Academy Awards open the door to a new Oscar category
Each year, the Academy Awards hand out their coveted gold statuettes to directors, actors, composers, makeup artists, hair stylists, sound designers, and celebrate figures across the movie. However, there has never been an Oscar category to celebrate the work of stunt performers, but that could all chang.
The absence has not gone unnoticed by those working in this field. Stunt performers have been campaigning for their own shot at an Academy Award for years, most recently finding their campaign bolstered by Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling and his starring role in The Fall Guy.
Earlier in the year, Gosling took on a role in David Leitch’s The Fall Guy as a Hollywood stuntman named Colt Seavers, who doubles for Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character. Beneath a messy break-up and scenes of fun-filled action, the movie is actually an ode to the art of stunt work.
Throughout the film’s press campaign, Gosling continually praised the risks taken by hard-working stunt performers. The star even went as far as to deem the film “a giant campaign to get stunts an Oscar category” while walking the red carpet at the premiere.
Gosling may have been joking, but those in charge at the Academy do seem to be taking more notice of the campaign amidst growing conversations. In a recent chat with Empire at this year’s edition of Cannes Film Festival, Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy, revealed that he was open to the idea of a stunts category.
“We’re talking to members of the stunt community who are Academy members about the possibility of that,” he shared, acknowledging that they recently decided to add an award for casting directors. “We’re always open to those discussions,” he concluded.
In February, the Academy Awards announced a new category for ‘Best Casting’, after a similar campaign had been ongoing for decades. The new casting award will be added to the 2026 edition of the ceremony.
The ‘Best Casting’ award marks the first new category to be introduced to the award show in over 20 years, following the addition of the ‘Best Animated Feature Film’ award in 2001. Hopefully the wait for a stunts category won’t be quite as long.
This year’s Academy Awards ceremony was dominated by Oppenheimer, which finally won Christopher Nolan his first Oscar. Alongside the coveted ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Picture’ awards, the film took home titles for acting, cinematography, and scoring. Other winners included The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, and American Fiction.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.