The film “Twilight Zone: The Movie” had mediocre reviews, but it earned itself a place in history when indictments against filmmakers for manslaughter were revealed on opening day.
The charges, unveiled on June 24, 1983, were against five filmmakers, including the director of the Twilight Zone movie John Landis. The grand jury indictments were for the deaths of three people, two of which were children.
The tragedy took place at 2:20 am, Friday, July 23, 1982. The segment being filmed, which is of a Vietnam War battle, involved a man played by actor Vic Morrow running from a military helicopter while carrying two children across a river. In the background, a village explodes. However, due to poor rehearsal and essentially nonexistent communication, the explosions damaged the helicopter, causing it to crash into the river and kill Marrow and the two children, Myca Dinh Le, age 7, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, age 6.
Investigators examining the accident noticed many other dangers on the set. In an earlier scene before the accident, Landis used live rounds after decideding that he was unsatisfied with fake gunfire. The children acting on set were also not supposed to be there in the first place, as child labor laws prohibited children from working that late in the night, especially around helicopters or explosions. The children were also paid under the table with a paltry amount of cash. Landis had a carefree attitude when it came to safety concerns. When a performer told Landis that an explosion seemed to be more forceful than expected, Landis allegedly said “If you think that was big, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” A secretary even recalled Landis joking that “We’re all going to jail!”
Despite all these infractions, it took three more years for the case to come to trial. Landis and four other producers were charged with involuntary manslaughter. However, despite the evidence, the defendants were acquitted on all charges due to a badly executed prosecution. Other famous directors, which included George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Ron Howard, even backed Landis by signing a letter of support.
Steven Spielberg, director of the 1975 movie Jaws, did not sign the open letter supporting Landis. In fact, he gave a public statement about the matter of safety in the creation of art during an interview: “No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, ‘Cut!’” He emphasized that sometimes directors will have to sacrifice quality for safety when making a film and that doing so is always the right call.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/movies/the-twilight-zone-the-movie-accident.html
The charges, unveiled on June 24, 1983, were against five filmmakers, including the director of the Twilight Zone movie John Landis. The grand jury indictments were for the deaths of three people, two of which were children.
The tragedy took place at 2:20 am, Friday, July 23, 1982. The segment being filmed, which is of a Vietnam War battle, involved a man played by actor Vic Morrow running from a military helicopter while carrying two children across a river. In the background, a village explodes. However, due to poor rehearsal and essentially nonexistent communication, the explosions damaged the helicopter, causing it to crash into the river and kill Marrow and the two children, Myca Dinh Le, age 7, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, age 6.
Investigators examining the accident noticed many other dangers on the set. In an earlier scene before the accident, Landis used live rounds after decideding that he was unsatisfied with fake gunfire. The children acting on set were also not supposed to be there in the first place, as child labor laws prohibited children from working that late in the night, especially around helicopters or explosions. The children were also paid under the table with a paltry amount of cash. Landis had a carefree attitude when it came to safety concerns. When a performer told Landis that an explosion seemed to be more forceful than expected, Landis allegedly said “If you think that was big, you haven’t seen nothing yet.” A secretary even recalled Landis joking that “We’re all going to jail!”
Despite all these infractions, it took three more years for the case to come to trial. Landis and four other producers were charged with involuntary manslaughter. However, despite the evidence, the defendants were acquitted on all charges due to a badly executed prosecution. Other famous directors, which included George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, and Ron Howard, even backed Landis by signing a letter of support.
Steven Spielberg, director of the 1975 movie Jaws, did not sign the open letter supporting Landis. In fact, he gave a public statement about the matter of safety in the creation of art during an interview: “No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, ‘Cut!’” He emphasized that sometimes directors will have to sacrifice quality for safety when making a film and that doing so is always the right call.
Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/movies/the-twilight-zone-the-movie-accident.html
