S T U N T S
Pasted in a corner of Eddie Smith's scrapbook is a small, yellowed
newspaper clipping from 1969 telling of a helicopter crash on the set of
a war movie in which a pilot and two stuntmen "escaped injury." The
movie was "MASH"; Smith was one of the stuntmen; and as he walks across
the den of his Culver City home on this spring day more than 30 years
later, he still has a limp from that accident. Although he's free to
grouse about the pain now, back then he held his tongue.
"I couldn't mess it up for the rest of the group, man," says Smith, 78. "We fought too hard. We had to show ourselves."
Click here to read the entire article from the Los Angeles Times.
"I couldn't mess it up for the rest of the group, man," says Smith, 78. "We fought too hard. We had to show ourselves."
Click here to read the entire article from the Los Angeles Times.
During his tenure as superspy James Bond, actor Roger
Moore was often asked if he did his own stunts. His standard reply was,
"Yes. And I do all my own lying." Today, stars far less witty and candid
often boast that they're involved in virtually every piece of
hair-raising action you see on the screen. In truth, they are most
likely either a) starring in a stage-bound melodrama, or b) like Moore,
doing their own lying.
Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter.  Click on image to view the article from The Hollywood Reporter.  Stunt coordinator Conrad Palmisano.
The Good Fight
Stunt performers are gaining ground and respect at SAG. If you're an aspiring movie daredevil looking to join the Stunt Persons Union, don't waste your time: It doesn't exist. While there are fraternal organizations, such as Brand X, the Stuntmen's Association, Stunts Unlimited, the Stuntwomen's Association and the United Stuntwomen's Association, that provide members with status and a sense of community, it is the Screen Actors Guild that negotiates their contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Don't feel embarrassed if you weren't aware of this fact. Two decades ago, when stunt coordinator Conrad Palmisano ("Rush Hour 2," "Lethal Weapon 4") showed up at a SAG meeting to discuss stunt-community concerns, he found similar ignorance in the leadership of his own guild. "They told us to go to our own union," recalls Palmisano, who currently serves as president of the Stuntmen's Association. "From that time to this time, there's been tremendous improvement (in our relationship with SAG), but it's a project that's never really finished. You just have to keep working on it, inching forward." Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. |
They get thrown down stairs, tossed off buildings, set on fire, and no one knows their names. They risk life and limb to provide a film with jaw-dropping, heart-stopping action and then sit quietly by while the $20-million superstars accept kudos for their 60-foot free falls. They're stuntpeople, and they make it look easy, but it's anything but.
Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
Where Credit Is Due
Should there be a special Oscar created for stuntpeople? With the World Stunt Awards, the stunt community finally has the opportunity to honor its own, but many think it's high time that Hollywood's most august body, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, recognize them as well. "Eighteen years ago, I started trying to get the Academy to establish a best stunt coordinating category, and they have just been totally against it," says Jack Gill, a stunt coordinator and second unit director whose credits include the recent "Showtime" and the upcoming "Austin Powers in Goldmember." "It just surprises me that we can't get them to move a little faster." Click here to read the entire article from The Hollywood Reporter. 
Giving Back
The Taurus World Stunt Awards Foundation supports those injured on the job. The World Stunt Awards do not exist just to give the stunt community an opportunity to pat itself on the back in front of a national TV audience, they also serve as a vehicle to raise funds for the Taurus World Stunt Awards Foundation, an organization that was established to help support stunt performers who have suffered debilitating injuries in the line of duty. "You have to be fairly catastrophically injured to qualify," says veteran stuntwoman Jeannie Epper-Kimack, who recently performed in such films as "Wild Wild West" and "The Princess Diaries" and sits on the six-person committee of veteran stunt performers that selects the grant recipients. "It has to be the result of a stunt-related event that occurred during the last year or during the making of a movie that was released last year. You can't be someone who was driving home from work and got in a car accident." Click here to read the article from The Hollywood Reporter. |
