On June 24, 1983, the film Twilight Zone: The Movie came out. The film got mixed reviews and didn’t chart very well. This would have been the average, forgotten film if it was not for the unsettling news that was reported the same day: three people were killed in a stunt that went horribly wrong.
Vic Morrow, an actor starring in this film, was supposed to carry two Vietnamese children across the river amidst an explosion and a military helicopter behind them. At 2:20 am on Friday, July 23, 1982, when Morrow was performing this stunt, the blades of the helicopter were damaged by the explosion, causing it to crash into the river. The pilot survived, but the crash dismembered Morrow and the two children: Myca Dinh Le, 7, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, 6 (citation needed here).
Upon investigation, officials discovered that the sole presence of the children on set had been illegal. The child labor laws prohibited children from working so late at night, let alone being so close to explosions. John Landis, the director, however, found a way to weasel his way out of these regulations: ”So Landis and one of the producers, George Folsey Jr., went outside regulations, casting children of mutual acquaintances, keeping their names out of the production’s official paperwork and paying them in petty cash” (New York Times, 2023).
Three years later, Landis and four other defendants were charged with involuntary manslaughter. However, they were freed from all their charges because of a “seemingly star-struck jury” (New York Times, 2023). There were some other consequences, such as fines for violations and reparations for the families of the deceased. However, the industry caused Landis no trouble after the accident, instead, many significant directors and cast members showed him support. Dan Aykroyd, an actor, said, “that was an industrial accident, nothing more.”
Since Landis was not very affected professionally in this case, he went on to direct many pieces such as the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and films like Coming to America and Trading Places. Landis’ career started to downhill because his films stopped making money.
Even today, many workers die on set due to budgetary shortcuts. For example, “the camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed by a freight train while working on the low-budget film Midnight Rider in 2014 (New York Times, 2023). Steven Spielberg’s advice can hopefully help with such tragedies: “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!’”
Vic Morrow, an actor starring in this film, was supposed to carry two Vietnamese children across the river amidst an explosion and a military helicopter behind them. At 2:20 am on Friday, July 23, 1982, when Morrow was performing this stunt, the blades of the helicopter were damaged by the explosion, causing it to crash into the river. The pilot survived, but the crash dismembered Morrow and the two children: Myca Dinh Le, 7, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, 6 (citation needed here).
Upon investigation, officials discovered that the sole presence of the children on set had been illegal. The child labor laws prohibited children from working so late at night, let alone being so close to explosions. John Landis, the director, however, found a way to weasel his way out of these regulations: ”So Landis and one of the producers, George Folsey Jr., went outside regulations, casting children of mutual acquaintances, keeping their names out of the production’s official paperwork and paying them in petty cash” (New York Times, 2023).
Three years later, Landis and four other defendants were charged with involuntary manslaughter. However, they were freed from all their charges because of a “seemingly star-struck jury” (New York Times, 2023). There were some other consequences, such as fines for violations and reparations for the families of the deceased. However, the industry caused Landis no trouble after the accident, instead, many significant directors and cast members showed him support. Dan Aykroyd, an actor, said, “that was an industrial accident, nothing more.”
Since Landis was not very affected professionally in this case, he went on to direct many pieces such as the music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” and films like Coming to America and Trading Places. Landis’ career started to downhill because his films stopped making money.
Even today, many workers die on set due to budgetary shortcuts. For example, “the camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed by a freight train while working on the low-budget film Midnight Rider in 2014 (New York Times, 2023). Steven Spielberg’s advice can hopefully help with such tragedies: “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!’”
