The leading actor of the biopic, Midnight Rider, drops out of the project following the on-set death of Sarah Jones.
William Hurt is dropping out of Midnight Rider, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Actor was portraying Gregg Allman in the movie, which had stopped production after the on-set death of the camera assistant Sarah Jones due to a train accident.
Director Randall Miller has been trying to resurrect the production in Los Angeles after leaving Georgia, with a goal of hiring new crew members to work on the production.
However, a social media campaign, union boycotts, and protests are preventing the production from continuing.
Insiders say that if Midnight Rider does resume production, it could face union pressure, litigation and protests from sectors of the film community that have highlighted Jones’ death as a preventable fatality. The project will likely have to recast if other actors don’t return as the film looks to restart production. [THR]
Actor William Hurt commented in an email that he thought the filming on the train tracks was dangerous. “I said, ‘Sixty seconds is not enough time to get us off this bridge.’ There was a communal pause. No one backed me up,” the actor stated in a copy of an email published by the Los Angeles Times on March 21.
According to Deadline, the producer for ‘Midnight Rider’ made some controversial comments regarding the way she likes to film movies.
“went on to talk about CBGB and was bitching about how our former film commissioner Jay Self kept showing up to set, telling her she couldn’t do this, she couldn’t do that and that she was so glad he was no longer film commissioner. [Savin] said, ‘We make movies by our own rules.’ ” Deadline has talked to other attendees who also corroborate the comments made by Savin at the event.
Sometimes it is better to live by the rules. It can save lives but, what do you think? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
