Latest news with #100thOscars
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After The Oscars Finally Breaks On A Stunt Category, Chad Stahelski, David Leitch And More React: 'We've Come A Long Way'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Finally, after years and years and years, the Academy Awards will officially award stunts! For a very long time now, there's been a campaign to add a category that honors those who create epic action in some of the best movies. Now, it will happen, and two of films' top action directors, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, reacted to the news alongside a bunch of other excited folks. For context, John Wick's Chad Stahelski has been one of the biggest advocates for the addition of an Achievement in Stunt Design award. After the news was announced, the director got on the phone with Deadline in the midst of working on the 2025 movie schedule's Ballerina (which he's a producer on) and said: None of us [in the industry] would be here if it wasn't for the last 100 years of stunt people. We've come a long way because a lot of other people have sacrificed a lot. So, it's pretty cool to be here and be at the apex of an entire century of performers and coordinators and action directors. And it's a shame that a lot of them won't get to see where it all went to. Stahelski also praised The Academy for 'really [doing] their homework.' He said the organization didn't doubt that the stunt category needed to be added, that's not necessarily why this addition took so long. Instead, they took their time figuring out 'how to give the award, who to give it to,' and 'how do we select it.' Now, the first Achievement in Stunt Design award will be given out in 2028 at the 100th Oscars for films released in 2027, per Variety. Rules for eligibility and voting will also be announced around then. Alongside Stahelski, many other suntmen-turned-directors played a role in the addition of this category. This included David Leitch, the director of films like The Fall Guy and Deadpool 2. He took to his Instagram to post an image of The Academy's letter announcing the news and wrote: This has been a journey for so many of us! @airaware1 and myself have invested several years into this. We built on the work of all the stunt designers who fought so hard for this in the past over the past decades. We are very grateful. Thank You @theacademy In the comments on Leitch's post, many actors shared their excitement for the addition as well, and the list included Hannah Waddingham, who notably starred in his film The Fall Guy: '🔥🔥🔥'-Pom Klementieff 'Oh my GOD,this is immense! Beyond thrilled for the global stunt community. So riDICulously well deserved. A phenomenal band of humans who give everything of themselves every day and look after us ALL every minute. Couldn't be happier. 🥰 What a day finally! XXXXXXXXX' -Hannah Waddingham '👏👏👏' -Nicholas Hoult Many others in the stunt community also reacted to this historic and thrilling news. Notably, this included The Fall Guy's stunt coordinator Chris O'Hara and Josh Oreck, who has been a producer on many John Wick movies. In a joint IG post with David Leitch and Narrator Inc, the group expressed: Stunts: Fuck yeah! Congrats to the tens of thousands of incredible performers, craftspeople, senseis, cowboys, warriors, dancers, engineers, jocks, nerds and everyone else on every stunt team that have put it all on the line to entertain and enthrall us for 100+ years - with no recognition other than the joy of the process and a lot of physical therapy. It has been a singular privilege to bear witness to an amazing band of misfits that sprang up in the South Bay and has changed cinema over decades of tireless work. Overall, this is a massive and historic win for stunts, and so many people can't wait to see these incredible teams nominated and awarded for their action-packed work. While it's too bad we can't go back and award the best action movies from decades past with this award, at least it will be given moving forward. And who knows, maybe the inaugural Achievement in Stunt Design award will go to one of the folks mentioned above. It's certainly possible, especially with films like John Wick: Chapter 5 coming down the line.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Oscars Are Finally Awarding Stunts, But Fans Can't Stop Making The Same Sad Point About Tom Cruise And Mission: Impossible
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. One of our most anticipated events on the 2025 movie schedule has to be the release of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, as it will be an action-packed and stunt-heavy possible conclusion to the franchise after Cruise has been blowing our minds for nearly 30 years. However, this week's news that The Academy has added a stunt category at the Oscars has fans livid for the actor (and Mission: Impossible's achievements), given the timing of the whole thing. As announced on Thursday by The Academy's Board of Governors, a new award for 'Achievement In Stunt Design' will officially debut at the 100th Oscars ceremony taking place in the year 2028 for 2027 releases. Knowing that The Final Reckoning is coming