2001 Taurus World Stunt Awards
Nominations
BEST FIGHT
1. Charlie’s Angels
5 Bad Guys on 1 Angel ... 5 Stunt performers with Drew Barrymore. Drew begins the
fight tied to a chair with only her feet free. Eventually, the chair breaks away and her
still-tied hands come to the front. The stunt performers were on the receiving end of a
variety of kicks, punches and martial arts moves. Each was felled by Drew.
Nominees: Al Goto, Steve Ito, Felipe Savahge, Mike Smith, Jerry Trimble
2. Gladiator
Sword/Axe Fight ... 40 pages of storyboards detailed every step, sword stroke, shield
movement, ax blow and coordinated camera move. The entire sequence was rehearsed
every day for 3 weeks prior to shooting.
Nominees: Stuart Clark, Sven-Ole Thorsen
WINNER
3. Romeo Must Die
Bar Fight ... Racial tension and insults incite this bar fight between these five stunt
performers and Russell Wong. A series of effective kicks sends one stuntman through a
glass cabinet and ratchets another stuntman into the back of the bar, crashing through
glass shelves and bottles. Wong hoists the third performer into the air and crashes him
down onto the glass bar before kicking him to the ground. Then Wong, on wires, faces
off with Lloyd, Gaston and Clay in a classic martial arts battle of kicks and punches.
Nominees: Lloyd Adams, Aubrey Culp, Clay Fontenot, Gaston Howard, Ernest
Jackson
4. Shanghai Noon
Jackie Fights Two Indians ... In this comedic fight scene between Jackie Chan and two
Indians, Cheng doubles Jackie Chan and also plays the role of one of the Indians Jackie is
fighting-the one with two pigtails and a striped chin. As Chang, Cheng pulls the other
Indian from a horse, jumps on to a tree branch, kicks an Indian, then falls off as the
branch breaks. As the Indian, Andy was knocked down with a short bush which Jackie
flings at him like a weapon. After the other Indian is stuck in the tree, Chang jumps over
him and knocks Jackie down. Jackie jumps up to a tree branch, swings over Cheng, flips
around and knocks him to the ground.
Nominee: Andy Cheng
5. Shanghai Noon
Barroom Brawl ... A wild barroom brawl breaks out as Jackie Chan (Chon Wang) mixes
it up with Owen Wilson (Roy) and a group of rough old cowboys. All breaks loose as
Wang (Jackie) uses everything from his pony tail to a set of moose antlers to keep the
bottle smashing, chair swinging, westerners at bay. Performers fall through chairs, get
punched, kicked, thrown off landings, slid down the bar and have chairs crashed over
their heads. The scene is total chaos and the bar ends up completely demolished.
Nominees: Bradley James Allan, Charles Andre, James Baker, Eric Bryson, Lauro
Chartrand, Andy Cheng, Kai Chung, Jim Dunn, Marny Eng, Jim Finkbeiner,
Corry Glass, Reg Glass, Tom Glass, Alex Green, Buddy Hamilton, Dave Hospes,
Mike Langlois, Roger Lewis, Chung Chi Nicky Li, Brad Loree, Dave McKeown,
Mike Mitchell, Shawn Orr, Gerald Paetz, Fred Perron, Jerri Phillips, Jim Randle,
Ron Robinson, Trish Schill, Greg Schlosser, Jim Sheild, Mike Vezina, Kim Weisner,
Brent Woolsey, Gang Wu, Shane Wyles, David Yuen,
BEST FIRE
1. The Gift
Partial Burn While Tied to Chair ... Erik, playing a dramatic role as an abusive father, is
tied to a chair and gagged. He is naked from the waist up with no protective nomex. He
was doused with gasoline and ignited. He is in the scene with Giovanni Ribisi, who plays
his son.
Nominee: Erik Cord
2. Hollow Man
Full Burn in Elevator... Phil (doubling Kevin Bacon) is trapped in elevator and repeatedly
shot with a flame thrower and becomes totally engulfed. He dives over his attacker in an
attempt to escape but she blasts him again.
Nominee: Phil Culotta
WINNER
3. The Ninth Gate
Full Burn within Circle of Fire ... Performer is fully engulfed by fire and trapped with a
circle of fire. He desperately attempts to put himself out. He is shot and falls face down
on the floor, still fully burning.
Nominees: N/A
4. Reindeer Games
Full Burn in Casino... Ernie Jackson (doubling Clarence Williams III) is in a Santa Suit.
