Epic sandworm rides across the desert of Arrakis, a thrilling gladiator battle involving a rhino and a display of the unmitigated feeling of pure Anxiety —those are just a few scenes and characters that have entertained audiences this past year, none of which would be possible without the artisans who make the magic happen behind the scenes.
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00:00All right, well, seeing one of my best friends get emotional is kind of throwing me all off
00:07a little bit.
00:08I just want to thank you so much for this honor, Hamilton and Variety, for putting a
00:15wonderful evening together and recognizing us behind the camera for what we do.
00:23It's not every day we get the spotlight, so this means a lot.
00:27Ah, fuck this.
00:29So I had all this stuff planned, but I want to speak from the heart.
00:35I have six points that I want to kind of point out.
00:39Dave Leitch has been a champion for the stunt industry.
00:45He basically started this career as a stuntman and has worked his way up through the ranks
00:50to a multi-million dollar film director.
00:55So having his constant support through my career and what we do, it's really great to
01:05have an ally in this business because it's a very interesting business.
01:14I'm going off topic.
01:15I threw my cards away, so I'm all over the place.
01:21His wife and producing partner, Kelly McCormick, has championed this stunt designer credit,
01:31which is something that she's pushed really, really hard for.
01:35And so it's the first of its kind.
01:39And so it's something that, it's something to be recognized that we're more than just
01:48stunt coordinators, we're more than just stunt guys.
01:50A stunt designer is somebody that's creative.
01:53It's a technical aspect of film.
01:55It's something that embodies the story and the tone of a film to kind of create the action
02:00sequences that you guys see on film.
02:04The next thing that I'm going to talk about is, what is a stunt designer?
02:12Everybody knows, for the longest time, we've been stunt coordinators and stunt men.
02:17But stunt designer is a new topic.
02:19So in a script, I mean, we've all read scripts, and the best thing about a script is you see
02:25one line that says, epic action sequence here.
02:31So what does that mean?
02:33So as a stunt designer, we take that one line and we create something memorable that fits
02:39with the tone of the movie and relates to the story of the movie, letting the story
02:44drive the action.
02:46That's what a stunt designer does.
02:47And that's what we're trying to get across, and we're trying to educate the people out
02:52there.
02:53It's what we really do.
02:54It's not just guys falling down.
02:55It's guys that are really creative and really think about all the aspects of action and
03:01how it relates to the film.
03:05Working on The Fall Guy was an absolute dream come true.
03:10You know, Dave called me, and it's happened a couple times, and he kind of gives me his
03:14pitch of what we're going to do.
03:18And I always go back to the end of it, and I'm like, you had me at hello, because it's
03:22one of those things that it was a no-brainer.
03:26You get to work with your best friend.
03:29You get to work on a movie that is about your career and what you do.
03:34And so it's just, getting to tell that story was amazing.
03:42Again, I threw my cards away, so I'm a little bit all over the place.
03:48But again, I am not, I'm a stunt person.
03:52I'm a stunt man.
03:53I'm a stunt coordinator.
03:54So this is very odd for me to be up here and speaking to all of you.
04:00But one thing that I will say is that the film business is a very demanding business.
04:08And like Hamilton and Variety are celebrating us behind the scenes, the one thing that gets
04:17overlooked a lot is the people behind us.
04:21So our families, our friends, our loved ones that basically support us through this crazy
04:26journey that we're on in the stunt business.
04:29So I just want to take a moment to recognize all of those people that support us to let
04:35us be up here and doing what we do.
04:38So being, going on location and being away from our families, those families that support
04:49us, my wife Kristen, my kids, Hudson, Rowan, and Harper, without their support I'd be nothing
04:56and I'd just be a miserable, miserable person.
04:59So in closing, you know, being a stunt designer, this is a new title that hasn't been out there
05:09before.
05:10But it's something that there are a lot of stunt designers out there.
05:14And hopefully I'm the first of many people that get recognized for the talents and the
05:20creative things that we do.
05:23So hopefully in the future you'll see more stunt designers up here.
05:28And like David mentioned, we're kind of really pushing forward through the Academy to get
05:33recognized for the Academy for what we do.
05:37And hopefully we'll see some people at a different stage than this, but I will absolutely take
05:43this right now and accept this award and hopefully enlighten people to what we do.
05:49So thank you so much for your time.
05:51I apologize I went off script, but I'm going to go pick my cards up right now.