OSCARS for Stuntmen?

[CurtainUp2]

OSCARS for Stuntmen?#0

Posted: 2/27/05 at 2:16am

Should Stuntmen be eligible for Oscars? Discuss.

Stuntmen Stump for Oscar Love

Hollywood's top stunt-performing organizations have banded together to pull off their trickiest maneuver yet--getting the famously stodgy Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to create an Academy Award category for fall guys.

It's already too late for the daring to even dream of getting Oscar props this year, and the last major new Oscar category, Best Animated Feature, took a decade of petitioning to make the ballot. But that didn't stop the four major stunt groups--Stunts Unlimited, Brand X, the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures and the International Stunt Association--from launching their campaign Wednesday, saying they're as deserving of a statuette as a film's hair and makeup or visual effects team.

"What we do is an art form and it's also a science."

"We make sure actors can perform their own stunts via our choreography," he says. "Action movies make a lot of money in Hollywood--and we help when we tell stories through our action. We believe it's noteworthy...certainly as noteworthy as other categories currently on Academy ballots."

In a joint statement, the four groups say, "Stunt performers are the only faction of the movie industry that must literally risk their lives for the sake of their art. The talent and expertise that is required of a stunt coordinator to be both creative and safe is enormous and highly deserving of Academy recognition."

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. - Nelson Mandela

[GypsyRoseLee]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#1

Posted: 2/27/05 at 9:33am

I say, yes!

"This is what I trained to do, and this is what I love about theater. What I love about being an actress is being able to really look into myself and understand another human being. And out my own self, to shape and form and fashion a real human being--and to present that in such a way that people see something of themselves or their own understanding in that human being." --Phylicia Rashad

[CurtainUp2]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#2

Posted: 2/27/05 at 10:05am

But do we really need yet another Oscar category? Should everyone and anyone involved in the making of a move have their own category? How about Best Gopher on a Motion Picture Set?

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. - Nelson Mandela

[Jon]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#3

Posted: 2/27/05 at 12:03pm

Best Coming Attractions, Best Poster, Best Catering, Best Teamster Drivers...

Does anyone except sound men really care that there are two separate categories for "Best Sound" and "Best Sound Effects Editing"?

In my opinion, the Sound, Visual Effects and other such awards should be given out at the Technical Awards ceremony, and the winners just announced at the main Oscars. No one really wants to hear these guys give an acceptance speech. Updated On: 2/27/05 at 12:03 PM

[CurtainUp2]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#4

Posted: 2/27/05 at 12:21pm

I agree with you there, Jon. They're always trying to come up with new ways to move the show along, and make it less boring; time limits on acceptance speeches, not allowing certain winners to accept their award on stage, etc, etc. Why don't they just have a separate awards ceremony for the technical awards. Then they would have more time to show clips of the nominated movies and performances, movie montages, etc. And it could easily reduce the show's running time by a good hour.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. - Nelson Mandela

Updated On: 2/27/05 at 12:21 PM

[Plum]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#5

Posted: 2/27/05 at 1:00pm

Yay, more classism! It's not enough that they're making the tech people stand around on stage like beauty pageant contestants while we get more and more and more....*yawn*...montages. Now you want to stick them in a whole separate ceremony, Tony-style?

It's not speeches that run an extra 20 seconds that make the ceremony boring, it's exactly the in-between stuff the producers of the show glorify- montages, dance numbers, whatever- that are mostly soporific. But then again, I'm not watching either way, so I'm probably best ignored. :)

And no, stunt men don't need an Oscar as far as I can see. Updated On: 2/27/05 at 01:00 PM

[CurtainUp2]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#6

Posted: 2/27/05 at 2:24pm

Plum, I'm in complete agreement with you regarding production/dance numbers. But, I like the movie clips and montages. That is, afterall, what the evening is about. And I've seen some very entertaining, and even moving, movie montages in the past. Of course, I've seen more than a few poorly executed ones as well. As for me, I'd prefer they hand out all of the awards during the telecast. It really doesn't bother me that the show usually clocks in at about 4 hours. It's the producers who always seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel and come up with different ways of picking up the pace. I'd rather see a separate ceremony for technical awards, then some of the other time-saving concepts they've come up with in the past.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered. - Nelson Mandela

[Plum]

re: OSCARS for Stuntmen?#7

Posted: 2/27/05 at 2:40pm

I wonder how many awards each ceremony presents on-air and how that actually relates to ceremony length.