After more than Three decades of lobbying – and countless bruises and broken bones – The Hollywood waterfall community will finally be recognized by Oscars.
The Academy of Arts and the Sciences of the Academy announced Thursday that it would present a new competitive category for success in the design of waterfalls, with the first prize to be presented in 2028 in the 100th Oscars, honoring the films published in 2027. The new Oscar for waterfalls follows last year of last year Announcement of a price for the casting Directors – The first new category added in more than two decades, which will make its debut at the 98th Academy Awards next year.
“Since the first days of cinema, the design of the waterfalls has been an integral part of the cinema,” said the CEO of the Academy, Bill Kramer and the president of the Academy, Janet Yang, in a joint press release. “We are proud to honor the innovative work of these technical and creative artists, and we congratulate them for their commitment and their dedication to reach this important opportunity.”
For the Hollywood waterfall community, the announcement marks a historic stage in a several decades recognition. In 1991, veteran stuntman Coordinator Jack Gill started lobbying For an Oscar for waterfalls, guaranteeing the support of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the idea. But while stunt artists are honored each year at the Emmy Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, the managers of the Academy have long refused calls to recognize the cascades on the evening of the Oscars or during its unbevened scientific and technical prices. (The three exceptions: The yakima canutt stuntman received a prize from the honorary academy in 1967 for having developed security devices for stuntmen, while the stuntman who became a Hal Needham director and the Hong Kong action star and the pioneer of the Jackie Chan stuntman received the Success Oscars respectively in 2012 and 2016, respectively.))
With waterfalls in superproductions like “Mad Max: Fury Road” and franchises like “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast and Furious” more and more elaborate, donors have argued that the recognition of the Oscars was expected for a long time. “There is no other head of department in the cinema that has this kind of pressure where people's lives is at stake,” Gill told Times last year. “Cascaders do not want to be actors and walk on the red carpet and all this. What they want is to be recognized among their peers to do something that involves blood, sweat and tears.”
This campaign had recently been Merged by the director David LeitchA former stuntman and coordinator who has since directed action successes such as “Deadpool 2”, “Bullet Train” and “John Wick”. Alongside her partner and production wife, Kelly McCormick, in their banner 87 North Productions, Leitch worked with Chris O'hara, a stunt coordinator and designer with unlimited cascades, and others to make presentations to the academy, according to people familiar with the process.
With last summer's action comedy “The Fall Guy”, Leitch said he was aiming to make a film that would celebrate and present the crafts and ingenuity of the world of waterfalls, including a “Cannon roll” record that saw a Jeep Cherokee completes eight and a half revolutions, more than any previous film. By labeling O'Hara's work on “The Fall Guy” as a “cascade design” rather than as a coordination – a subtle but significant change – the filmmakers reflected other trades long recognized by the Academy, such as the design of costume and production.
In a statement following the announcement, Leitch highlighted the critical role that the waterfalls played in the cinematographic show throughout the history of cinema.
“The waterfalls are essential to all kinds of films and rooted in the depths of the history of our industry – revolutionary work of the first pioneers like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin, with art inspiring cascaders, coordinators, artists and choreographers today,” said Leitch. “It was a long trip for so many of us. Chris O'Hara and I spent years working to give life to this moment, standing on the shoulders of the stuntmen who fought tirelessly for recognition over the decades. We are incredibly grateful. “
Although the defenders of a category of waterfalls have argued for a long time that he could help stimulate the notes for the Oscar television, some initiates of the Academy had previously argued that there were simply too few waterfall professionals in the organization to justify their own category. But in the last decade, the organization has tripled the number of cascades professionals in its ranks at more than 100. In 2023, the academy moved the cascade coordinators, which had already been classified as members in general, in a newly created production and technology branch which also houses technical and production positions, including head technology officers, supervisors of scripts, choreographers and musical supervisors.
For the Cascades Community, the lack of recognition of the Oscars had become an increasingly bitter source of frustration, clearly underlined by the film by Quentin Tarantino in 2019 “Once upon a time … in HollywoodWho finally landed in Pitt an Oscar for his turn as a graying stuntman from the 1960s.
“It was the big tumult – you can get an academy prize for pretending to be a stunt, but you cannot get an academy prize to be one,” said O'hara, who supervised the department of Cascles on “The Fall Guy” and previously worked on films, including “Jurassic World” and “Baby Driver” last.
In a signal, the tide was running, last year's Oscars included a special tribute to the Cascades community, presented by the stars of “Fall Guy” Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling and produced by Leitch and McCormick. “They have been such a crucial part of our industry since the start of cinema,” Gosling told the crowd of warm applause between the riffs with a blow from the “Barbenheimer” quarrel. “To waterfall artists and waterfall coordinators who help make the magic of films, we salute you.”
The rules concerning eligibility and voting for the new cascade prize will be published in 2027, and the details on how the price will be awarded.
