Stunt Ensemble SAG Nominations - How should they be decided?
Saturday, February 6, 2021 at 9:27PM One of the reasons we'll never see a Casting Oscar is how invisible that art is. Like editing, only even more hidden, you dont know what the person in charge was working with at all. What did they have to choose from to help create that movie magic? The fact that there's still no "Stunt" Oscar is infinitely weirder, though, because you can actually SEE stuntwork onscreen. And in some movies a lot of it. So thankfully we at least have Stunt prizes from the Screen Actors Guild.
How should the Stunt Ensemble winners be decided at SAG #SAGAwards
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) February 4, 2021
I was joking on twitter about them, but at the same time, all awards categories should be taken seriously. It's an art form. What do you think of their nominations and how would you determine the winners...
Best Stunt Ensemble, TV
- The Boys
- Cobra Kai
- Lovecraft Country
- The Mandalorian
- Westworld
These all feel like worthy nominees though why isn't martial arts spectacle Warrior here? Is it because it's on Cinemax? On the other hand they don't seem to watch the pure action shows because Into the Badlands, another martial arts TV spectacle, was never nominated during its three season run. Usually they nominate shows that will show up in other categories too.
Best Stunt Ensemble, Movies
- Da 5 Bloods
- Mulan
- News of the World
- Trial of the Chicago 7
- Wonder Woman 1984
That Tenet is not here is a snub so ridiculous that it's hard to take this award seriously. But bizarre omissions do happen from time to time at all awards shows. As with TV they don't seem to look at action films that much -- notice that The Old Guard isn't here either. Instead they went with dramas with a pinch of action and therefore stunt work like News of the World and Trial of the Chicago 7.
We'd complain about the lack of foreign titles -- the stunt work in Wild Goose Lake, for example, was very impressive -- except for we assume they probably only consider stunt work done under this union's umbrella (with US based regulations/protections and such).
I aksed Team Experience how these should be decided and here's what they said...
BEN MILLER: American Gladiators competition. Not the new gameshow spins, I'm talking about the old-school 90s set with the joust and the rings. Each team goes round robin against their counterparts and the TV winner would face off against the movie winner. Televise it -> make a billion dollars.
CLAUDIO ALVES: Have the contenders lip-synch for their lives and see who can pull off the most stunts. Death drop your way to the SAG.
BABY CLYDE: Like they did on "It's a Knockout"
EUROCHEESE: We should watch the nominees engage in an extreme sport related to their film: Invisible plane skydiving, flash mob rioting, bomb defusing, paintball shootouts, fencing in costume.
And two serious answers...
GINNY O'KEEFE: I say look into how long the filming process took and dive into BTS videos of the fights and choreography. Whichever looks the most impressive and difficult to pull off. Kind of miffed TENET didn’t get a nom.
NICK TAYLOR: Side-by-side footage of the stunt teams re-enacting their film's big set pieces as compared to footage of the actors going through the same motions. I don't know what qualitative measures could specifically be taken, but it'd be fun to watch seasoned professionals do their thing and see which cast member has the hardest time.
Reader Comments (6)
I don't get why people doesn't get that the riots in The Trial of the Chicago 7 are a magnificent example of subtle stunt work... not always "more is better". And if I remember correctly, don't the stunts vote for that award, anyways? Or everyone does?
I forgot to add, if they were foreign-conscious, probably this award would be won year after year by chinese films...
Isn’t stunt work very closely related to editing? Maybe the Academy thinks so and hence a lack of category at the Oscars.
@Jesus
I can't agree. Stunts are a category where bigger is always more impressive. And we know that's not why Chicago 7 was nominated here, not by a group that considers leading performances for supporting categories. The protest/riot scene takes up 10 mins at the most.
I keep circling the idea that a category for "dance or stunt production" would be a good approach to honoring the contributions of choreographers, movement designers, and stunt coordinators who frankly contribute way more to contemporary filmmaking that songwriters for pieces that play over end credits.
@Tony Ruggio
don't get me wrong... I think Chicago 7 shouldn't be nominated while something like "Tenet" (or "Greenland", for the matter, it's a pity how overlooked that film is!) is left out. But I can see why they would think it is worthy... the riot scenes are well coreographied and seem truly realistic (just rewatching The Dark Knight or specially The Dark Knight Rises can make you realize how easily you have to suspend your disbelief and notice that everything is too obviously faked) so given that I assume that the stunt ensemble is voted by stuntmen and women... maybe they were not that impressed by Tenet? They were aprecciating stuff we don't obviously see, subtle stuff? I can't really get mad at them... seeing they nominated Wonder Woman 1984 makes it clear that they were not just judging the overall quality of the film.