Canutt, but his 1966 award was an honorary one -- "for achievements as a stunt man and for developing safety devices to protect stunt men everywhere -- rather than an award in a specified category.
In 2001 British stuntman Vic Armstrong, a frequent double for Harrison Ford, won a technical achievement Oscar plaque for designing a stunt system.
Stunt coordinators design the complex stunts seen in movies and TV shows -- car chases, fight scenes, fiery explosions, underwater work, high dives and more. The stunts are then executed by stunt performers (stuntmen and -women), or occasionally by principal performers.
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