“The Fall Guy” director David Leitch stopped by Monday’s episode of the “Smartless” podcast and discussed one small change, a change in title to be exact, that convinced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to finally add in a stunt category the annual Academy Awards.
Hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett were quick to congratulate Leitch, who began as a stunt man himself on films like “Fight Club,” on leading the charge for stunt work to be recognized at the Oscars. The category will go into effect in 2027 at the 100th annual Academy Awards.
”Look, it’s been a long journey,” Leitch said of the process. “For 20 plus years inside the Academy there have been a lot of stunt coordinators working on it – Jack Gill, Gregg Smrz, Melissa – there have been a lot of people trying to move the needle.”
Leitch went on to discuss how after making “The Fall Guy” they felt like they had just made a “giant commercial” for why there should be an Academy Award for stunts. “I just went in with Kelly, my wife and producing partner, we went in to talk to the Academy about what have been the stumbling blocks.”
The director detailed other recently added categories like Achievement In Casting (which began with the 98th annual ceremony in 2025) and asked point blank how the stunt community could get the award pushed through the roadblocks that had been stalling them.
“There was a tremendous amount of support inside the Academy and they said, ‘Listen we have a roadmap to follow and it’s just been some sort of lack of clarity.’ So, Kelly and I went down the road of trying to rebrand what we were asking for.”
Then, Leitch used his then-upcoming movie “The Fall Guy” to finally move the needle for the Academy leading up to their final vote on the new stunt category.
“The Academy obviously has this legacy of honoring design, like production design, costume design,” Leitch continued. “And I think when people think of stunts they’re like ‘What are you going to give the award to the performer? Or are you going to give the award to the person who rigged the stunt?’ And it’s like no, we’re going to give it to the stunt coordinator, the department head.”
“The tradition is you give it to the designer so we rebranded our credit on ‘The Fall Guy’, this was Kelly’s idea, to stunt designer,” the director said. By changing Chris O’ Hara’s title, which was approved by both the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, Leitch crossed the “first bridge” to pushing recognition for stunt performers at the Oscars through.
While the award doesn’t go into effect for two more years there is no denying that the recognition was long overdue, a sentiment echoed by Arnett, Hayes and Bateman. Leitch also expressed his excitement for the award.
“It’s long overdue, and I was happy to be instrumental inside the Academy like really getting on the zooms with all the Governors I could and really canvasing it,” Leitch added. “For our final vote I curated a video presentation with a lot of director friends, celebrity friends … They were really advocates for it.”
The Academy Award for Achievement in Stunt Design category that will be introduced to celebrate films released in 2027.
Check out the full episode below: