Summary
After several years of vehement pushback from artists throughout the film industry, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that for its 100th Oscars ceremony in 2027,a new category of Best Stunt Designwill be added. And it’s about time.
Stunts have been inextricably linked to the art form of cinema for as long as the medium has been around. When average consumers hear the word ‘stunts,’ they’re likely to think of them in terms of large-scale, practical effects-based action movies. While that is a popular venue for many of the boldest and most daring stunts, it’s far from the only place where stunts exist within the landscape of filmmaking. It’s high time the Academy honored that tradition.
Cinema’s Earliest History is Tied to Stunts
A film as early as the Lumière Brothers’ iconicArrival of a Train at La Ciotatin 1896, which inspired ariotous response from audiencesat the time, was only possible thanks to stunt work and great stunt design. Positioning the camera close to an oncoming train on an active train track is a stunt, and one that has come to define the course of cinema.
In the years that followed, film began to find its footing as an art form itself, and its pioneers sought to capture things that had never been seen before. In this age, elaborate practical effects work, such as puppetry or animatronics, was still several years off. The advent of computer-generated imagery was more than half a century away. And so, filmmakers turned to the only viable answer: pushing the boundaries of the form through unprecedented stunt-work.
Comedy films of the silent era grew to rely explicitly upon stunts as a form of spectacle that would incite shock and awe in an audience. From Harold Lloyd toCharlie Chaplin to Buster Keaton, many of the most famous performers and filmmakers of the 1920s were also on-screen daredevils, risking life and limb through extensive stunts performed for the camera. In 1923’sSafety Last!, Harold Lloyd famously hangs from atop a clock tower. In 1925’sThe Gold Rush, Charlie Chaplin stages an incredible climax that sees an entire log cabin going over the side of a cliff. This effect was created by integrating real footage with fantastical miniature work to create a stunt-based setpiece that remains jaw-dropping to this day.
And Buster Keaton? Nearly every film that the actor-filmmaker made was chock-full of dangerous and entrancing stunt work. Among them, 1926’sThe Generalremains a monolithic testament to his audacious degree of ambition. The film plays likeMad Max: Fury Roadand feels every bit as dangerous, authentic, and insane.
Stunts Continue to Push the Boundaries in Modern Movies
This foundation of remarkable stunt work that existed from cinema’s earliest days has persevered through to today. In an age in which so many blockbusters opt to rely on computer-generated effects work, many of the biggest action pictures of the last decade have felt glossy, safe, and ultimately quite tame.
However, as always, there are those outsiders who opt for practical effects work. In such an ecosystem of filmmaking, these works stand even more.Franchises likeMission: ImpossibleandJohn Wickhave remained committed to capturing practical, on-screen stunt work for modern audiences, and have met with massive success because of it.
Similarly, even in glossy, CGI-filled blockbusters, there are often still extensive stunts to be done on-set, even if they’re tampered with in post-production.EveryAvengersfilmemploys stunt doubles for all the mainline actors for a reason. Staging the action on-set is often tactile, hand-to-hand, and can be dangerous. On top of this, these larger, sleeker productions still require extensive stunt choreography in order to make their action thrilling, coherent, and capable of telling a story.
Stunts Tell a Story
At the end of the day, that’s what great stunt work is: an extension of story, character, and theme being conveyed in a kinetic, visual manner. Like a dance sequence or a song in a great musical, an action setpiece or piece of stunt work is not designed to bring the film to a halt, but to push it forward with momentum and purpose. When done right, the story of the film doesn’t pause so that some cool stunt work can happen. Rather, the stunts take the story to a place of greater emotional intensity. In this way, much like any number of other categories that have been honored at the Oscars for years, stunts are an element of filmmaking that requires a great deal of careful thought, planning, and craftsmanship to execute well.
Stunt performers and stunt choreographers are tireless, hard-working artisans who deserve to be honored just as much as anyone else on a film set. Here’s hoping that the Best Stunt Design category can be more than just an obligatory element of the Academy Awards come 2027. Instead, it should feel like a hard-fought, well-earned celebration of all the incredible artists who have risked their very lives for the sake of an audience’s entertainment over the course of the last century-plus.
