Wade Eastwood -- one of Hollywood's unsung heroes in charge of stunts -- thinks it's time Oscar started acknowledging his field, 'cause there's no movie magic without the action.
Wade has been a stunt coordinator, as well as a stunt man, on a number of projects over the years -- including 'Mission Impossible' flicks and other blockbuster films -- so we asked him Saturday at LAX how he felt about the Academy snubbing stunt work ... again.
He says it's kinda nuts that Oscars are handed out for just about every other behind-the-scenes category contributing to a film -- makeup, costume design, etc. -- but stunts continue to go unacknowledged year after year ... even though they're arguably responsible for the biggest moments of any given movie, especially action ones.
That said, Wade tells us he's not "an awards crazy guy," so not being recognized by the Academy doesn't bother him all that much. He suggests it would be nice, though.
He also weighs in on which movie this year had the best stunts/action on screen. Considering he worked with Tom Cruise pretty recently, his answer might come as no surprise.