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Some of us have been abroken recordabout this issue for years now.
We started theVulture Stunt Awardstwo years ago for that reason.
There are too many categories!
Nobody cares about stunts!
We celebrate art and stunts arent art!
This is just an excuse to give Tom Cruise an Oscar!Blah, blah, blah.
All of these arguments have, over the years, mostly proven hollow and fallen by the wayside.
And the Academy has recentlyseemed more opento the idea as well.
But there is one that persists.
Nowadays, its the argument one probably hears the most.
Ive heard it myself from several people in the industry.
Its a lousy argument, not to mention an offensive one.
The stunt industry has also given out its own prizes, the Taurus Awards, since 2001.
Lets be very clear: That has not happened.
Now, theyre part of the industry, with union protections.
When SAG went on strike last year, the stuntworkers wereright there with them.
And as stunts have become more valued, they have become safer and better.
Theres a reason people advocate to be paid more, because it improves the quality of the work.
And yet, the thinking that an award would make stunts less safe still persists.
I suspect its actually old-fashioned Hollywood classism more than anything else.
He let me talk for five minutes while I made my case.
Then he turned to me and said, These people are the dumbest people on set.
I dont want them getting any awards.
Theyre the ones dealing with math and physics.
Theyre the nerds calculating wind resistance on their high falls.
They build their own rigs.
They test their own rigs.
If the wind was over ten miles an hour, it was not doable, Holladay told me.
If it was blowing head-on, it would send the front of the truck way up in the air.
And yes, they are artists as well.
The fact that stunts so often proves to be a thankless job in Hollywood infuriates her.
They have such a ridiculous level of artistry and craft.
It is a vocation in life that many of them start from being very little.
Hopefully, they will finally get the respect that they are very much long overdue.
