Round Top Film Festival announced today that it will award Chris O’Hara the second Maverick Stunt Award. Variety magazine will award the award on November 9th.
O’Hara, a 25-year industry veteran, won the Taurus World Stunt Award for Best Second Unit Director/Stunt Coordinator for his work on 2024’s The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling. His other credits include co-starring Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy and Bradley Cooper in The Hangover series, as well as films such as Baby Driver, Jurassic World, Venom, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Shazam!, and Fight Club.
“I am honored to receive the Maverick Stunt Award at the 2025 Round Top Film Festival,” O’Hara said in a statement. “I love how this festival embraces independent filmmakers from all walks of life and celebrates diverse voices and bold storytelling. It’s really important that they recognize that stunt design is an important part of the art of film, and it highlights their commitment to championing innovation and creativity. I’m so excited to join Round Top Film Festival and be a part of this vibrant festival of film.”
Founded by mother-daughter duo Shana Shannen and Skyler Shannen, the Round Top Film Festival held its first event in November 2024 in Round Top, Texas, located about halfway between Austin and Houston. This small town (population 95) is best known for its triennial antiques show, which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year, the second of which will be held from November 6th to 9th.
The Maverick Stunt Awards ceremony, which honors “outstanding professionals in the stunt industry whose innovative contributions have redefined the art of action storytelling,” will be followed by a conversation with Variety Associate Editor Todd Longwell. The program will also feature two panels: “From the Fight to Camera,” moderated by last year’s Maverick Stunt Award winner R.J. Casey (Inception, Dunkirk, Extraction 2) and “From the Jump: A Conversation with Film and TV Stunt Designers,” moderated by second unit director and stunt coordinator Tom Struthers (The Dark Knight trilogy, Dune). The latter panel will feature Vic Armstrong (“Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Die Another Day”), who will also receive the Round Top Stunt Lifetime Achievement Award.
Films screening at Round Top include Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague and the closing night selection, Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney. The festival’s jury includes director Leslie Zemeckis (“Behind the Burly Q”), screenwriter Mark Klein (“Serendipity”), actors Marie Botha (“Penguin”) and Mariel Hemingway (“Personal Best”), and producer Meryl Poster (“Chicago”).
