By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter 
U.S. actor and show co-host Dennis Hopper (right) and Carmen Electra hug as they return to the stage dishevelled and pretending to have been in an explosion during the 4th Annual Taurus World Stunt Awards in Hollywood, on Sunday.
- Reuters
THE TAURUS World Stunt Awards 2004 started off with a bang - and some gun shots - and a free fall.
The four year-old award show took place at the Paramount Studios, Hollywood, on Sunday evening and featured a smattering of the glitterati. The World Stunt Awards which focuses on the previously faceless of the movie industry, the stunt men and women, gives awards in nine categories, along with three honorary awards.
With a dramatic start, which saw them jumping from the top of the stage lights, hosts Dennis Hopper and Carmen Elecktra brought the show to a smooth start, and it would proceed without a hitch though with several explosions and crashes.
GRAND ENTRANCES
Excitement was kept high as several of the presenters made grand entrances. As such when Brendan Fraser came on stage to read the nominations for Best High Work, he jumped through a window approximately two stories up to crash land in another one. Michelle Rodriguez, who is busy making her name as an action heroine having co-starred in The Fast and The Furious and Blue Crush, arrived in a sports car which she crashed on the stage.
Ronnie Rondell Jr., Keanu Reeves and Jonathan Mostow were the three who received honorary awards. Rondell received the Lifetime. Achievement Award for his 45 years in the business. In a taped broadcast, Aaron Spelling, with whom Rondell worked for over a decade, stunt co-ordinator, Hal Needham and actor Robert Wagner expressed their appreciation of Rondell.
Over his career, Rondell has performed stunts in feature films such as Speed, Twister, and Lethal Weapon 4, and TV series such as Hart To Hart, Baywatch and Starsky and Hutch.
Jonathan Mostow was given the honorary award for his direction of action movies. His career has included Body Snatchers, Flight of the Black Angel, Breakdown, U-571 and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Reeves received Best Action Movie Honorary Award. "I've never done a stunt in my life," said the actor, whose role as Neo helped redefine the action hero. Reeves eclectic career has seen him in action films such as Speed, Chain Reaction, and the definitive The Matrix trilogy.
Matrix Reloaded received four nominations for Best Fight, Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman and Best 2nd Unit Direction/ Stunt Co-ordination Feature Film. Debbie Evans' hair-raising ride earned the film the Taurus for Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman.
MOST NOMINATED
The Rundown was one of the most nominated films for the awards and went home with two awards. The stunt work in the film was nominated for Best Fight, Best High Work, Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Man, and Best Speciality Stunt. Tanoi Reed, Marko Zaror, Paul Eliopolus and J.J. Perry earned the Taurus for Best Overall Stunt for their bone-crunching roll down a hillside during the movie.
Appropriately, the nominations and award were presented by The Rundown's star, The Rock. Looking close to a mirror image of the man he doubles, Tanoi Reed, gave the acceptance speech on behalf of the group. In doing so he dedicated it to all stuntmen.
"I believe every stuntman deserves one of these for the sweat, blood and tears they put into our craft," Reed told the audience. The physical similarity between Reed and The Rock is not very surprising, as the two share a grandmother. Reed and Paul Eliopolus also walked away with the Taurus for Best High Work for falling off the cliff in The Rundown.
The World Stunt Awards was conceptualised by Red Bull Energy Drink Chief Executive Officer, Dietrich Mateschitz. The show benefits the Taurus World Stunt Awards Foundation, an endowment fund for the families of stunt performers who get injured in the line of duty.
Other Winners:
Best Fire: Freddie vs. Jason - Doug Chapman and Glenn Ennis
Best Work With a Vehicle: Bad Boys II - Joffrey Brown, Gil Combs, Richard Epper, Andy Gill, Jack Gill, Steve Kelso, Henry Kingi Sr., Bennie Moore, Charlie Pecerni Sr. and Steve Pecerni
Best Speciality Stunt : The Italian Job - Mike Massa, Michael Gaines, Clay Cullen and J.P. Ruggerio
Best Fight: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Tony Angelotti and Mark Wagner
Best Stunt Work in a Foreign Film: The Bridge - Roland Busch (Stunt Co-ordinator).
