Tony Ancich

Mrs. D'Brot

English

14 April 2009

And The Oscar Goes To..

Matt Damon, a universally well known actor millionaire, especially for his role in the “Bourne” trilogy. The “Bourne” trilogy is a series of action films that take place world wide, in which Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is constantly running and nearly escaping the danger of an agency gone bad that is out for his blood. Without the action stunts performed by a man that ninety-nine percent of you have never heard of, these movies would’ve never been made. David Leitch was Matt Damon's stunt double and the man behind the camera in a large majority of Matt Damon’s action scenes that he could not perform himself, but of course you would never know that, because he was never publicly recognized for his work by any major organizations such as the Academy Awards of Motion Pictures. David Leitch is an extremely skilled and talented stunt man and has a resume that is not easily matched. He has worked on nearly a hundred well known projects and is one of the more successful Hollywood stunt men. However, if you were to Google search and compare between Matt Damon and David Leitch, Matt Damon has well over one million more results. Once again, because people don’t seem to realize just how important stunt men are to the film industry. It cannot be stressed enough that film making would literally not be possible without the work of stunt men such as David Leitch, especially when directing action films like the “Bourne” trilogy.

It has now been almost a twenty year battle and there is still no end in sight. Four of Hollywood’s main stunt organizations, Stunts Unlimited, Brand X, The Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures and The International Stunt Association have been fighting for a new Oscar Award Category since 1990 (“Stuntmen Demand Oscar!”). Stunt men are not only critical in the film industry, but they are absolutely, one hundred percent necessary, and they aren’t receiving any of the credit that they deserve. A stunt man veteran and lead campaigner for the new award category for the Oscars Jack Gill said, “When I first started out I thought it would take at most two to five years” (Waxman 1). Little did he know it would be about ten times that, and still unresolved. He continued on to explain how other categories had been added and removed from the list, but the stunt industry can’t even manage to get their foot in the door. It is beyond unfair, it doesn’t even make sense, it seems like a no-brainer, the stunt industry should have been recognized for the large role that it plays in motion pictures ever since the very first action movie was made. They are the only fraction of the movie industry that risk their lives every day to catch that perfect shot, many of them have been seriously injured and even killed over the years all so that you can go home after a long day of work and watch a strong, believable action flick (“Stuntmen Demand Oscar!”). Stunt men create images for actors that they can’t create on their own, stunt men are the ones that make the actors look good enough to deserve an Oscar, so where’s the stunt men's credit? The battle between stunt men and the academy needs to end, it's dragged on for far too long, stunt organizations are ready to receive the recognition they finally deserve.

Without stunt men to risk their lives, the majority of all movies would not be made (Elsworth 1). There is more to being a stunt man than leaping off the highest building, being lit on fire the longest, or crashing a car at the fastest speed. If that was all that was required of a professional stunt man, anyone could do it, and we'd have no need for stunt men in the first place. Stunts need to be so believable and so accurate that the director can catch that perfect shot with as little technology used as possible in order to keep a realistic feel, that makes the audience leap out of their seats and know that what they just saw may be a movie, but it still had to be done in real life. The amount of creativity and skill that goes in to forming a stunt scene and performing it well, is an art that requires years of extreme training and professionalism. If one thing goes wrong, lives could very possibly be lost. That is why it has been proven by members of the academy that stunts involve enough art and science to meet the requirements for an Oscar category, but somehow they are still denied (Park 1). Although three of five films that were nominated for Best Picture feature death-defying stunt scenes, the board of governors at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted against an award for stunt men, causing their hard work, skill and dangerous line of work continue to go unrecognized (Park 1).