Stunt driver dies during filming of ‘Deadpool 2’
Posted Aug 14, 2017 9:28 am.
Last Updated Aug 14, 2017 6:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A woman riding a motorcycle this morning during a stunt scene for Deadpool 2 near Canada Place has died.
She crashed through a plate-glass window at the ground floor of the Shaw Tower. The woman is believed to be a long-time stunt driver from New York.
Nathan Kramchynski works on the seventh floor of the Shaw Tower and watched from the window.
“She lost control. She kind of weaved through, almost hit a pedestrian. Looking down from the seventh floor, you can only see so far… It was like she was going full-throttle and then there’s a building there. It was pretty intense.”
He says the emergency response was very fast.
The woman was loaded onto an ambulance and it remained at the scene for 15 to 20 minutes before leaving with no sirens.
WorkSafeBC and the BC Coroners Service are investigating the death. VPD officers remain at the scene to assist.
WorkSafeBC has five officers there, looking for occupational health and safety issues as well as looking into the cause of the death.
Today’s incident happened less than 24 hours after a deadly accident in the same area. A tourist was killed and others were hurt when they were pinned under a bus.
Two decades since a stunt worker has died working in BC
This isn’t the first time tragedy has struck a Vancouver area film set, but industry-related injuries are rare in British Columbia.
It’s been nearly 20 years since a stunt worker has died in this province.
One man was killed in 1998 on the Squamish set of the TV series The Crow and another died two years earlier during filming of the movie Firestorm –also in Squamish.
The most recent high profile injury was recorded in April of last year when actor Dylan O’Brien was hurt filming the latest installment of the Maze Runner movies.
Jason Cameron with the Union of BC Performers says trauma counselling is being offered to other members on set.
“It’s part of the member assistance program the union members have -both with our union and the other film industry unions in Vancouver.”
The Deadpool sequel starring Vancouver native Ryan Reynolds has been filming since June. It’s slated for release next summer.
NEWS 1130 has reached out for comment from 20th Century Fox –the studio producing the movie– but haven’t heard back from them yet.