As he lights a cigarette he is squirted with alcohol. He ignites and burns for several
seconds before backing through a window and falling out onto a car windshield and hood
below.
Nominee: Ernest Jackson
5. U-571
Two Full Burns inside Sub ... In the beginning of the film, two submarine mechanics are
working in the engine room when there is a big explosion. Jerry immediately goes up in
flames in a full burn. Robert runs for a fire extinguisher, but as he turns with it to help his
friend, he is hit face on by a huge fireball from three feet away, does a full burn and falls
dead.
Nominees: Robert Lahoda, Jaroslav Psenicka
BEST HIGH WORK
1. The Cell
Three Falls from Box … Jill (doubling Jennifer Lopez) does a highly choreographed
series of falls: a free fall, decelerator and descender. She falls headfirst from a 3’ square
glass box on a decelerator. She drops upside down for 15 feet then jerks to a stop, reaches
to pike position, pulls a quick release around her ankles and free falls for another 15 feet
out of frame. On a secondary hydraulic descender she falls another 40 feet while flipping
and twisting between the cables on the flying harness. Precise choreography required her
to reverse position, right herself, release her hair from its bun and spread out her sheer
dress at the exact moment she falls through a hole. While descending, she had to
constantly flip and turn as if she was in water. She eventually slowed and ‘floated” while
remaining a few feet over the ground.
Nominee: Jill Brown
WINNER
2. Hollow Man
Fall Inside Elevator Shaft ... Lincoln (doubling Josh Brolin) climbs 60 ft. ladder inside an
elevator shaft. An explosion below shoots the elevator up past him forcing him to flatten
against the wall for safety. Next, the ladder breaks on one side, throwing him against the
wall. Then the elevator car drops, once again flattening him against the wall. Finally,
Linc falls from the ladder to the end of his webbing tie-off.
Nominee: Lincoln P. Simonds
3. Shanghai Noon
Fall from the Bell Tower ... Andy (doubling Jackie) dangles inverted from a 2 x 12 plank
60 ft. in the air inside a bell tower. He falls head first, catches a rope, swings into the wall
and crashes through two wooden planks before falling another 8 ft. to the floor in a ribcrunching splat.
Nominee: Andy Cheng
BEST DRIVING
1. Charlie’s Angels
Bronco Jump ... Rick (doubling Bill Murray) landed an antique Bronco from a large jump
into boxes and then onto the ground from a smaller jump. Its extremely short wheelbase
makes this a difficult vehicle to jump; Rick had the extra challenge of being directed not
to damage the Bronco. Meticulous planning, several radar gun measured practice runs
through the take-off ramp area, and extensive experience combined to create an exciting
stunt that resulted in zero damage to the antique vehicle.
Nominee: Rick Seaman
2. Charlie’s Angels
Spiral Pipe Ramp ... Swerving to miss an Indy car, Gill's car swerves and hits a trailer
with a bulldozer on back. The car smashes through van and up a 20 ft. pipe ramp at
55mph, spirals in air, lands on its nose, slides across intersection, and hits another car.
Rehearsed 3 times into boxes to coordinate landing area and flight path, which was
critical due to number of people in the vicinity of the stunt.
Nominee: Tanner Gill
3. Get Carter
Cadillac/Jag Car Chase ... Corey (in Caddy) chased by Al (in Jag). Chase travels down
streets, through alleys, under train rails. Drivers bear down on loaded tow truck and split
to either side at last minute. Corey purposely hits towed car, causing it to smash Al into
pillar. Drivers meet again in head-on duel. Al's car bails at last minute, makes a sharp
right, and spiral pipe ramps into underground walkway.
Nominees: Corey Eubanks, Al Wyatt Jr.
4. Gone in 60 Seconds
Mustang/Cop Car Chase ... This chase of over 5 minutes is the climax of the film. It
includes slides, near misses, a van t-bone, Mustang near misses pedestrian, head-on near
miss, drift slide, near miss of garbage truck, high speed reverse 90 with near miss of big
rig, opposing 90's, high speeds through wash, cop car near misses construction
equipment, Mustang jump-off ramps, cop car off-ramps to crash into construction
equipment, multiple cars hit by construction containers, Mustang ramp-to-ground jump
(the beginning and end of the jump are live action, the center of the jump is CG).
