In the tradition of Hollywood’s finest awards presentations, the best stunt performers in the entertainment industry were recognized for their extraordinary performances in feature films of 2016 at the Taurus World Stunt Awards presentation on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at 7pm at Falcon Theater in Burbank, California.

The Taurus World Stunt Awards 2017 Winners are:

HONORARY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Gene LeBell

BEST FIGHT

  1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
    Batman fights henchmen in a warehouse while rescuing Martha Kent. This practical fight features hand-to-hand combat, hard hits to the walls and ground, and some wires. Stunt performers did all of the fighting, with the exception of a few looks.
    Nominees: Steve Brown, Richard Cetrone, Wayne R. Dalglish, Guillermo Grispo, Allen Jo
  2.  Captain America: Civil War
    Black Widow lays down a motorcycle and fights with armed mercenaries. The fight features long takes of choreography and hard hits. The fight ends when Black Widow is thrown into an armored vehicle with an explosive and is blasted out the back of the vehicle. CGI was used for face replacement and the stunt double did most of the action in the sequence.
    Nominees: Vonzell Carter, Daniel Bernhardt, Efka Kvaraciejus, Heidi Moneymaker, Joe Nin Williams
  3.  Captain America: Civil War
    Bucky Barnes and Captain America battle each other and the police in a small apartment and stairwell. Stunt performers did most of the fighting, which included martial arts choreography and hard impacts.  Wires were used to assist with some hits and falls.
    Nominees: Daniel Hargrave, Thayr Harris, Jeremy Marinas, Greg Rementer, Jackson Spidell
  4. Hacksaw Ridge WINNER
    Soldiers rush bunkers in a battle. Fight includes hand-to-hand combat, gun fire, explosions, fire burns, and hand pulls. CGI was used for wire removal.
    Nominees: Damien Bryson, Markylee Campbell, Toby Fuller, Shinji Ikefuji, Tomoki Miyamoto
  5. Now You See Me 2
    A man tries to escape from multiple henchmen in an Asian market. He uses props from vendor stalls to aid in the fight. The fight features real fire breathing and multiple crashes.
    Nominees: Hung Dante Dong, Eddie Lee, Jean-Paul Ly, Anthony Molinari, David Newton

BEST HIGH WORK

  1. Allegiant
    Stunt performers run and jump onto a wall. They run vertically on the wall to reach the top. Once at the top, one person is dropped 30’ over the side and two people descend the wall. Lastly, the performers rappel down the side of the wall and a quarry.
    Nominees: Elisabeth Carpenter, Marquita Goings, Reid Harper, Paul Lacovara, Christopher Tardieu
  2. Captain America: Civil War WINNER
    Captain America is blown out of a 3rd story window and falls impacting a rooftop, down to the top of a truck, and lands on the ground. The first fall was a ratchet with a practical explosion, falling 15’ on a wire. The second fall was 8’ to the roof, then 12’ to the top of the truck, and finally 8’ to the ground. No wires were used in the second fall and it was done as one action.
    Nominees: Sam Hargrave, Jackson Spidell
  3. Deepwater Horizon
    A stuntman is lit on fire with a flame thrower. He jumps from the deck, bounces off a life raft, and falls landing in 6’ of water.  The total height of the fall was about 50’.
    Nominees: JJ Dashnaw
  4. Hardcore Henry
    A stuntman descends from the roof of a 260’ building, while chasing another man.
    Nominees: Alexander Kraevskiy
  5. The Take
    A man is chased across the rooftops of Paris. The chase features a 16’ jump onto a slopping roof without wires and a 14’ jump without wires. Actors did takes with wires but stunt doubles did most of the chase.
    Nominees: Arran Topham, Karanja Augostos Yorke

