In a category that included films about epic mountain climbs, fast cars, dinosaurs and Tom Cruise at the opera, Mad Max: Fury Road was awarded Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture at the Screen Actors Guild award yesterday. It’s the first time a non-American team has won the prestigious award and the first SAG award won by an Australian Stunt Coordinator.
That stunt coordinator is Guy Norris, who led the Fury Road team, which consisted of over 150 performers. More than a decade in the making, Norris and his team has been working on Fury Road action concepts as far back as 2001. Numerous stops and starts to the production and location challenges culminated in filming in the Namibian Desert during 2012 and Sydney Film Studios in 2013.
The film beat Everest, Furious 7, Jurassic World and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation to claim the award.
While there’s no equivalent category at the Oscars, the SAG win certainly bodes well for the George Miller-directed movie, which has received ten Academy Award nominations, a record for any Australian film. It’s up for the big gongs of Best Film and Direction, but has also received nods across the majority of craft categories.
Norris and his team recently completed work on the highly anticipated Suicide Squad, and are currently in New Zealand working on DreamWorks’ adaptation of the popular anime Ghost in the Shell.
