No Oscar for Stunt Performers

The proposal from a group of stunt performer's organizations to create a new Academy Award for "Best Stunt Coordinator" was rejected by the Board of Governors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"At a time when the academy is trying to find ways to reduce the numbers of statuettes given out, and looks at categories with an eye more focused on reduction than addition, the board is simply not prepared to institute any new annual awards categories," academy President Frank Pierson said in a statement Wednesday.

Jack Gill, the stunt co-ordinator who has been trying for 15 years to convince the Academy to get a new category added, said "Stunt co-ordinators are an integral part of the filmmaking business yet we are totally overlooked by the Academy"

"It seems like every picture promoted has an action piece to lure audiences in there and the stunt people are central to those scenes.

"Even the Academy shows action scenes at the Oscars, yet they keep us out of it, despite the fact that we play a major role before, during and after production," he said.