Cinema Cemetery

A History of Dangerous Filmmaking

Disclaimer:

The following is my own opinion and not the opinion of any studios I have worked for in the past or will work for in the future. All specific information comes courtesy of publicly accessible articles, please see the bibliography for more information.

In 2016, “735 (8)” movies were released into cinemas. This yearly number has risen nearly every year you’ve been alive. How many movies can you name from a single year? A dozen? Less? The truth is, increasing the quantity of released films hasn’t done much to make them more memorable. We have other episodes that dive into this much deeper than we can get into on this video, but it’s important to understand that (to many of the studios making these films), we’re talking about an entertainment product designed primarily to generate money. 

Disposability is not a factor to them. Lasting emotional or spiritual impact is not a factor to them.

Should it then surprise us to learn, that conditions on a film set are sometimes incredibly dangerous, and permanent injuries often go unreported while making said movies? Would you be surprised to learn that, for your several hours of moderate entertainment, people died or suffered life changing bodily harm? We’re not even going to get into the industry-wide issue of sexual abuse, that alone could be an entire series of episodes. It’s sobering, going back over the history of death on set in filmmaking. 

What are movies honestly worth? Are they worth the life of a stranger? Are they worth the life of a parent or sibling? Would you trade Deadpool 2 for the life of a friend?

How important are movies REALLY?

But wait, we have modern technology! Digital-doubles, high tech safety precautions, and the benefit of film history to learn from...this still isn’t an issue right? Wrong.

In order to fully understand the mindset of Hollywood and the strange situation in which cast and crew find themselves in modern times, we must look back at some truly disturbing accidents on set throughout history. The following incidents are by no means an exhaustive list, these are just the instances that I thought represented turning points in the film industry. I’m not going to show any disturbing imagery or go into any detail that is gory beyond general description. Just know that the situations I’m going to describe do range from sad to horrifying. You’ve been warned.

The earliest recorded example of a fatality on a film set I could find took place while shooting 

“Across the Border (1914). On July 1, 1914, while on location in Canon City, Colorado, cast member Grace McHugh was filming a scene where her character was crossing the Arkansas River in a boat. When the boat capsized, camera operator Owen Carter immediately jumped into the river to save her. He dragged her onto a sandbar that was actually quicksand. The rest of the film crew watched helplessly as they were sucked into the quicksand and drowned. (1)”

Given that this was in the early days of filmmaking, safety standards weren’t yet legislated. Who was at fault here? Was the problem with the boat or was it bumped from underneath by something uncontrollable in the river? It’s hard to imagine something this strange happening in modern times, Josh said, clearly foreshadowing strange events to come.

Moving forward, we reach a famous incident  from 1925,

“Ben-Hur (1925). An early filming attempt of the chariot race was done on location at the Circus Maximus in Rome. It brought about the death of one stunt man when a wheel of his chariot broke. (1)”

This one seems kind of cut and dry to me. Either a prop/vehicle wasn’t made correctly to take the amount of strain put on it or the horse was not trained/handled well enough to not make the moves which causes the break. Regardless, this death seems preventable. Yet not preventable enough for any laws to be passed. Yet.

Several years later, in 1928, during the filming of

“Noah's Ark (1928). Three people died, one man lost a leg and a number were injured in a scene where several hundred extras were caught in the "Great Flood." The deaths were instrumental in the introduction of film safety regulations the following year. (1)”

The set wasn’t built to prevent the actors from being blasted into dangerous wood and metal structures due to the force of simulated flood waters. Why? In typical Hollywood fashion, it comes down to a combination of blind greed and a lack of empathy to the humans they’re working with. 

While regulations were passed as a result of this incident, it wasn’t enough to keep them from pushing their extras and stunt doubles to extremes over the coming years. Additionally, the mistreatment of animals was a huge problem until after

“The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). During the filming of the charge sequence, a stuntman was killed when he fell off his horse and landed on a broken sword that was lying on the field, unfortunately wedged in such a position that its blade was sticking straight up. Also, due to the use of trip wires, three dozen horses had their legs broken and had to be shot during filming, resulting in the U.S. Congress passing laws to protect animals used in motion pictures. (1)”

These laws did very little right off the bat, as evidenced by the filming of

“Jesse James (1939). A horse was killed during the scene where it was ridden off a cliff into a river. This incident led to the American Humane Association opening a Hollywood office in 1940 and monitoring the treatment of animals in films. (1)”

With the flurry of legal activity due to the film industry’s mistreatment of human and animal alike, you would imagine that the filmmakers would start being very very careful about how they shot their films. That supposition would be incorrect, as is standard, gross negligence abounded. Consider

“The Conqueror (1956). The exterior scenes were shot on location near St. George, Utah, 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada Test Site. In 1953, extensive above-ground nuclear weapons testing had occurred at the test site, as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. Director Dick Powell died of cancer in January 1963, Pedro Armend was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960, and committed suicide in 1963 after he learned his condition had become terminal. Susan Hayward, John Wayne, and Agnes Moorehead all died of cancer in the 1970s. Cast member actor John Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By 1981, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. Several of Wayne and Hayward's relatives also had cancer scares as well after visiting the set. Michael Wayne developed skin cancer, his brother Patrick Wayne had a benign tumor removed from his breast and Hayward's son Tim Barker had a benign tumor removed from his mouth. (1)”

Well, they didn’t know about radiation at that point right? It wasn’t like they fed a stuntman to shark or anything blatant like that.

