The Taurus World Stunt Awards are held mid-year every year in Los Angeles. The award ceremony honors stunt performers in movies. The Taurus Awards deciding committee was formed in 2000 and the first awards were given out in 2001. In the tradition of Hollywood’s finest awards presentations, the best stuntwomen and men in the entertainment industry will be recognized for their extraordinary performances in feature films of 2001.
2001 Female Winners
Best High Work – The Cell (2000)
Winner: Jill Brown
About the Film: An F.B.I. Agent persuades a social worker, who is adept with a new experimental technology, to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to learn where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.
The Stunt: 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.
Best Speciality Stunt – Charlie’s Angel’s (2000)
Winners: Shauna Duggins, Donna Evans
About the Film: Three women, detectives with a mysterious boss, retrieve stolen voice-ID software, using martial arts, tech skills, and sex appeal.
The Stunt: 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.
Best Aerial Work – Charlie’s Angels (2000)
Winners: Joey Box, Marla Casey, Shauna Duggins, Donna Evans, Ming Liu, Michiko Nishiwaki, David Parris, Eileen Weisinger
About the Film: Three women, detectives with a mysterious boss, retrieve stolen voice-ID software, using martial arts, tech skills, and sex appeal.
The Stunt: 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 Qiu) 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.
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