Winners and Nominees 2021

Harley Quinn fights escaped inmates in a jail block while emergency sprinklers go off. She takes them down one by one using flashy acrobatic moves. All acrobatic movements were done by the stunt double and the stunt reactions were done by stunt performers.

Two women brawl through a large house. The fight features the women being thrown across a kitchen table, through a two-sided fireplace, swinging on decorative rope, and going through glass. To be flung across the kitchen table, the stuntwoman is on a single hip pick line to get her to the island and then released so she could fall freely to the floor. To be kicked through the two-sided fireplace, the stuntwoman was on a single wire to pull her up and through the fireplace. The fire was real and there was a 1” pad to land on. Swinging on the decorative rope and falling was done in two parts. In the first part, a stuntwoman was on a safety line and jumped to grab and swing on the rope. In the second part, the stuntwoman had 2 lines on her hips, was pulled to the apex of the swing, and then released to fall into the breakaway table and a 1” pad on the floor. To crash through the tempered glass, the stuntwomen were on a wire to help yank them through the glass and they had a 1” pad for landing.

Two stuntmen fall together over a 2nd story railing, onto an awning, down to a truck parked on the street, and finally to the ground. No wires were used and this was done practically. CGI was used to smooth out the edges of a thin pad on the ground.

A stuntman falls 40’ backwards off a bridge, rotates 360 degrees, and lands in the river below. The stunt was performed in two parts. In the first part, the stuntman was on wires and a descender rig and stopped when his body was halfway in the water, due to pollution in the water. The second part was done in a tank. The stunt performer fell off a 15’ diving platform and had weights in his pockets so he would sink past the camera.

Will Smith is driving a motorcycle in a car chase when he jumps to the back of a tractor trailer, runs towards the cab, and jumps to grab hold of a ladder hanging from a helicopter. The stuntman running up the semi to the hanging ladder was done practically with a ladder hanging from a crane arm and a helicopter hovering to the side for prop wash only. The stuntman was on a stunt rigging slack removal system that allowed him to start at the back of the semi, run toward the ladder, and jump as fireballs were exploding behind him. The shot of the stunt double rigged to the ladder and helicopter was overlapped with another explosion to tie together shots of the helicopter and fireballs. The helicopter flying away with the stunt double on the ladder was done practically.

Two stunt performers are propelled up and down the side of a building in Mumbai. The jump up was over 130’ and done using high speed winches. The jump down was 240’ on a winch. Both were done with stunt performers doing the jumps.

A blue Porsche races through the streets of Miami with the help of police cars and motorcycles. The Porsche has near misses, drifts, takes corners in reverse, and does a reverse 180 in roundabout.

Harley Quinn chases 2 vehicles while on roller skates and with the aid of a friend on a motorcycle. She is hit by the cars, rolls around them, is propelled by her friend on the motorcycle, and fights the bad guys inside and outside the cars until they crash. The roller skating stunts were done with wire assistance for safety at higher speeds and a combination of safety and tow lines were used to keep the skater at the same pace as the vehicles.

Two dirt bike riders are chased by the police through the streets and alleyways of West Baltimore. When the chase ends because the police have been told to stand down, the riders celebrate on their bikes. There were no wires, CGI, visual enhancements, or modifications to the bikes for this sequence.

The lead actor is chased through narrow streets by police and another bad guy. The bad guy is driving a police car and takes out multiple cars, using his own vehicle to smash and shove them off the road, including flipping one police car. A pipe ramp was used to flip the police car. A stunt driver was hidden in the rear seat to drive the bad guy’s car and was painted out later with CGI.

A man is hit with gas across from a campfire and is engulfed in flames from head to toe. The stuntman did a 45 second burn before rolling on the ground. He used fire gel on his skin and hair but did not have gloves or a fire hood. CGI was only used to create the flame from the water gun.

A woman falls through the ice covered river and is saved by a dog. The scene was shot in a few parts. Special Effects built a simulated frozen ice sheet atop a 40’ container with a recirculating pump that provided a strong current. A trap door was built so the stunt woman could drop through and be swept away. For the next part, in a larger tank, the stuntwoman was harnessed so she could be towed forward and back. The dog was played by another stuntwoman who dove in and swam down to rescue the woman. The dog/stuntwoman had a harness for the first stuntwoman to grab onto, while they swam under the ice and toward the surface. Lastly, the dog/stuntwoman swam to the surface and broke through the predetermined breakaway ice area, and forced both of them to safety. All of the work was done on breath holds without additional air sources during the filming portions. The dog’s body was later added in via CGI over the stuntwoman’s body.

A man is fully encased in fire while he fights another man. The stunt performer did at least 25 full and partial fire burns, some while in a fight, traveling across the room with a hand pull into a chair, falling into a bathtub, and three 8′ drops through a hole in the floor while on a descender.

Harley Quinn fights escaped inmates in a jail block while emergency sprinklers go off. She takes them down one by one using flashy acrobatic moves. All acrobatic movements were done by the stunt double and the stunt reactions were done by stunt performers.

A woman falls through the ice covered river and is saved by a dog. The scene was shot in a few parts. Special Effects built a simulated frozen ice sheet atop a 40’ container with a recirculating pump that provided a strong current. A trap door was built so the stunt woman could drop through and be swept away. For the next part, in a larger tank, the stuntwoman was harnessed so she could be towed forward and back. The dog was played by another stuntwoman who dove in and swam down to rescue the woman. The dog/stuntwoman had a harness for the first stuntwoman to grab onto, while they swam under the ice and toward the surface. Lastly, the dog/stuntwoman swam to the surface and broke through the predetermined breakaway ice area, and forced both of them to safety. All of the work was done on breath holds without additional air sources during the filming portions. The dog’s body was later added in via CGI over the stuntwoman’s body.

A stuntwoman rides a bicycle, slams into a parked car, flies over the handle bars, slides across the hood of a car and hits the ground on the other side. No mats or wires were used.

Wonder Woman is making her way through a convoy of armored trucks. She uses a fender to slide underneath a moving truck. The truck flips and she lands on the hood of the villain’s Mercedes. From there, she does a front flip with a half twist over the roof of the Mercedes, ropes the back of the vehicle, and water skis on the asphalt. This sequence was shot separately. In the first part, the truck was rigged with a ram parked in front of a sideways parked truck. Using a slow draw on the ram, the stunt performer was pulled on a skid plate under the sideways parked truck. As she was exiting the sideways truck, they moved off with the other truck, pulling her to the back of it as it pulled away. For the second part, the Mercedes was being towed and the performer was on the hood of the Mercedes with a safety rig over her head. She then did a front flip with a half twist over top and ended up on her feet to water ski behind the car.

In a fight with Harley Quinn, a man does a self-motivated reaction, inverting himself into an upside down taco. This was done organically, without wires or a crash pad.

Harley Quinn is hit by a car and sent flying into the side of a parked van. The stunt double was flung via a wire pull to simulate the force of being hit by a car and landed on the ground without the use of crash pads.

A man is hit by a truck and ratcheted into a tuk tuk. CGI was used to smooth out the edges of a thin pad on the ground and the truck was comped into the shot. The ratchet and impact into the tuk tuk were practical.