Here are nine movie set deaths that could have been prevented.
Deadpool 2
Stuntwoman Joi “SJ” Harris, 40, died on the set of Deadpool 2 while shooting a motorcycle stunt scene in Vancouver, Canada in 2017. Harris was the stunt double for actress Zazie Beetz.
The stunt scene required Harris to ride across a flat surface at about 10 miles per hour and stop just off camera, according to an investigative report carried out by WorkSafeBC, the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia, which adds that she accidentally missed the mark where she was supposed to stop and went beyond it, hitting a curb. She was thrown off of her motorcycle and crashed through a plate glass window.
20th Century Fox reached an out of court settlement of an undisclosed amount with Harris’ family, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Twilight Zone: The Movie
The helicopter accident on the set of The Twilight Zone: The Movie, at 2:20 a.m. on July 23, 1982 in Valencia, California, led to three very tragic movie set deaths that became the focus of intense scrutiny.
Fifty-three-year-old Vic Morrow, 6-year-old Renee Shinn Chen, and 7-year-old My-ca Dinh Lee were killed when a fireball from a special effects explosion engulfed the tail section of a low-flying helicopter and caused the main rotor blade to separate, fatally wounding the actors as the craft crashed into a river, according to a 1984 aircraft accident report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The helicopter was part of a Vietnam war scene in which Morrow’s character runs through a village with the children in his arms in order to save them from an attack by American forces, the report adds. The NTSB found that the accident was caused by a communication failure between the film director John Landis and the pilot of the helicopter, Dorcey Wingo.
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In 1987, Landis, Wingo, associate producer George Folsey Jr., unit production manager Dan Allingham and explosive specialist Paul Stewart were all acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges in Los Angeles Superior Court.
However, Landis, distributor Warner Bros., Folsey, and Allingham were each ordered to pay $20,000 in fines to the State Labor Commissioner for civil charges regarding exposing child actors to a dangerous situation and scheduling them to work at night.
Landis and producer Steven Spielberg reached an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount with Morrow’s daughters, according to The Washington Post. And settlements totaling around $2 million were reached with the families of Lee and Chen, The Los Angeles Times reported, citing sources close to the cases.
Midnight Rider
In 2014, 27-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed in Georgia during the filming of Midnight Rider, an unfinished biopic starring William Hurt as Greg Allman of the Allman Brothers Band.
The accident occurred while filming a scene on a live train track. According to Georgia police investigation, when the train began approaching the set, the crew rushed to get out of its way and did not remove a prop bed from the tracks. The oncoming train struck the prop, which pushed Jones onto the tracks and into the train’s path. According to an autopsy report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Jones died as a result of injuries sustained when she was struck by the train.
A railroad accident brief by the National Transportation Safety Board reported that the Midnight Rider film production had twice requested permission from CSX Transportation to film on the train tracks and was denied both times due to safety concerns. The NTSB could not determine who ultimately made the call to film on the train tracks anyway, but decided that the probably cause of the accident was the film crew’s unauthorized entry to the railroad site.
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In July 2014, Georgia prosecutors charged director Randall Miller, his wife Jody Savin, executive producer Jay Sedrish, and first assistant director Hillary Schwartz with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing in Wayne County Superior Court.
Schwartz pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a jury trial, opting instead for a bench trial. Wayne County, Georgia Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison found Schwartz guilty of manslaughter and criminal trespassing, according to court records. She was sentenced to 10 years of probation during which she was barred from returning to her previous occupation or any that involve safety in the film and television industry, plus a $5,000 fine.
In March 2015, Miller and Sedrish pleaded guilty in a plea deal, and the charge against Savin was dropped. Sedrish was given 10 years of probation during which he is forbidden from working as a director or in any film and TV occupation that involves safety, plus a $10,000 fine. Miller was sentenced to two years in jail followed by eight years of probation, during which he is also forbidden from working as a director or in any safety-related role, plus a $25,000 fine and community service.
Miller was released a year later, in 2016, after the judge accepted his attorney’s motion to reduce his sentence. A judge later found that he violated his probation in 2021 by directing a movie overseas, but decided not to sentence him to more time behind bars.
Gone in 60 Seconds 2
Director, writer, stunt driver, actor, and filmmaker H.B. Halicki was the mastermind of 1974’s car-theft thriller Gone in 60 Seconds, one of the most successful indie films of all time.
It earned more than $40 million at the box office on a budget reported at just $150,000, and inspired a Nicolas Cage- and Angelina Jolie-starring remake of the same name in 2000.
Sadly, Halicki didn’t live to see the remake: He died during the filming of Gone in 60 Seconds 2 in 1989. The film’s most ambitious sequence involved a falling water tower, but a cable attached to the tower snapped suddenly and sheared off a telephone pole, which fell on Halicki and immediately killed him. The film was never released.
The Crow
Twenty-eight-year-old Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, died on the North Carolina set of The Crow in 1993. Directed by Alex Proyas, the film starred Lee as starring as Eric Draven, a rock musician who is killed but comes back to life, with the help of a supernatural crow, to avenge his death.
The accident happened during a scene in which Lee’s character is shot at close range. The gun was only supposed to contain harmless blanks, but also held the the tip of a .44 caliber bullet that had been used in a previous scene. It was included to make it look like the gun had real bullets in it, according to New Hanover County District Attorney Jerry Spivey’s investigation.
A police investigation found that the gun was not properly checked, and when it was fired, the tip of the bullet hit Lee in the abdomen. He died 12 hours later of his injuries.
Investigators found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and Spivey said that while he felt negligence had occurred, he ultimately decided not to file charges.
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Brandon Lee’s mother, Linda Lee Cadwell, sued Edward R. Pressman Film Corp. and 13 other corporations and people, including production company Crowvision, in 1993, alleging negligence that resulted in her song’s death.
Her suit said that The Crow crew members chose to make their own dummy bullets instead of waiting another day to buy them from a licensed firearms dealer, and that they lacked the training to properly modify the bullets.
Cadwell’s suit was settled later that year for an undisclosed amount, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Dark Knight
Forty-one-year-old special effects technician Conway Wickliffe was killed in England in 2007 during the making of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight sequel to Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader.
Wickliffe was in the back seat of a vehicle, operating a camera, when it crashed into a tree after failing to round a corner, according to a 2008 Coroner’s Court inquest in Woking, England. The inquest’s jurors ultimately decided that his death was accidental.
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Special effects expert Christopher Corbould was charged under the UK’s Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974. At a 2011 Guildford Crown Court trial, he was accused of failing to adhere to health and safety standards, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Director Christopher Nolan dedicated The Dark Knight to both Conway Wickliffe and Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription drug overdose after filming was complete but before the film was released.
Rust
The tragic October 21, 2021 death of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has placed renewed attention on the need for movie set safety. Hutchins was killed when a gun held by lead actor and producer Alec Baldwin was discharged with live ammunition in it.
Baldwin, who has denied pulling the trigger, was rehearsing a scene when the live round discharged from a prop gun that was supposed to contain only dummy rounds. In addition to Hutchins’s death, director Joel Souza was wounded, but recovered.
In April, Rust on-set armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail for involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set and for failing to follow basic gun-safety protocols.
Involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dropped in 2023, but he was recharged in January 2024. That case was dismissed in July, and Baldwin sued New Mexico prosecutors last month, accusing them of malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.
Thank You for Reading this List of Movie Set Tragedies That Could Have Been Prevented
On a lighter note, you might also enjoy this list of Movie Satires That Have It Both Ways.
Main image: Alec Baldwin in Rust.
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