Nominees: Chuck Picerni Jr., Eddie Yansick
WINNER
5. Shaft
Lincoln/Cadillac/SUV Car Chase … Roy driving a red Continental, is chased by Jalil in a
Silver Cadillac through city streets at night. They careen off of each other and dodge in
and out of traffic at high speeds. Harry joins the chase in an SUV. The Caddie T-Bones a
car towed in its path, catches the Lincoln again and bumps it from behind. Ongoing gun
battle blows out windows of both cars, then hits Roy, causing Caddie to veer right and
canon-roll over parked cars before coming to rest on the sidewalk. SUV picks up chase
by T-boning Lincoln and heading it in direction of gated pier. Automatic gunfire from
SUV hits trunk and inside of Lincoln. Return fire kills Harry just before the Lincoln does
a cannon, slides to a stop and gets rammed by the SUV.
Nominees: Roy T. Anderson, Harry Harris III, Jalil Jay Lynch
BEST WORK WITH A VEHICLE
1. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Hay Truck Tips Over... Bullwinkle's car backs off of a car carrier while the carrier is
moving down the road. Meanwhile, a hay truck is coming at it from a 90-degree angle. In
trying to avoid a collision, the hay truck skis on two wheels and lands on its side.
Nominees: Rick Blackwell, Tim Chitwood
2. Me, Myself and Irene
Car Hit with 360° Hit ... Pat Banta gets into a car and begins to drive forward. Denney
steps in front of the car raises a gun and is hit by the car at approx 15mph. Denney
purposely caught the front of the vehicle with his leg. This turned him upside down so as
to catch the side windshield post of convertible. As he falls from car he does a 360 in air
and lands on the ground face down.
Nominee: Denney Pierce
WINNER
3. Reindeer Games
Double Car Hit ... David and Jakob play security guards inside casino. Car crashes
through casino wall, hitting both performers - one is knocked out of the way, the other
lands on a card table.
Nominees: David Jacox, Jacob Rupp
4. Scary Movie
Car Hit while in Lingerie... Leslie (doubling Carmen Electra) is trying to flag down car
while wearing only bra and panties. She gets hit by a car and does several flips over car
(ratchet) before crashing behind. Wore smallest, thinnest harness available and nude-tone
body suit.
Nominees: Yves Cameron, Leslie Spongberg
5. Shaft
"Blind" Car Hit... Jalil (doubling Geoffrey Wright) is standing in the street threatening
Shaft with a shiv. He’s hit from behind by an oncoming Firebird. He bounces onto the
windshield, which he cracks with his head, then is spit back off the front of the car onto
the street.
Nominee: Jalil Jay Lynch
BEST SPECIALTY STUNT
1. Charlie’s Angels
Stair Fall and Fight ... Shauna and Donna fight on wires while falling through a bell
tower, hitting a wood beam, then falling to the ground. Dodging the falling bell, they
crash through a breakaway castle door and launch themselves down 20 stone steps while
clinched together. The performers are wearing skin-tight, revealing clothing with little to
no room for pads. When they reach the bottom, they continue their fight.
Nominees: Shauna Duggins, Donna Evans
WINNER
2. The Perfect Storm
Blown off Andrea Gail ... At the height of the storm the crew attempts to secure the
wheelhouse. Pete (doubling actor) is snatched by the violence of the storm (ratchet),
buffeted by the winds while in the air, then thrown into the churning water.
Nominee: Pete Turner
3. Ready to Rumble
55' Descender Through Cages ... This final wrestling match takes place 55 ft. up on top of
wire cages stacked three high. Using a descender. Scott (doubling Diamond Dallas Page)
falls and breaks through the cages from top to bottom.
Nominee: Scott Workman
4. Shanghai Noon
Log Rolling Sequence ... Brent (doubling Owen Wilson) and Jackie are on top of some
40 logs chained to the flatbed car of a train moving at 30mph. The chain is loosened
causing the logs, each weighing 1500 lbs., to roll off the car, down some 60 – 70 feet
below. Brent and Jackie stay on top of the logs by logrolling. After the last log drops,
Jackie jumps off to the car and Brent settles to the deck.
Nominee: Brent Woolsey
5. X-Men
Wolverine Blown out of Truck ... Truck hits fallen tree. Steven is launched out of the
drivers side of truck through the windshield and hits boxes at approx. 35 feet. He's then
dragged approx. 150 feet on a slide board in the snow.
