Movie Stunt Gone Wrong: Bike Rider Loses Life While Shooting Deadpool 2

Production for the much-anticipated Deadpool 2 movie is currently underway. Unfortunately, a stunt sequence went awry while filming, and a rider lost her life in the process.

SJ Harris, a stuntwoman, died while performing a bike stunt on the set of the superhero sequel, which was being filmed in Vancouver. It was Harris’ first job as a movie stuntwoman. Witnesses reported that Harris lost control of her bike during the stunt, jumped a curb, and crashed through a plate-glass window installed at a nearby building.

WorksafeBC's investigative report

WorkSafeBC, British Columbia’s occupational safety and health agency, provides the following information in their investigation report:

“a temporary worksite had been setup to record a film scene for a movie production. The site had been cordoned off from general public and traffic by the Vancouver Police Department. The worker had been rehearsing a stunt scene that involved driving a motorcycle, Dictate 939 Hyperstrada, out of the open doors of a building, across a concrete pad and down a ramp that had been built over three stairs and coming to a stop on the stair landing. During the first shooting of the scene the stunt driver continued driving beyond the planned stopping spot on the stairway landing, and continued to drive down a second ramp built over the bottom stairs and across the roadway. The motorcycle struck the concrete sidewalk curb, the worker was thrown off the motorcycle and propelled through a plate glass window of a building.”

The stunt sequence was being filmed by the second unit photography team. Harris had reportedly completed five takes of the same scene already. It was after the sixth take that the accident happened.

Not wearing a helmet

Reports mentioned that Harris was not wearing a helmet during the stunt because Domino, the character she was representing, wasn’t supposed to wear one during the scene. Paramedics were available at the scene to treat Harris, but they were unable to save her life.

The movie producers shut the production down immediately following the accident. The break gave WorkSafe BC the opportunity to perform its investigation. Production resumed 48 hours later and the cast and crew held a moment of silence at the beginning of the day in remembrance of Harris, who was 32 years old at the time.

Deadpool 2 is scheduled for release on June 1, 2018.