Chad Stahelski Says The Academy “Loves the Idea” of a Stunt Oscar Category

While the Academy Awards honors nearly every aspect of filmmaking each year, there is still one critical element of the movies that doesn’t yet have its own Oscars category: stunt work. Even as stunt work becomes more and more essential to making movie magic, the Academy hasn’t quite caught up and recognized the work with their own awards. It’s something that John Wick director Chad Stahleski has been hoping to change and, in recent comments made on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stahleski says he’s had some conversations — and that the Academy “loves the idea”.

“The Academy has been really cool. I’ve met with a lot of the people involved in that decision,” he said. “And the last thing I’ll say in defense of every side, it wasn’t up until very recently I could find a handful of stunt people or a handful of Academy people that ever talked, like it had become this urban myth that the Academy didn’t want stunts or that stunt people didn’t want… just they never talked. So, we started talking and every single Academy person from the top all the way through that I talked to, which are quite a few. Everyone loves the idea of it. They all think it’s fair, they all think it’s cool. They just haven’t figured out the how.”

Stahleski Has Been Championing a Stunts Oscar For Some Time

The idea of a stunt category at The Academy Awards is something that Stahleski has been championing for some time. Earlier this year, Stahleski told The Hollywood Reporter that a stunt category for the Oscars was a “no brainer”.

“There’s one for every other department but ours? That’s a no-brainer to me,” Stahelski said. “Truly, there are wives’ tales and rumors and myths about why there’s no category, that the Academy was mad at somebody about something. For all I know, that’s all bullshit. We want to be recognized because we’re one of the 11 main departments. We’re in every fucking trailer. Most movies are sold on what we do.”

Figuring Out How to Award Oscars to Stunts Will Take Some Working Out

While it certainly sounds like the Academy is amenable to the idea of honoring stung work with Oscars, figuring out exactly how to do it is something that will take some sorting out. Stahleski has previously explained that because stunts don’t just occur in a vacuum and are the product of multiple people and teams working together, deciding how to best honor the achievement is something that will need to be figured out.

“I have Scott Rogers, he’s my supervising stunt coordinator, but he deals with the cars and the rigging and the safety. I have Jeremy Arenas, a choreographer that puts all these great moves together. I have three other riggers and three other choreographers and two assistant stunt coordinators. And I myself coordinate half and my editors put it all together. Say we win the Oscar for Best Stunt. Which of the nine people who should get it? And what are you given the Oscar for? There is the great staircase fall for John Wick, and a couple great car hits. There’s a great high fall out the window. But the effect of John Wick is the overall action of the movie. So, are you giving the award for Best Stunt or Best Stunt Sequence, or Best Stunt Constant? The stunt guys don’t know the answer. And I guarantee you the Academy doesn’t either. But I have faith that if all the smart people at the Academy and all our smart people sit down at a table, we can figure it out and make it happen. So, I’m asking you to throw down the gauntlet to help make it happen. I am happy to be a representative for the stunt community among other great people in it, to sit down with the academy and go, okay, we’re all on the same page. How do we do this? Let’s figure it out together.” 

What do you think about an Academy Award for stunt work? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.