LOS ANGELES, March 5 (UPI) -- Four of Hollywood's stunt organizations have started lobbying the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an Oscar category.
Representatives of Stunts Unlimited, Brand X, the Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures and the International Stunt Association have teamed to petition the academy for recognition of their craft as both an art and a science, worthy of the creation of a new award category -- Best Stunt Coordinator.
"Stunt performers are the only faction of the movie industry that must literally risk their lives for the sake of their art," the stunt organizations said in a joint statement. "The talent and expertise that is required of a stunt coordinator to be both creative and safe is enormous and highly deserving of academy recognition."
Industry luminaries such as directors Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Jerry Bruckheimer, as well as actors Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger, have all signed a petition that stunt coordinators merit an award category by the academy.