Nominee: Steven N. McMichael
BEST WATER WORK
1. The Perfect Storm
Rollover and Rescue of the "Mistral" ... The stunts took place in the water tank at stage
16 at Warner Bros on a gimble-operated sailboat "The Mistral." Three-ton water tanks,
water cannons and wind machines were continuously dumped and blown on us as the
stunts were performed, making the waves and the weather as real as the film shows. As
high seas and waves were blowing the sailboat it capsizes and the crew needs to be
rescued. Tim Rigby jumped 20' from a mock helicopter into the water and swam to the
boat to attempt a rescue which was unsuccessful. Dana and Jennifer are tethered to the
side of the sailboat and are nearly drowned as it reels from side to side. George assists
them back on board for another attempt at rescue from the crew in the helicopter. Dana,
Jennifer and George then jumped from the boat into the high seas and kept afloat while
Tim Rigby swam through the waves and helped them into the rescue basket.
Nominees: Dana Dru Evenson, Tim Rigby, Jennifer Watson, George Wilbur
2. The Perfect Storm
Underwater Cable Drag ... The scene is during the storm where the character "Murph"
doubled by Mike Brady was hooked in the hand and sent over board. The cable snatched
him and drug him down to a depth of about 30'. He had to hold his breath for just under
two minutes while struggling and waiting for "Sully" Pete Turner and Sean Graham
(doubling Mark Wahlberg's character) to swim the length of the tank in full clothing
under water to his rescue.
Nominees: Mike Brady, Sean Graham, Pete Turner
WINNER
3. The Perfect Storm
Storm Tossed from Tower to Deck into Water … Sean (doubling Mark Wahlberg) was
on top of the look out tower trying to fix a broken antenna and save the Andrea Gail from
certain death. He was hit by 50 ft. man-made waves and by several powerful water
cannon. At the same time, the Andrea Gail was on a gimble system that violently rocked
the boat in all directions up to 45 degrees and 100 mph fans were bulleting rain. All
elements were used in combination to knock Sean from his perch and send him reeling to
the steel whales deck some 16 ft. below. No pads. After surviving the high fall, Sean was
immediately hit by another dump tank that sent him off the ship, down to the next level
and into the steel railing.
Nominee: Sean Graham
BEST AERIAL WORK
1. Charlie’s Angels
Climactic Helicopter Scene ... At the end of the film the girls shoot a cabled arrow into a
helicopter and it hoists them from a Bronco out over the ocean. They work their way up
the line. Marla/Eileen (doubling Barrymore) boards the copter and punches and kicks the
pilot, Joey. Ming/Mishico (both doubling Liu) straddles and attempts to disarm the
missile. The copter swerves, the performer falls and is rescued arm-to-arm by
Shauna/Donna (both doubling Diaz) who is hanging from a strut by her legs. The scene's
climax has all three girls bailing to the water as the copter explodes.
Nominees: Joey Box, Marla Casey, Shauna Duggins, Donna Evans, Ming Liu,
Michiko Nishiwaki, David Parris, Eileen Weisinger
WINNER
2. Gone in 60 Seconds
Helicopter Chase ... Shelby Mustang leads police cars on a chase through LA into the
aqueducts. They are joined by a police helicopter flown by both Chuck and John. The
copter covers the chase, tracking the car and flying over and under several bridges in the
process.
Nominees: Chuck Tamburro, John Tamburro
3. Space Cowboys
Biplane Acrobatics ... Craig (doubling Tommy Lee Jones) flies a bi-plane between the
ground and 500ft. (low-level flying). Smoke machines were working throughout. Craig
performed such aerial acrobatic maneuvers as barrel rolls, loop-de-loops and inverted
flying ... all the while staying in camera frame..
Nominee: Craig Hosking
BEST WORK WITH AN ANIMAL
1. All the Pretty Horses
Horse Breaking Montage ... Mike (doubling Henry Thomas) and Richard (doubling Matt
Damon) rode and "broke" some 20 horses in this montage which was shot over three
days: one day for roping, two days for breaking. The pair roped the horses in the corral,
snugged them to posts, saddled and blindfolded them and rode the bucking horses. It
required extensive knowledge of riding and roping unbroken horses.
Nominees: Richard Bucher, Mike Watson
2. Gladiator
Tiger Fight Scene ... Five live tigers were strategically positioned in the arena in close
proximity to Sven and Stuart. During shooting, one of the tigers clawed Thorsen in the
leg, another ripped his shoulder and yet a third clawed his helmet. Clark was attacked
twice by a big cat and had to wrestle a third to the death during the fight.
