Eva Mendes is celebrating the Oscars‘ new award for stunts — and shouting out her husband, Ryan Gosling, for helping to advocate for the change.
Following Thursday’s announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will introduce a Best Stunt Design category at the 2028 Oscars, the 2 Fast 2 Furious actress praised her spouse’s commitment to highlighting the stunt community as he promoted his movie The Fall Guy last year.
“My man is the F best!” Mendes wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m extra proud of my man for turning his entire Fall Guy press tour into a campaign to get stunts recognized by the Oscars.”
Gosling portrayed stuntman Colt Seavers in the action-comedy, and repeatedly turned the spotlight on stunt performers as he did press for the film. The actor introduced a segment at the 2024 Oscars that honored stunt teams, appeared in a Carpool Karaoke segment with some of The Fall Guy‘s stunt performers, and brought two of them to the film’s Hollywood premiere for a surprise stunt that yanked his doubles through the fabric of the red carpet backdrop and toward a fiery blaze.
At the same premiere, Gosling told audiences, “This movie is just a giant campaign to get stunts an Oscar,” according to The New York Times.
In her Instagram post, Mendes went on to celebrate the film industry’s stunt performers. “This is a HUGE success!” she wrote. “And an achievement that will last. Congratulations to the the incredible stunt community!!”
Mendes also playfully ribbed Gosling’s Fall Guy costar Emily Blunt, who stands alongside him in the final photo in the post. “BTW, this is the last time I post a pic of my man and the total babe that is Emily Blunt,” she wrote. “No más!”
The Fall Guy was directed by David Leitch, who worked as a stunt performer and doubled for stars like Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme before helming films like Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train. Leitch was one of the most vocal advocates lobbying for the Academy to recognize stunts at the Oscars.
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Leitch expressed his dismay at the lack of recognition for stunt performers during an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year. “Maybe it’s always been in the DNA of the job,” he said. “We are sort of the ninjas of the movie business. We create the magic but get none of the credit. Maybe that’s where it’s always going to be, but I hope not. I hope that our voices are heard and we start to get recognized.”
The filmmaker celebrated the Academy’s decision in an Instagram post Thursday. “This has been a journey for so many of us!” Leitch wrote. “[Stunt designer Chris O’Hara] and myself have invested several years into this. We built on the work of all the stunt designers who fought so hard for this in the past over the past decades. We are very grateful.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
The post Eva Mendes shouts out husband Ryan Gosling for helping convince Oscars to add stunt category: ‘HUGE success!’ appeared first on Entertainment Weekly.
