Last month, the nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced, and in early March we’ll see how many, if any, Oscars will be won by films like Oppenheimer, Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon. However, prior to this prestigious rite highlighting the crème de los angeles crème of the film industry, it was announced that a new Oscar category had been created for the first time in more than 20 years. Unfortunately, this is not the category that I and many others hoped would be added to the list.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that starting with the 98th Academy Awards, the 2026 rite covering films released in 2025, the Academy Awards will award one of those gold trophies for the most productive achievement in casting. According to Academy Executive Director Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang, this new award will highlight how casting administrators “play an important role in filmmaking,” and in a separate joint statement, the governors of the Academy’s casting directors branch, Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor. Colman and Debra Zan said, “This award is a well-deserved recognition of the exceptional talent of our casting managers and a testament to the committed efforts of our industry. »
This is the first new category at the Oscars since the creation of Best Animated Feature in 2001, and the eligibility and voting rules for Best Casting Director will be set in April 2025, along with the rest of the rules for the 98th Academy Awards. Of course, I have nothing against mentioning the clever work done by casting directors, and as Variety noted in its article, the impetus for this particular category dates back to the late 1990s. I’m pleased with the other people who are here. I’m delighted that the category already exists.
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However, in recent years there have been increasing calls for the Oscars to include a more productive stunt category, and it doesn’t just come from moviegoers. Jason Statham is a staunch Oscar supporter for stuntmen, and John Wick: Chapter Four director Chad Stahelski strongly defended the category early last year. In fact, Stahelski also said in July 2023 that he and other Hollywood figures had “incredibly positive” conversations with the Academy about a stunt category, and he believed a “real movement” was starting to happen. do on this front. But it is evident that there is no movement, given this latest development.
Just like how casting directors are essential to making sure that the right actors are hired for the right roles, stunt performers are an integral cog when it comes to the more action-packed moviemaking process. Without them, such productions wouldn’t even exist! If we can recognize the achievements in other areas like Production Design, Hairstyling and Visual Effects, there’s no reason why the spotlight shouldn’t be pointed as the stunts side of things every year at the Oscars.
I still hope that the Academy will one day agree with me on this and create the Best Stunt category, but for now it’s still a pipe dream. Still, congratulations to those who led the most productive cast, and I can’t wait to see who wins the first Oscar in 2026. Don’t forget that the 96th Academy Awards will air on the 2024 TV show on Sunday, March 10. ABC, but this time it starts at 7 p. m. ET instead of 8 p. m.
A Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse, and Doctor Who gourmet, Adam is a senior content producer at CinemaBlend. He applied for the site in late 2014 and wrote exclusively about comic book and TV videos, as well as offshoots. He ventured into other genres and also made the leap to publishing. In addition to his writing and editing duties, in addition to occasionally interviewing artistic skills, he also oversees the assignment of feature films to film casts. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oregon and is quoted several times on Wikipedia. He is aware that he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.
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