While age-discrimination lawsuits are pretty common in Hollywood, the latest Amazing Spider-Man 2 lawsuit takes alleged age-discrimination to a new level.
BJ Davis who is now 63 years old worked on stunts from 1979 until 2013. In the latter years, he said, mistreatment on the set of Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended his career in the film industry as a stuntman.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, he said he couldn’t get work on the superhero sequel, despite having a long resume of work in Hollywood. He argued that stunt coordinator James Armstrong of the stunt working company, Armstrong Action, told him the production would only hire New York stuntmen, so he moved from Los Angeles to New York, only to find out later that the production hired several nonlocal stuntmen and compensated to travel to work on the set.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“Plaintiff realized that he had been told that only New York stunt professionals were being hired in an attempt to prevent him from working on the movie due to his age,” states the complaint.
On set, Davis says Armstrong consistently assigned younger stuntmen the “premium” stunts that were worth more pay. He says younger stuntmen made disparaging remarks about Davis’ age, and Armstrong “shared the same discriminatory view, and his attitude actually encouraged the harassment.”
“Then, things got even uglier,” continues the complaint.
Davis said he was shooting a scene on or around June 8, 2013, after a safety meeting in which the stuntmen were told they would have no physical contact with one another. He says another stuntperson rushed him during one of the final takes and, states the complaint, “at full speed attempted a clothesline tackle of plaintiff, coming from his blindside. The blow stunned plaintiff and made him stagger.”
“The stunt professional who delivered this blow later told plaintiff that he was sorry, but that Mr. Armstrong had ordered the tackle. Mr. Armstrong ordered this violence toward plaintiff due to his age,” continues the complaint.
Apparently, the injuries from getting tackled were so bad that they ended his career in stunt work, according to Davis.
Here a list of his reported injuries
- Injury to his shoulder
- Injury to his wrist
- Injury to his hand
- Injury to his back
- Injury to his neck
- Injury to teeth
- Nerve Damage
- Several surgeries
Following the incident, the producers “wrongfully and maliciously removed his name from the movie credits,” and he has had to “fight a continuing battle” to gain credit for the movie on IMDb.
Davis has also made several claims including discrimination under New York City and state laws, retaliation for the removal of his credit, intentional misrepresentation and concealment for telling him the scene in which he was tackled would involve no physical contact, infliction of emotional distress and several contract clauses. He is currently claiming $50,000 on 13 clauses.
Related Spider-Man news:
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Stuntman Suing ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2’ for Age-Discrimination
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Why We May Never See The Spider-Man Spinoff ‘Sinister Six’
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Andrew Garfield Reveals How He was Fired from ‘Spider-Man’
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Andrew Garfield: I’m Excited I Am No Longer Spider-Man
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