two years before that has fans all worked up, as this person posted on Twitter: well-deserved and long overdue and i am elated for the hard-working stunt people….. but it is soooo funny to introduce this the year after the Mission: Impossible franchise ends When I think of stunts, it's pretty much impossible (pun intended) not to think about Tom Cruise's work across the last three decades. His work, and specifically the action in Mission: Impossible, has pushed the limits of what we think is possible in film. From Cruise's Fallout halo jump to his climb up the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol to that motorbike cliff jump in Dead Reckoning or plane hang in Rogue Nation, the actor and his team have pulled off mind-boggling stunts over and over again. Paramount Plus: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearCatch the latest Tom Cruise stunts in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning with Paramount+! Opt for its Essential plan or go ad-free and get double the catalog with Showtime through the Premium plan from $12.99 a month. Alternatively, get 12 months for the price of 10 with its annual Deal Fans are understandably hurting on behalf of Cruise regarding the timing of the whole thing. Here's another one: Even though Tom Cruise is one of the biggest Hollywood stars and most beloved actors, he's somehow never won an Oscar, despite being nominated four times. Most recently, his work on Top Gun: Maverick was in contention for Best Picture (along with five other nominations, one of which the movie won for Best Sound), but he chose not to attend the ceremony. If this category was introduced a few years ago, the actor most certainly would have been in contention and even won for Mission: Impossible, but it seems like he's just missed the boat. And we're all bummed about it, as this fan wrote: It feels valid that fans of Tom Cruise and his movies are livid, especially since calls for the category have been in conversation for so long. As another Twitter user wrote: The audacity of them to introduce this in 2027, when the best stunts of the last decade have been in four of the Mission Impossible films that would be ineligible for this While one fan even commented that it's not 'too late to delay' the upcoming Mission: Impossible to 2027 just to see the movie win an Oscar, a third Top Gun movie is still in development. That could potentially place Tom Cruise in the Oscars game for this award in the future. Plus, I'm sure that even if The Final Reckoning is the last time we see Ethan Hunt, the actor will not leave action behind. Even so, as another Twitter user said, it's just too bad The Academy is 'robbing' Cruise of one for this year. Robbing Mr. Cruise of his Oscar for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, I see. We'll be waiting three years for the stunt category at the Oscars to debut, but movies starting in 2027 will get to recognize stunt teams and performers, and that in itself is a huge win. Stunt teams risk their lives to make the scenes we watch on screen as immersive, entertaining and shocking as they are, and we can't wait to see them finally get the recognition they deserve at the 100th Oscars!
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
First stunt design award to be presented at 100th Oscars gala in 2028
April 11 (UPI) -- The first stunt design award is to be presented at the 100th annual Oscars gala in 2028. Films released in 2027 will be eligible for the inaugural honor. "Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of film-making," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement Thursday. "We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion." Stunts have always been part of the magic of movies. Now, they're part of the Oscars. The Academy has created a new annual award for Achievement in Stunt Design-beginning with the 100th Oscars in 2028, honoring films released in 2027. The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 10, 2025 This year's Oscars took place March 2 and featured such winners as Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña, Kieran Culkin and Adrien Brody.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After decades of pushing, stunts will get their own Oscar
After more than three decades of lobbying — and countless bruises and broken bones — Hollywood's stunt community will finally be recognized at the Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that it will introduce a new competitive category for achievement in stunt design, with the first award to be presented in 2028 at the 100th Oscars, honoring films released in 2027. The new Oscar for stunts follows last year's announcement of an award for casting directors — the first new category added in more than two decades, which will debut at the 98th Academy Awards next year. 'Since the early days of cinema, stunt design has been an integral part of filmmaking,' Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. 