Last week’s announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would be adding a category honoring stunt performers starting in 2028 at the 100th Academy Awards came at the end of a long period of lobbying the Academy for such an award. And it is a well-deserved addition to the annual Oscar ceremony as it is the last sector of film production to be acknowledged with a category in the industry-wide honors.
But don’t expect to see the category awarded next year when awards season rolls around as the Academy stated that the first Stunt Design Oscar will be awarded in 2028 at the 100th annual Academy Awards. According to the Academy, they will use the three years leading up to that inaugural award to figure out the exact rules and requirements for the category.
Currently, there are approximately 100 stunt performers who are Academy members, all of whom hold membership within the Production and Technology branch. The positioning of stunt performers in the Production and Technology branch and not within the Acting branch is interesting in itself, given that stunt performers are eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild and the SAG Awards feature a stunt performance category. With the SAG setting the precedent for this type of award, one would have thought that the Academy would have followed suit and placed it within their own Acting branch.
Nevertheless, the new Stunt Design category being under the aegis of the Production and Technology allows for the use of some of the other current categories to serve as rough templates that could easily be adaptable into rules governing voting in this new category. As such, the Stunt Design category would most likely have a committee that oversees all films submitted to insure that they meet eligibility requirements. A preliminary voting round by just the immediate members of the branch could be done to determine the shortlist from which the final nominees are picked. Those nominees are then voted by the entire academy as part of the final Oscar voting round.
Of course, there are some questions as to what would constitute eligibility in the category. What would actually qualify as a stunt? Who on the stunt team would be eligible for the awards? The stunt coordinator? The actual stunt performer? The stunt riggers? How much post-production altering of the filmed stunt is allowed?
There has been some criticism of the new category, suggesting that non-stunt people won’t know how to judge the merits of the eventual nominees when it comes time. To which I would suggest that copies any potential supporting materials that make up part of the original application could be made available to any Academy voter who requests it. Some visual effects companies have made their awards season sizzle reel, filled with highlights showing how they achieved the dazzling images they contributed to the nominated film. Similar sizzle reels showcasing a stunt coordinator and their team preparing their work could serve a similar function in educating voters to help them cast their ballot.
And perhaps these sizzle reels will help to educate the public as well as to the hard and often dangerous work that goes into what stunt people do, and why they should be honored alongside all of their other filmmaking peers.