Speaking of: While making the movie,

“Shark! (1969). A stuntman was mauled to death on camera when a shark, which was supposed to have been sedated, suddenly attacked. (1)”

Fast forward several years to

“The Last Lion (1972). Sound technician James Chapman was mauled to death by a lion during production on this South African film (1)”

Surely lessons would be learned from such losses when working so directly with apex predators right? Almost a decade later, enter

“Roar (1981). A film about a wildlife preservationist whose family came to visit him only to be met with his co-habitats, his vast collection of wild animals, which unfortunately attacked the film crew and actors who had to work alongside with, leaving over 70 of them injured on set including cinematographer Jan de Bont, who had his scalp lifted by a lion, resulting in 220 stitches. Lead actress Tippi Hedren fractured her leg and also had scalp wounds after being bucked off by an elephant while she was riding it in addition to being also bitten in the neck by a lion and required 38 stitches. Melanie Griffith (Hedren's daughter) was also attacked, receiving 50 stitches to her face. Because of the injuries on set, crew turnover was high as many never returned on set. John Marshall was bitten by one of the lions and required 56 stitches. (1)”

Wild animals can be unpredictable. Surely predictable and preventable accidents were completely under control by this time in film history right? Wrong.

“Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). On 23 July 1982, Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (aged 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (aged 6) were killed by a helicopter during production when it was caught in the pyrotechnics flying low at 25 feet (8 metres).The tail rotor decapitated Morrow and Le and crushed Chen to death.The accident led to one of the most prolonged lawsuits in film history and resulted in some major changes in filming codes. (1)”

Animals, helicopters, boats, sets, wheels...most of the documented film set deaths I read about while researching this episode were entirely preventable. Oddly enough though, the closer we get to modern times, the more stupidly preventable fatal accidents get.

“The Crow (1994). On 31 March 1993, American actor and martial artist Brandon Lee was accidentally shot and killed in North Carolina with a .44 magnum  gun that was intended to fire blanks but contained a bullet left behind after a dummy round had been inserted and removed. Also, on 1 February 1993 on the opening day of filming a carpenter was severely shocked and burned when his scissor lift struck power lines. (1)”

Continuing the superhero theme,

“The Dark Knight (2008). Cameraman Conway Wickliffe was killed in 2007 on the set of The Dark Knight, as he rode in a pickup truck driving parallel to a stunt car; the pickup missed a 90-degree turn and crashed into a tree. (1)”

“OSHA assessed Paramount Pictures $21,000 after the 2011 death of a worker killed while operating an aerial platform in Louisiana during production of the film 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation.' Almost five years later, that penalty is still being contested. Meanwhile, 'G.I. Joe' has grossed more than $122million in North America alone.The agency's fines often are fiercely contested by studios and production companies, and prosecutions are rarely pursued. Most workers are legally barred from suing, and those that do encounter the reluctance of witnesses to come forward for fear of being rendered unemployable in the ultra-competitive entertainment industry. (2)”

On the animal treatment front, things didn’t get much rosier either.

“The Hobbit (2012-2014). As many as 27 animals were killed during the production of this film, mainly from the hazardous conditions of the farm they were housed in. Several goats and sheep fell into a sinkhole under the farm. One horse was hobbled and left on the ground for three hours. Another horse was killed after falling off an embankment of an overcrowded paddock. One horse had the skin and muscles of her leg torn off by wire fencing. Several chickens were mauled to death by unsupervised dogs or trampled by larger animals. This led to a global protest against the film by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). (1)”

Up until this point, exactly zero people have been charged with jail time for the multitude of events which could be argued to be ‘involuntary manslaughter’. The film industry has always been excellent at dodging blame and has excellent lawyers. Despite this,

“In 2015, the director Randall Miller became the first filmmaker to ever be sentenced to jail for their part in an on-set death, after second camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed by a freight train in a stunt gone terribly awry during the filming of a Gregg Allman biopic.