'We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and dedication in reaching this momentous occasion.' For Hollywood's stunt community, the announcement marks a historic milestone in a decades-long push for recognition. In 1991, veteran stunt coordinator Jack Gill began lobbying for an Oscar for stunts, securing the support of the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the idea. But while stunt performers are honored each year at the Emmy Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, academy leaders long turned down calls to recognize stunts either on Oscars night or at its untelevised Scientific and Technical Awards. (The three exceptions: Stunt performer Yakima Canutt received an honorary Academy Award in 1967 for developing safety devices for stuntmen, while stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham and Hong Kong action star and stunt pioneer Jackie Chan received lifetime achievement Oscars in 2012 and 2016, respectively.) Read more: It's time for an Oscar for stunts. 'The Fall Guy' is the best argument for it With stunts in blockbusters like "Mad Max: Fury Road" and franchises like "Mission: Impossible" and "Fast and Furious" growing ever more elaborate, backers argued that Oscar recognition was long overdue. 'There is no other department head in the movie business that has that kind of pressure where people's lives are at stake,' Gill told The Times last year. 'Stunt performers don't want to be actors and walk the red carpet and all of that. What they want is to be acknowledged among their peers for doing something that involves real blood, sweat and tears.' That campaign had recently been spearheaded by director David Leitch, a former stunt performer and coordinator who has since helmed action hits like "Deadpool 2," "Bullet Train" and "John Wick." Alongside his producing partner and wife Kelly McCormick at their 87North Productions banner, Leitch worked with Chris O'Hara, a stunt coordinator and designer with Stunts Unlimited, and others to make presentations to the academy, according to people familiar with the process. With last summer's action-comedy "The Fall Guy," Leitch said he aimed to make a movie that would celebrate and showcase the craft and ingenuity of the stunt world, including a record-setting "cannon roll" that saw a Jeep Cherokee complete eight and a half revolutions, more than any previous film. By labeling O'Hara's work on "The Fall Guy" as 'stunt design' rather than coordination — a subtle but significant shift — the filmmakers mirrored other crafts long recognized by the academy, such as costume and production design. In a statement following the announcement, Leitch pointed to the critical role that stunts have played in cinematic spectacle throughout film history. 'Stunts are essential to every genre of film and rooted deep in our industry's history — from the groundbreaking work of early pioneers like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin, to the inspiring artistry of today's stunt designers, coordinators, performers and choreographers," Leitch said. "This has been a long journey for so many of us. Chris O'Hara and I have spent years working to bring this moment to life, standing on the shoulders of the stunt professionals who've fought tirelessly for recognition over the decades. We are incredibly grateful." Though advocates for a stunt category long argued it could help boost ratings for the Oscar telecast, some academy insiders had previously maintained that there were simply too few stunt professionals in the organization to justify their own category. But over the past decade, the organization has tripled the number of stunt professionals in its ranks to more than 100. In 2023, the academy moved stunt coordinators, who had previously been categorized as members at large, into a newly created production and technology branch that also houses assorted technical and production positions including chief technology officers, script supervisors, choreographers and music supervisors. For the stunt community, the lack of Oscar recognition had become a source of increasingly bitter frustration, starkly highlighted by Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," which finally landed Pitt an Oscar for his turn as a grizzled 1960s stuntman. 'That was the big uproar — you can get an Academy Award for pretending to be a stunt guy, but you can't get an Academy Award for actually being one,' O'Hara, who oversaw the stunt department on 'The Fall Guy' and previously worked on films including 'Jurassic World' and 'Baby Driver," told The Times last year. In a signal the tide was turning, last year's Oscars included a special tribute to the stunt community, presented by "Fall Guy" stars Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling and produced by Leitch and McCormick. 'They've been such a crucial part of our industry since the beginning of cinema,' Gosling told the crowd to warm applause between riffs with Blunt about their 'Barbenheimer' feud. 'To the stunt performers and the stunt coordinators who help make movies magic, we salute you.' Rules around eligibility and voting for the new stunt award will be released in 2027, and details on how the award will be presented are still to be determined. Sign up for Indie Focus, a weekly newsletter about movies and what's going on in the wild world of cinema. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
