“To the stunt performers and the stunt coordinators who help make movies magic, we salute you”
These were the words from Actor Ryan Gosling on stage at this year’s Oscars, as he was joined by Emily Blunt to present a section on stunt work. This three-minute segment was half spent on making jokes about the Barbenheimer craze, before showing a montage of stunt work in cinema. This quick video featured work from the likes of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Ram Charan. Coming across, at first look, to be the advancement of awards shows to finally recognise the men and women who put their lives at risk in the process of filmmaking, it quickly devolved into a blatant box-ticking move by the academy. The video ended and the presenters left the stage, without having made any meaningful statement or acknowledged any worker by name.
The entirety of the segment was a little bit of a kick in the face for those who do stunt work in film and television. Though a kick in the face may be something they’re well able to take in their regular work, it’s not what you want to receive from one of Western cinema’s biggest awards ceremonies, and it is hard to swallow when Western cinema has such a strong legacy in terms of stunt in film. Both Chaplin and Keaton are still two of the most iconic names from the silent era. Their action was unlike anything else at the time or even after. Keaton famously had one rule which was to never fake a gag. This commitment to carrying out shocking stunts led to some of the most spectacular on-film sequences in cinema history. Though these performers were celebrated in their time, it seems that the love for those doing stunt work has dwindled as stunt men and women move from being the stars, to being doubles for the stars.
Performing stunts is one of the only jobs on a film set in which you are accepting the fact that you are at risk of death daily. Coordinators are given the hefty, herculean task of arranging sets and props in the safest manner possible. Aside from the necessary ability to assess risk, utilise maths, and knowing your performers capabilities, these coordinators and choreographers also need to have the ingenuity to make their work fit with a directorial vision and that it is possible within the realms of filmmaking.
Through the hard work of these people behind the scenes, stunts have become very advanced, equipment and effects make them safer to perform than they ever have been. Despite this, the risk is still there and accidents do still happen. Whilst flying a plane for Top Gun, stunt pilot Art Scholl died and both him, and the plane, fell into the ocean, unrecoverable. A fatal motorcycle accident on the set of Deadpool 2 took the life of stunt double Joi Harris in 2017. This accident highlighted the risk that stunt women in particular take, especially for women in superhero films whose costumes generally cover less so lack the space to be made protective. A stuntman for The Walking Dead, John Bernecker, died after missing a safety cushion “by inches” while performing a 20-foot fall. His family filed a lawsuit for wrongful death but, though they won their initial lawsuit against AMC who claimed it was Bernecker’s own human error that caused the fatality, the verdict was thrown out by the appeals court.
Last year a documentary was released called David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived about former stunt double for Daniel Radcliffe, David Holmes, who doubled for him during the filming of the Harry Potter films. Holmes and Radcliffe discuss their work in these films and the circumstances that led to Holmes becoming paralysed after a stunt went wrong and he was thrown into a wall. Though Holmes appears as a stuntman for all of the Harry Potter films, he is not listed in the credits of all of them. The release of this documentary brought into light the risk and work of stunt people and their lack of recognition. The attention this documentary drew towards this part of the industry has gone hand in hand with major breaches of safety on film sets, which has been a huge topic of conversation ever since the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
The mentioned deaths and accidents are all a tiny fraction of the incidents that have occurred on sets. Stunt work is a job that is undertaken usually out of passion and enjoyment and these performers see very little credit or celebration for their efforts. Though a trophy from awards shows means little in comparison to some of the things that these performers go through, recognition is still an important part of any work. This might also encourage more attention to be put on stunts, more actors might actually do their own stunt work, and the increased visibility could highlight safety issues and see them righted.
For a long time, the push for awards for stunts has continued but remains fruitless. This leads to what I found most distasteful about the segment at the Oscars. The selection of Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling to present the stunt montage is definitely no accident. Yes, they are both in two of the biggest films of 2023. Yes, they wanted someone to deliver the cheesy pop culture jokes. But yes, these two also happen to be playing the leading roles in upcoming film The Fall Guy. If you have yet to hear about this one, it’s an action/romance film about a stuntman and a director. It shouldn’t be hard to connect the dots on that. Strange coincidence to have a stunt montage presented by the actors in a film about stunt work (where, for the most part, they do not perform their own stunts). This segment feels like an advertisement for The Fall Guy without mentioning it explicitly by name. Whether the goal was to have a stab at subtle consumerism or to truly honour stunt work, it came across as the former and lost all sincerity because of this. If awards shows do not want to shift into irrelevance then the best move would be to show respect to all aspects of those involved in film making, particularly those behind the camera. Considering that the Oscars has had a slew of hosts the past few years who complain about films being too long and make jokes about not watching anything nominated, it is unlikely that they will suddenly U-turn into sincerity but, for people who love and are passionate about film, it is the only thing that would return the Oscars’ status as a prestigious award and not one big joke advertisement.