“Miller pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass in regards to the incident, which saw him encourage crew members to perform a dangerous and, unknown to them at the time, illegal stunt on a train track despite a crew-wide feeling of unease on the day of the incident. Stunt performers themselves have also indicated that many on-set injuries go widely unreported. (6)”

“Stunt drivers have helmets, roll bars, air bags and five-point safety harnesses to help keep them safe. All that a cameraman has between him and an oncoming speeding stunt car is his camera. It’s why so many cameramen and their assistants have gotten killed on film and TV productions: they’re right on top of the action and sometimes killed beneath it. (7)”

Superstar Tom Cruise came under fire for the accident which occurred during filming for

“American Made (2017). Stunt pilot Alan D. Purwin and Venezuelan co-pilot Carlos Berl were killed when their aircraft crashed during filming in Medellín, Colombia. A third person on board the aircraft survived. (1)”

Yet this wasn’t just a freak accident out of nowhere, it was the result of the director and actor attempting to improvise action sequences without regard for lives on the line.

“ (the) executive producer likewise complained about (the film’s director) and (Tom) Cruise to the insurance company, saying they are ‘adding entire scenes and aerial shots on the fly.’ The producer said the previous 48 hours had become ‘the most insane s(tuff) I’ve ever dealt with.’ (3)”

“‘Film-making is a weird world, a physical and psychological bubble’ … ‘For eight or 10 weeks the director is in charge of cast and crew, sometimes in a remote location, and his or her word is law. If he wants people to do something crazy, it’s very hard for someone lower down the ladder to speak up.’ (6)”

During photography for

“Deadpool 2 (2018). On August 14, 2017, stuntwoman Joi "SJ" Harris was killed during filming after losing control of a motorcycle while turning a corner and crashing through a glass window. (1)”

“In the days leading up to the Deadpool 2 motorcycle stunt...the crew was said to be growing increasingly agitated and nervous about the potential for something to go wrong.

The 20th Century Fox sequel’s producers had been exerting pressure to have the 40-year-old Harris, who had raced professionally but had never worked on a film. (4)” do the stunt herself.

“...the crash occurred on the first live take. The accident has drawn outrage and tough questions from the Hollywood stunt community. (4)”

“ ‘The stunt coordinators caved to the pressure. All the stunt people could do was take it to their higher-ups. (4)”

“But, tragically, this isn’t a new story. Fatal or life-threatening accidents on film and television sets have become a queasily recurrent routine in recent years, sparking industry debate about the safety of below-the-line talent working in Hollywood. (5)”

“Every year, workers on both sides of the camera are maimed, burned, break bones and even die striving to deliver entertainment that packs multiplexes and commands top TV ratings. Injuries come not just from obvious risks such as stunts and explosives, but from falls off ladders, toppled equipment and machines without safety guards.

Yet in an industry where virtually everything is tallied and every success is touted, set accidents remain largely hidden and the consequences usually amount to mere thousands of dollars in fines paid out of multimillion-dollar budgets. (2)”

From boats sinking and freak quicksand to a camera crew member being hit by a train, the notion that the film industry might learn from the past and improve safety standards doesn’t seem to have much evidence. From literally feeding crew members to lions and sharks to pushing a motorcycle racer inexperienced in stunt-work to complete a stunt without a helmet, Hollywood simply doesn’t seem care about the well-being of their own.

“The Associated Press determined that, since 1990, at least 43 people have died on sets in the U.S. and more than 150 have been left with life-altering injuries, numbers derived by combing through data from workplace and aviation safety investigations, court records and news accounts. And those figures almost certainly don't tell the entire story: The AP found several instances in which major accidents either weren't reflected in investigation records or did not appear in an Occupational Safety and Health Administration database of the most serious set accidents. (2)”

“Kevin Boyle, an attorney who has handled several injury cases, said accidents within the film and TV industry are different from most workplace incidents.'Usually in a severe injury or death case, there are numerous witnesses who want to come forward to help out the victim,' Boyle said. 'When the entertainment industry is involved, witnesses are very reluctant to come forward. People who work for the entertainment industry are very afraid of retribution and they're always looking out for that next job, so a lot of times these on-set injuries and deaths go under the radar.' (2)”

“In an industry where regular, paid employment is a rarity for even the most talented of people, it’ll take a lot to convince individuals to raise an alarm when they sense concern, potentially delaying production and alienating higher-ups in the process. With so many eager people ready and willing to take their spot at the first sign of dissonance, it’s no wonder that many decide to keep their heads down and get on with it. (6)”

It doesn’t matter who you are, your life is worth so much more than any movie.

We’re not firefighters, we’re not aid workers after a natural disaster, we’re not scientists working on reversing the carnage of cancer. We’re not saving lives. We. Make. Movies.

Frankly, movies are not worth our lives, they’re not more valuable than anyone’s life. Lately, they’re not even worth the cost of a ticket and popcorn at your local cinema.

This has been Cinema Cemetery, digging six feet deeper into film-making culture.

-Josh Evans