Two pillars of Alberta’s film industry have received national recognition.
Part of the original group that seeded Canada’s stunt community, Foothills stunt men and filmmaking fixtures John Scott and Tom Glass were among the 16 inaugural inductees into the Canadian Stunt Hall of Fame (CANSHOF).
“Whether it is a blockbuster movie, a hit television series, or a commercial or video game production, each of the CANSHOF inductees has had a profound impact on the stunt community and screen industry,” CANSHOF founder Rick Skene said in a press release.
“The new CANSHOF will formally pay tribute to the ground-breaking work and dedication of Canada’s stunt professionals.”
Members taken before their time, he added, were inducted ‘In Memoriam.’
For Longview-area's Scott, the induction is recognition for over five decades of work.
“It’s quite an honour to be recognized by your peers,” said Scott, recalling the humble beginnings of the craft in Canada.
“In about 1974 we started a group called Stunts Canada. It was just so the Canadians could get a piece of the stunt work, because Americans used to bring all the stuntmen up here, and we thought we could do this job as well as what they were doing.
“It was quite a struggle to get it started to begin with, and we just kept climbing the ladder and got a lot of talented people in the group.”
Since then, the cowboy has accrued a mountain of blockbuster credits and has had his hand (or cowboy boot) in not just stunts, but animal wrangling, transportation and just about every other aspect of filmmaking logistics.
His sprawling ranch near Longview even boasts a Western town, among other film sets, equipment, horses and even herds of bison and Texas longhorn cattle.
The cowboy was the stunt co-ordinator and horse wrangler for five seasons of Heartland, head wrangler for the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Revenant and despite five decades under his belt in the craft, the legend is showing no signs of letting up.
“Haven’t had time to slow down,” Scott said. “I’m just more involved with the horses right now than I am with the stunts.
“We’re doing Fargo (season) five, we’ve got horses on Joe Pickett, and I was in Halifax this spring on a show.”
Fellow seasoned stuntman Glass also expressed gratitude for the industry that gave him so much.
“It’s pretty cool, it’s an honour as the stunt people of Canada voted on it,” said Glass, remarking his career has been a rewarding one.
“It’s got me around the world; I went to Nova Scotia for Scarlett Letter, then I went to Budapest, Hungary for I Spy with Eddie Murphy.
“Then I went to Mexico City with DiCaprio for Romeo and Juliet – it got a guy a lot of places I might not have went.”
While his stunt work has slowed down in his later years, Glass has still piled up credits above and beyond stunts, working as a stunt co-ordinator and even being given the reins on second units.
“The highlight of the deal was I was the second unit director on a couple of shows, so I had my own crew and I got to direct some of the actors, and it was very challenging, very exciting,” Glass said.
Having preceded his son Jason on the pro chuckwagon circuit, Glass came out on top in the 1983, ‘92, ‘94, and ‘98 Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby and in the World Professional Chuckwagon Association for 1980 and ‘81.
When racing wrapped up, however, film work filled gaps between the seasons.
“It’s been awesome – I raced wagons for years and then when I was done racing wagons in late August I had somewhere to go,” Glass said.
One of the original members of Stunts Canada, the Black Diamond cowboy is pleased with how the profession has grown in Alberta and across Canada.
“There were six of us that started it; John Scott, myself, John and Keith Wardlow, Alex Green and John Thomas,” Glass said.
"It's awesome. Our group went from six guys and now there's world kickbox champions, karate guys, high fall guys, car racers - a little bit everything.
“The other nice thing is all three of my kids are in the business.”
His son Jason and daughters Corrie Glass and Kristy Suitor all bear extensive film credits themselves for a range of roles.
As the industry has grown north of the border, Scott hasn’t stopped fighting for it, hounding his representatives for what would become the Film and Television Tax Credit.
“We lobbied and fought so hard with governments to do this and finally got them onside last year with the help of (Highwood MLA) RJ Sigurdson, Doug Schweitzer, Travis Toews, and Nate Horner; they were a huge help to twist Jason Kenney’s arm to get involved,” Scott said.
Sigurdson acknowledged Scott’s tenacity and hard work.
“It was just hard to deny his passion and his advocacy over the years,” Sigurdson said. “John is just an icon, he’s a legend.
“When we started talking about the value proposition and what it means for Alberta, yeah, all of a sudden, it just started to become actualized in where we were moving, and it presented a great opportunity."
That representation paid off for the seasoned wrangler.
“We had the biggest and best year in the history of Alberta last year (2021),” Scott said.
“As soon as we got the government on side and they decided what they’re going to do with the tax credit, it was announced in Hollywood and one week later we had over $500 million and we employed approximately 6,000 people last summer."
Seeing firsthand how productions help his community, Scott has fought hard.
“The movie dollar in these small towns has been fantastic, it’s helped High River, it’s helped Stavely,” Scott said.
“When they branch out into these small towns, it helps bring a lot to them, employs people in the town, brings business, and I always say the spinoff for a movie dollar is about six to one.
“We're still in the game, still trying to make movies and hustle all the time.”
Others inducted into CANSOF were Robert (Bobby) Hannah, Dwayne McLean, David Rigby, Jacob Rupp, Jerome Thibergien, Betty Thomas, John Wardlow, and (in memoriam) John (Frenchie) Berger, Celine Fournier, Charles Fournier, Marcel Fournier, Alex Green, John Thomas and Keith Wardlow.
For more information about CANSOF visit canshof.ca, and for more about Stunts Canada visit stuntscanada.com.
