As you’ve probably already heard, a tragic event happened on a set during the filming of the upcoming Deadpool sequel when a stuntwoman SJ Harris died after a motorcycle accident. The crew stopped the shooting for two days, and WorkSafeBC immediately launched an investigation of this unfortunate event. WorkSafeBC is the British Columbia’s version of the U.S. government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to Deadline, here’s what they’ve found out about Harris’s death:
“a temporary work site had been setup to record a film scene for a movie production. The site had been cordoned off from general public and traffic by the Vancouver Police Department. The worker had been rehearsing a stunt scene that involved driving a motorcycle, Dictate 939 Hyperstrada, out of the open doors of a building, across a concrete pad and down a ramp that had been built over three stairs and coming to a stop on the stair landing. During the first shooting of the scene, the stunt driver continued driving beyond the planned stopping spot on the stairway landing and continued to drive down a second ramp built over the bottom stairs and across the roadway. The motorcycle struck the concrete sidewalk curb, the worker was thrown off the motorcycle and propelled through a plate glass window of a building.”
Furthermore, we’ve learned that Harris performed five takes successfully, so the accident happened during the sixth one. A source close to Deadpool 2 production claims the following: “In the maneuver, which was never more than 15 kilometers per hour – [a little less than] 10 miles an hour – she rode on a flat surface through two open doors and then turned left and went out of camera range. Her exit was a safety ramp to a big platform where the bike was supposed to stop, but she overshot the platform, hit a curb, and was thrown from the bike through a glass window.”
There were some rumors suggesting that Harris was not qualified for the job, even though she was an experienced motorcycle rider, but the source dismissed these speculations claiming the following: “To say an unqualified person was put in this position is absolutely untrue. She was the best candidate for the job.”
As previously said, the shooting was stopped for 48 hours, so the crew went back to working on the movie several days ago. The highly-anticipated title will hit theaters in June next year.
