Safety at Work
Gaffney, SC (WorkersCompensation.com) – Crew members for an action movie filming in South Carolina have allegedly walked off set in protest after actor Jonathan Majors and his co-star were injured in a movie stunt gone wrong.
Majors and his co-star, JC Kilcoyne , were filming what appeared to be a stand-off scene when they were pushed up against a glass window, video of the incident shows. However, instead of keeping them in the scene, the window gave way, sending Majors and Kilcoyne six feet below to the ground. According to Deadline, the window had been switched out with tempered glass for a later scene and was unsecured in the window pane.
Majors did not respond to a request for comment from Deadline, but the outlet said Kilcoyne suffered cuts all over his hands. Kilcoyne’s rep told Deadline the actor was immediately taken care of by production and is doing well.
The movie is being produced by Bonfire Legend, the production company run by Dallas Sonnier and Ben Shapiro’s conservative publication The Daily Wire. It’s not the first-time crew members took issue with incidents on set. According to Deadline, the set has seen several incidents including props falling onto the crew, one of which was a tree branch. Crew members said the film’s special effects supervisor has a federal conviction for illegally possessing explosive materials on a movie set. Additionally, one filming location was said to have black mold.
Major’s injury resulted in tensions on the set coming to a head, insiders said. Several crew members walked off the set and a strike was called by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, citing unsafe working conditions.
Sonnier said the production company did not have time to seek talks with “communists.”
“We are too busy being bad asses, blowing sh*t up, flying helicopters, and killing movie terrorists to concern ourselves with four assholes with signs on the sidewalk and their illegitimate ‘strike.’” Sonnier said in a statement to Deadline. “The entire industry is in freefall due to strikes, and now that their members are out of work, they’re trying to sabotage the few people who are still producing. We don’t negotiate with communists.”
Despite the strike, the film allegedly is continuing production. Deadline was able to secure video of that incident, and in the clip, someone can be heard saying, “It’s good. Use it.”
The incident brings to light some of the dangers facing crew members and actors on set during recent productions.
One reality television show star is dead after drowning. Todd Meadows, one of the crew members on a crabbing boat featured on Deadliest Catch, died recently after falling overboard while working on in the Bering Sea.
Meadows’, 25, was filming for the Discovery Channel show’s upcoming season when he fell off the boat. His official death certificate, released April 6, said the cause of death was “drowning with probable hypothermia” and “submersion of body in cold water.” Meadows was working on the Aleutian Lady fishing vessel off the coast of Alaska when the incident happened.
“Coast Guard watch standers at the Arctic District command center in Juneau received notification from the fishing vessel Aleutian Lady, reporting that a crew member by the name of Todd Meadows fell overboard approximately 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor,” the statement read. “He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately 10 minutes later. First aid and attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful, and the crew transported the deceased to Dutch Harbor.”
The Coast Guard said officials were “investigating the situation.”
A GoFundMe launched to raise money for his family had gathered more than $57,000 by April 7.
Other productions featuring major names have also seen film pauses as their stars recuperate from injuries received on set.
On March 30, filming on the “Tomb Raider” set was stopped while lead actress Sophie Turner recovers from an injury, Variety reported.
Turner was playing video game character Lara Croft in the Prime Video adaptation of the Tomb Raider video game. Turner aggravated a pre-existing back injury which shut production down for at least a month, and possibly up to six months.
And actor Tom Holland reportedly suffered a concussion on the set of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in September of last year. According to the Hollywood Report, Holland had to take a break from filming for several days after hitting his head. Deadline reported Holland suffered a mild concussion and took several days off to recuperate, but that no one else was injured in the incident. No details were given in regard to how Holland was injured except to say, “a stunt gone wrong.”