Nominees: Stuart Clark, Sven-Ole Thorsen
WINNER
3. The Patriot
Horse Rear and Fall ... Gibson avenges the death of his sons in the climactic battle scene.
Lance (doubling Gibson) is carrying the US flag and is charging his enemy on foot while
Richard (doubling the enemy) charges back on horseback. When the two meet, Lance
drops in front of the horse and thrusts the flag up its chest, causing Richard to be
launched forward as in a running "w". Stunt integrates work on a real and a mechanical
horse.
Nominees: Richard Bucher, Lance Gilbert
BEST STUNT COORINDATOR AND/OR 2ND UNIT DIRECTOR: ACTION SEQUENCE
1. Gone in 60 Seconds
Climactic End Car Boost/Chase Scene ... With Nick Cage & Del Ray Lindo. This was an
intricate, realistic, high speed car chase of over 5 minutes. Often the actual speeds were in
excess of 90 mph, on wet pavement. It includes slides, near misses of cars, trucks and
pedestrians, a t-bone, drift slide, high speed reverse 90 with near miss of big rig,
opposing 90's, high speeds through wash, jump-off ramps, multiple cars hit by
construction containers and a ramp-to-ground jump (the beginning and end of the jump
are live action, the center of the jump is CG). Nick Cage was doubled by Chuck Picerni
Jr. Del Roy Lindo was doubled by Alan Oliney.
Nominees: Johnny Martin, Chuck Picerni Jr.
2. Mission: Impossible 2
Air Cannon and Double Motorcycle Chase … The chase starts with a white sedan doing
an air cannon and flipping several times. The scene integrates a high speed motorcycle
chase with cars and off-road riding. During an ongoing gun battle between the two riders,
Cruise jumps off the left side of his bike and skis on his feet down the road until it’s safe
to remount . As the chase continues, riders dodge between traffic then cut into a wooded,
off-road area. Cruise’s bike lays down and the other bike jumps over him. Both riders set
for a finale which is a joust of head-on motorcycle action that ends when both riders leap
from their bikes (wire assist) and collide in mid-air.
Nominees: Billy Burton, Brian Smrz
WINNER
3. Nurse Betty
Car Hit/Ambulance Crash ... The sequence starts out with a Cadillac being driven by Jack
Gill. The Cadillac races into the entrance to a hospital. A security guard (Scott Workman)
steps out in front of the Cadillac to stop it but ends up being hit hard up onto the hood,
into the windshield and thrown off the side. The Cadillac comes to a stop at the hospital
entrance, throws a body out the back, begins to reverse away but collides with an
ambulance. We took all the structural reinforcements out of the trunk of the Cadillac so
the impact would look a lot greater than actually happened because the travel space was
limited. The front of the ambulance was reinforced with a larger steel bumper. As the
impact occurs the ambulance driver (Kevin Scott) goes into the windshield. A seven
camera set-up.
Nominee: Charlie Brewer
4. The Patriot
Militia vs. Redcoats Battle … Militia and Redcoats fire on each other in a desperate faceto-face battle. A horse charge from the Red Coats chases the militia into a valley and at
first seems to turn the tide, however they are then ambushed by the Colonial Army. There
are cannonball explosions, saddle falls, horse falls, back over and squibs aplenty. Then
there’s an all-out hand-to-hand battle with pistols, swords, rifles and bayonets. The scene
integrates an army of performers and horses and intricately timed explosions.
Nominees: R.A. Rondell
5. Rules of Engagement
Daring Military Rescue ... Armed demonstration of 1500 Middle Easterners threatens to
take over the US Embassy in South Yemen. The Ambassador calls on the military to
evacuate himself and his family. Three helicopters take off from the USS Independence
loaded with special forces personnel specially trained for this type of situation. The
Ambassador, his family and the Marine detachment narrowly escape with their lives as
the armed and riotous crowd utilize heavy fire power in their attempt to thwart the daring
rescue.
Nominee: Buddy Joe Hooker
BEST STUNT COORDINATOR AND/OR 2ND UNIT DIRECTOR: FEATURE FILM
1. Charlie’s Angels
Nominee: Andy Armstrong, Vic Armstrong
2. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Nominee: Wo-Ping Yuen
3. Mission: Impossible 2
Nominees: Billy Burton, Brian Smrz
WINNER
4. The Patriot
Nominee: R.A. Rondell
5. The Perfect Storm
Nominee: Doug Coleman