BEST WORK WITH A VEHICLE

  1. Jason Bourne WINNER
    Jason Bourne drives a black Dodge charger while he chases a man driving a SWAT truck through the streets of Las Vegas. Car chase includes near misses, multiple crashes, the SWAT truck plowing through cars, the Charger landing on top of the SWAT truck, and the truck crashing into a crowded casino.
    Nominees: Keith Adams, Scott Burik, Martin Ivanov, Alistair, Whitton, Tom Williams 
  2. Keeping Up with the Joneses
    A black Mercedes is chased by bad guys on motorcycles. The chase goes through a warehouse and features a motorcycle wheelie crash, slides, spins, and reverse driving by the Mercedes.
    Nominees: Dave Castillo, Clay Cullen, Riley Harper, Regis Harrington, Oliver Keller
  3. Live by Night
    Bank robbers are chased by the police. Vehicles were Model As and the chase included near misses, drifts, crashes into other vehicles and sets, a manned cannon roll, and a 40mph head-on collision resulting in the stunt driver being ejected from the vehicle. This was a practical car chase and a ratchet was used for the man to be ejected from the vehicle.
    Nominees: Richard Burden, Tom McComas, Christopher Palermo, Larry Rippenkroeger, Mark Tearle
  4. Ride Along 2
    A bright blue Jaguar is chased by black BMWs in the streets of Miami. Parts of the chase were made to look like a video game, but this was real footage that was digitized to simulate a video game. The chase features an end-over-end crash by a BMW that was a special effects tow-in and rear cannon explosion for the cartwheel effect. A second crash by a BMW was a stuntman in a cannon car and performed on set.
    Nominees: Steve Kelso, Henry Kingi Sr., Jalil Jay Lynch
  5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
    A prisoner transport convoy is attacked by bad guys on motorcycles. In the first pass, three SUVs do simultaneous cannons with the box truck driving through the wreckage, pushing the tumbling vehicles out of the way. In the second pass, the leading SUVs were placed in their ending marks and the box truck drove through the static SUVs as the trailing SUVs did cannons.
    Nominees: Steve Kelso, Henry Kingi Sr., Paul Lane, Jalil Jay Lynch, Denney Pierce

BEST SPECIALTY STUNT

  1. Central Intelligence
    An assassin rides into a warehouse shooting a machine gun at two men, and then performs multiple bike stunts. The riding includes a back flip that seems to hit one of the men. This was accomplished by the rider doing the back flip off a small ramp that was removed later with VFX. The man being “hit” by the bike was ratcheted back separately, and this was added to the back flip footage.
    Nominees: Jack Field
  2. Hacksaw Ridge WINNER
    A soldier is thrown from an explosion and set on fire. To achieve this, he was engulfed in flames, wrapped in a cable, and pulled from the explosion with a hand pull. This caused him to be spinning horizontally on fire.
    Nominees: Yasushi Asaya
  3. Hail, Caesar!
    A Western actor flees on a horse, performing a shoulder stand on the running horse and somersaulting around a tree branch. A goldtail deadman and a high tension line system were used for the somersault around the tree. The actor did a rotation on wires around the limb.
    Nominees: Gattlin Tadd Griffith, Jordan Warrack
  4. Keeping Up with the Joneses
    A motorcycle does a nose wheelie and crashes into a concrete barrier. This was performed practically and without CGI. The rider hit the barrier, allowing the bike to flip 1 ½ times and sending the rider flying away from impact.
    Nominees: Joe Dryden
  5. The Magnificent Seven
    A man tackles a Blackstone agent off his horse and they both fall to the ground. The man runs across a porch as the Blackstone agent is riding a horse around the corner. He tackles the agent, sending both men and the horse to the ground.
    Nominees: Eric Benson, Rick Moffatt

BEST OVERALL STUNT BY A STUNT WOMAN

  1. Captain America: Civil War WINNER
    Black Widow fights two mercenaries in a crowded marketplace. The fight features long takes of choreography. CGI was used for face replacement, and the stunt double did most of the action.
    Nominees: Heidi Moneymaker
  2. Captain Fantastic
    A woman falls from a multi-tiered, tiled roof. She does one fall from a roof to a lower roof, then falls to the hood of a SUV, and finally falls to the ground. No wires were used, and this was performed practically.
    Nominees: Luci Romberg
  3. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
    A woman costumed in a short dress and heels, runs out into the street and is hit by a car. No wires or CGI were used.
    Nominees: Tara Macken
  4. Morgan
    Two women fight in a 2nd story apartment, crashing into walls, tables, eventually crashing through a window, and falling over a balcony and to the ground. The fall was done in two parts, with the first part being to a box catcher, and the second fall being from a platform to the ground.
    Nominees: Casey Michaels, Maxine Whittaker
  5. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
    A woman is ejected through the windshield of a car, slides off the car roof, landing on the ground. To achieve this, a stuntwoman was laid on a slider and when the car stopped, she flew out the front and onto the road. CGI was used to put in a window.
    Nominees: Mandy Kowalski

