John Wick Director Says There Have Been Positive Talks Toward An Oscar Stunt Category

There’s been a drive in recent years to add a stunt category to the Academy Awards, and John Wick Chad Stahelski says things are moving in a good direction. Stahelski spoke with ComicBookMovie.com for a new interview promoting the home video release of John Wick: Chapter 4 and said that there have been conversations about adding a stunt-related category to the Oscars. You can see a couple of highlights below:

On why there is no stunt category yet: “I think why hasn’t it happened has been, again, it’s all like urban legend of why there’s not a category or anything like that. In truth, from what research I’ve done, is that the conversation hasn’t happened. No one from the Academy has sat down at a big table with a contingent from the stunt world and sorted it out. I mean, we’re not just talking about an American stunt team, we’re talking about a global network of stunt performers, and international films from all over the world. That’s a lot of people. I don’t know, if you or anyone is really familiar with how big the Academy really is, but it’s hundreds of members. It’s a lot of mechanisms to get these things done, and I just don’t think anyone’s ever sat down at the table and figured it out.”

On recent discussions taking place: “So, 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. I think it’s something that can happen as soon as, you know, the next Oscars, or at least the one after that, at the latest, the next three or four years. I think there’s a lot of working parts, but there’s also, when you say that, I ask you a question back. – ‘Okay, so I’m the Academy, you’ve come to me and said we should have stunts in the Oscars, and I go, ‘I agree with you. Great. How do we do it? How do we select the best stunt? Who do we give it to?’ Quick, what are your answers? …

“The question is, 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 by smart individuals on both sides of it, the stunt community and the Academy to figure out okay, well, do we do it as an individual thing? Do we do it as best overall ensemble? Or, do we do it in a category that says, whichever stunt sequence best modifies or enhances the film, in a storytelling device, is that what is? How do you select it? Is it just the most badass fire burn ever? Or is it the stunt sequence that helps develop the film best?”

On how the talks are going: “So, for the last three months, we’ve been talking to members of the Academy, getting this mechanisation, this huge machine up and running to have these discussions and again, to be open and fair about both sides. Both sides have been incredibly positive. There is no one that we’ve met so far that thinks antagonistically to this, like everybody on both sides wants this to happen. They want stunts at the Oscars. It’s going to happen. It’s just how do we do it as fair and as thought out as possible, like we don’t want to do it willy nilly, we want this to be impactful on the industry and on the world, we want to do this classy, we want to do it right, we want to do it smart, and that just takes a little bit of time and the right people in the room talking.”