美国国家公共电台 NPR Though Stunt Coordinators Won't Be At The Oscars, Here Are The Top Picks

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The Academy Awards are this Sunday, and that has got us thinking about movie performances that get absolutely no Oscar recognition.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM)

CHANG: We're talking about the work of stunt¹ players, the men and women who fly and fall and punch and tumble and - well, you get the picture. Jack² Gill makes his living designing movie stunts³. He's performed his share as well. He's jumped cars off ramps⁴, leapt off buildings, he's been engulfed⁵ in flames, he's broken countless⁶ bones. Welcome. Wow.

JACK GILL: That's quite an introduction. Thanks so much.

CHANG: (Laughter) Are you still doing your own stunts?

GILL: Well, the good part about now is I get to pick and choose the ones I want to do. I don't have to do them. And I'm still kind of hiring the younger kids to try and do some of the bigger ones.

CHANG: Actually, you were a stunt coordinator⁷ in perhaps one of the most over-the-top action series, "The Fast And The Furious" franchise⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS")

NATHALIE EMMANUEL: (As Megan Ramsey) Please tell me there's nothing to worry about.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) We got this.

CHANG: All right. We have Vin Diesel⁹, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez trying to outrun a nuclear submarine in cars on the ice. How much of this was actually real?

GILL: That nuclear submarine was not real, but the explosions you see of the submarine penetrating¹⁰ the ice was completely real. And we were in Iceland for that entire sequence. And we spent about 2 1/2 months there on this frozen tundra¹¹ trying to figure out how to get 23 cars out on the ice and not have them penetrate¹² the ice and also doing bullet hits and explosions and cars turning over.

CHANG: It's like choreography. You're orchestrating this over-the-top scene where lots of things can go wrong at the same time.

GILL: A lot of people don't understand that we come in months before we start filming rehearsing and designing and working with the writer and the director and the producers all to give them what they want. And this was way before the actors are even on the set. And that's a big part of the technical aspect of it and the artistic¹³ aspect of it...

CHANG: I love that.

GILL: ...Which is the two things that the Academy both view as being an Academy Award-winning process.

CHANG: Yeah. I mean, stunt work has never been a category at the Oscars. What is your argument for why it deserves Oscars recognition?

GILL: When I first tried to pursue this back in 1991, I was told the Academy sees categories as either typically artistic or heavily scientific. So I came back and said, well, we rely heavily on both of those. If it's a comedy, it has to be a comedic action sequence. If it's an action sequence, you can't go too far over the top because the guy has to look like he can survive it. So what I found out with the Academy is that they started grasping for straws as to why they couldn't let us have a category. And it went down from there's too many categories already...

CHANG: Really?

GILL: ...To we don't have time into the show. I've heard every single, you know, aspect of it as to why we can't be a part of it.

CHANG: So if you could give an Oscar to some amazing pieces of stunt work over the past year, who would your nominees¹⁴ be?

GILL: OK. Well, I mean, obviously, right off the bat, you've got "Dunkirk."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNKIRK")

GILL: "Dunkirk" is a huge action picture.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JUMANJI")

GILL: You know, I did "Jumanji," so I'm a little fated toward Jumanji because we had a lot of action in "Jumanji."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BABY DRIVER")

GILL: Films like "Baby Driver," which was a huge action piece, and "Atomic Blonde."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ATOMIC BLONDE")

GILL: Charlize Theron did all - most of all of her own stunts in that. And all of these shows will go by the wayside without anybody knowing who the action designer was.

CHANG: So, all right, the Oscar goes to if you were to choose...

GILL: I mean, out of all of them, I'd have to go with "Atomic Blonde," I mean, because...

CHANG: Oh, against "Jumanji."

GILL: I think so. I really did like the way it was put together, and I liked the way that the story flowed. There's lots of choices, but for some reason, the Academy - it still falls on deaf ears, and I just don't understand why.

CHANG: I hear you. Jack Gill is a stunt coordinator and action director. Thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun.

GILL: Thank you. I really appreciate it, Ailsa.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SHACKS SONG, "ORCHIDS")

1 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 stunts   

n.惊人的表演( stunt的名词复数 )；（广告中）引人注目的花招；愚蠢行为；危险举动v.阻碍…发育[生长]，抑制，妨碍( stunt的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He did all his own stunts. 所有特技都是他自己演的。
• The plane did a few stunts before landing. 飞机着陆前做了一些特技。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ramps   

resources allocation and multiproject scheduling 资源分配和多项目的行程安排

参考例句：

• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。
• He has the upper floor and ramps are fitted everywhere for his convenience. 他住在上面一层，为了他的方便着想，到处设有坡道。

5 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

7 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

8 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

9 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

10 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

11 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

12 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

13 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

14 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网