John Wick Director Chad Stahelski Says The Academy Is Finally Discussing An Oscar For Stunts
It's kind of hard to believe that, in 2023, there's still no Oscar for stunt work. Stunt performers and coordinators have long been calling for the Academy to recognize their efforts. In fact, it's been at least three decades since the idea was proposed. As stunt coordinator Jack Gill recalled to Vulture back in 2019, his "A Stranger Among Us" director Sidney Lumet sponsored Gill for membership in the Academy all the way back in 1991, after being surprised to learn that there was no good reason why awards weren't handed out for stunt work. After Gill was told the process could take three to four years, some 32 years later, there's still no stunt category at the Oscars.
During that time there's been all sorts of efforts at convincing the Academy, with stunt performers even organizing a rally at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences offices back in 2016. We here at /Film have made the case for a stunt category at the Oscars, and with the industry currently dominated by action blockbusters, which are seemingly keeping movie theaters in business, there's every reason to finally acknowledge the performers that put themselves at risk for our entertainment.
It's been a big issue for "John Wick" franchise director and stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski, who has been talking publicly about his own passion for seeing stunt work recognized by the Academy for a long time now. And while there's been seemingly little progress made over recent decades, it looks like that could actually change soon.
'In the last couple of months, we've been meeting with members of the Academy and actually having these conversations...'
In March of 2023, Chad Stahelski was asked by Deadline about why he thought the Oscars should "reconsider" creating an award for stunt work, to which he replied:
"What makes you think they've ever really considered it? Have you ever talked to anyone in the Academy about it, or talked to anyone in the stunt world who has talked to the Academy about this?"
The director, who previously worked as Keanu Reeves' stunt double on "The Matrix," added that "the problem is no one's having the conversation." But in the three months since he delivered his matter-of-fact take on the issue, it seems that conversation has finally begun. In an interview with ComicBookMovie.com, Stahelski claimed to have been talking with the Academy about finally creating a category for stunt work, saying:
"In the last couple of months, we've been meeting with members of the Academy and actually having these conversations, and, to be honest, it's been nothing but incredibly positive, incredibly instructional. I think, for the first time, we've made real movement forward to making this happen."
The director added that he was optimistic about the category debuting as early as the 2024 Oscars "or at least the one after that." On the lower end of expectations, he said, "At the latest, the next three or four years."
It follows the creation of the new Production and Technology Branch of the Academy, which is made up of 400 individuals (according to Variety), including "stunt coordinators, script supervisors, choreographers, music supervisors, colorists, line producers and associate producers." Coupled with Stahelski's revelation, then, it looks like previously overlooked crew members will finally be getting their due.
'How do you even determine what to award?'
If there's anyone that can finally make a stunt category a reality at the Oscars, it's Chad Stahelski. Along with his "John Wick" co-director David Leitch, the man has basically reinvented the Hollywood action movie in the last decade. Since "John Wick" arrived in 2014, pretty much every subsequent actioner has striven to emulate the long-takes and expertly choreographed gun-fu action of that first movie, with both Leitch and Stahelski being paid to pump out a series of Wick-esque films, from "Atomic Blonde" to "Nobody." The two also co-founded the stunt coordination company 87eleven.
In other words, by making entire movies where the action is basically the story, the pair have basically been on a crusade to prove that action choreography is an art-form in and of itself. That's why it's surprising that it's taken this long for the Academy to take seriously this question of whether stunt work should have its own category.
According to Stahelski, a big part of that is the fact that there are a lot of questions that come with awarding prizes for stunt work, with the director telling ComicBookMovie.com:
"We haven't had the real talks about how do you even determine what to award, like is it for best stunt? Is it best choreography? Best action sequence? Best stunt ensemble? Does the stunt coordinator get it? The guy doing the gag get it? The martial arts choreographer? The fight choreography? The stunt double? The second unit director? The editor? Who gets the award? All these are great questions that just need to be talked about [...]"
Luckily, things have gone well thus far, with Stahelski revealing that "both sides have been incredibly positive. There is no one that we've met so far that thinks antagonistically to this."
Fingers crossed that we'll see the first Oscar for stunt work handed out very soon.