Movies

UPDATE: 'Deadpool 2' Production Shut Down After Stunt Driver Death

deadpool 2 stunt driver killed
By Hoai-Tran Bui

UPDATE: According to Deadline, production on Deadpool 2 has been shut down while the death of a stunt driver on the set is being investigated. There is no indication as to when production will resume. Our original story from August 14 follows.

A stunt driver was killed on the set of Deadpool 2 on Monday, according to Vancouver police.

The stuntwoman was injured in a motorcycle crash on the Vancouver set of Deadpool 2, where the production had been shooting since late June. Police investigating the crash have not yet identified the victim.

"Vancouver Police can confirm that a female stunt driver has died on the set of Deadpool during a stunt on a motorcycle," the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

No additional information was released in the aftermath of the accident.

The statutory agency released a statement on the crash:

"WorkSafeBC was contacted by the Vancouver Police Department this morning at 8:31 a.m. regarding a serious incident in the 1000 Block of West Waterfront Road, Van B.C. WorkSafeBC has five officers at the incident site. Two officers are inspecting the site for immediate occupational health and safety issues. Three officers are investigating the incident for cause and prevention under the Workers' Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. "

Reporters from the local news station CTV News were alerted to the crash by witnesses, and tweeted the below pictures from the site.

It's unclear whether the stuntwoman died on set or at the hospital from injuries sustained at the accident.

The unnamed stuntwoman was shooting a motorcycle stunt for the sequel to 20th Century Fox's hit subversive superhero movie Deadpool, which came out in 2016. Production had just started for the superhero sequel, with an intended release for 2018.

The Deadpool stuntwoman's death follows alarmingly soon after a stuntman on The Walking Dead died from injuries he suffered on set, marking the first stunt-related death in the U.S. in 15 years. The Walking Dead stuntman John Bernecker had sustained massive head injuries in a fall on set July 12, later dying at Atlanta Medical Center.

The previous stunt performer to lose his life on a U.S. set was performing a parachute jump in Pismo Beach, Calif., on the set of Tears of the Sun in 2002.

Fatalities are fairly rare in the stunt business, though it is dangerous work that has often resulted in life-altering injuries, such as the paralysis of Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I in 2009, or Tom Cruise's own recent stunt-related injury during the filming of Mission: Impossible 6. Stunt-related deaths on film and TV had been on the decline since the '90s however, with studios and production companies taking greater precautions with safety efforts as well as the rise of digital effects, according to the LA Times.

However, the LA Times reported in 2015 that the number of fatalities was increasing in recent years, "with some industry experts blaming the need to get increasingly dramatic footage to stay competitive, especially in reality TV."

For the time being, Deadpool 2 is scheduled to be released on June 1, 2018.

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