HARDEST HIT

  1. Captain America: Civil War WINNER
    Captain America is blown out of a 3rd story window and falls onto a rooftop, down to the top of a truck, and lands on the ground. He fell 8’ to the roof, then 12’ to the top of the truck, and finally 8’ to the ground. No wires were used in the fall and it was done as one action.
    Nominees: Sam Hargrave
  2. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
    A woman is ejected through the windshield of a car, slides off the car roof, landing on the ground. To achieve this, a stuntwoman was laid on a slider and when the car stopped, she flew out the front and onto the road. CGI was used to put in a window.
    Nominees: Mandy Kowalski
  3. The Magnificent Seven
    A man is shot and killed in a battle. He falls from the top of a church steeple, hitting the church’s roof, rolling down the steep roof, and landing on the ground. No wires were used for this stunt and a box catcher was put into the ground for the final landing.
    Nominees: Nick Dashnaw
  4. Office Christmas Party
    A man attempts to swing from a 2nd floor balcony on a string of lights. The lights do not support his weight and he instead falls, hitting a bookshelf before landing on the ground. A goldtail was used with a short deceleration, then the stuntman was dumped on the rebound so he could fall freely to the floor.
    Nominees: Keith Davis
  5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
    A man is hit by a motorcycle and is sent flying. He crashes into the side of a van. The stuntman was ratcheted back 26’ to hit the side of a practical van.
    Nominees: Justin Sundquist

BEST STUNT RIGGING

  1. Allegiant
    Stunt performers start 15’ away from a wall and are pulled vertically by high speed winches to run 50’ up the side of the wall. Once at the top, one person is ratcheted off and dropped 30’. Two people descend and ascend the wall again together. Once back at the top, they all rappel down the other side of the wall.
    Nominees: Randy J. Beckman, Chad Bowman, Michael Li, Craig Frosty Silva,  Jason Shupe
  2. Captain America: Civil War WINNER
    Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, and Scarlet Witch fight Crossbones and henchmen. Rigging was used to enhance the fight’s hard hits, Falcon’s flight, Scarlet Witch’s arrival, and more.
    Nominees: Brandon Cornell, Arturo Joe Dickey, Jacob Hugghins, Michael  Hugghins, Ralf Koch
  3. Doctor Strange
    Doctor Strange and Mordo are chased by Kaecilius across the city. Using their powers, they manipulate the cityscape. The rigging team flew and manipulated the lead actors and the stunt doubles though obstacles. This included dropping two actors 20’ on winches face first onto a glass window, flying 60’ across a stage, and being dropped 15’ to the ground after a building is tilted.  Actors did as much work of the work as possible.
    Nominees: Hank Amos, Nick Brandon, Colin Follenweider, Paul Leonard, JC Robaina
  4. Doctor Strange
    Doctor Strange fights Kaecilius and his people in a tilting, contorting hallway. This fight features running on the walls and ceiling, and the lead actor falling 25’ through the hallway to create the illusion the hallway is tilting. All of the movement was done practically.
    Nominees: Hank Amos, Nick Brandon, Colin Follenweider Paul Leonard, JC Robaina
  5. X-Men: Apocalypse
    Quicksilver arrives at a mansion as it is about to explode and uses his speed to save everyone inside. Winches, ratchets, and hand pulls were used to execute highlights, including running up an exploding floor and banister, throwing people out of a bay window where they land in a curtain placed in the trees, and carrying two people while riding a table out a window.
    Nominees: Hank Amos, Nick Brandon, Trevor Habberstad, Paul Leonard, Martin Williams

BEST STUNT COORDINATOR AND/OR 2ND UNIT DIRECTOR

  1. Captain America: Civil War
    Nominees: Andy Gill, Sam Hargrave, David Leitch, Spiro Razatos, Chad Stahelski
  2. Hacksaw Ridge WINNER
    Nominees: Kyle Gardiner, Mic Rodgers
  3. Jason Bourne
    Nominees: Simon Crane, Gary Powell
  4. The Magnificent Seven
    Nominees: Chad Dashnaw, Jeff Dashnaw
  5. X-Men: Apocalypse
    Nominees: James Churchman, Jeff Habberstad, Trevor Habberstad, Mike Scherer, Brian Smrz

BEST ACTION FOREIGN FILM

  1. Alarm für Cobra 11: Cobra, übernehmen Sie! (Germany)
    Nominees: Carl Stueck WINNER
  2. Dog Brown (Belarus)
    Nominees: William De Vital
  3. Gomorrah – Season 2 (Italy)
    Nominees: Alessandro Borgese
  4. Viking (Russia)
    Nominee: Zhaidarbek Kunguzhinov, Dmitriy Tarasenko

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