Multiple Injuries On Lord Of The Rings Set Has Stunt Workers Furious
Apparently, the stunt people working on The Lord of the Rings are furious with Amazon for what they deem to be lack of safety on the set
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The Lord of the Rings series that’s coming on Amazon is setting up to be one of the most anticipated projects in quite some time and the biggest production ever for the streaming service. But there have been some problems along the way with the filming including multiple injuries on the set. According to reporting by the NZHerald, multiple stunt people working on the show are furious with the conditions and what they believe to be a total lack of safety protocols on the production. Amazon has responded to the allegations around safety in a production that has seen multiple injuries already.
According to this reporting, multiple stunt people on the production are apparently very concerned with the lack of safety on the set and the overall environment of the filming that’s left multiple people injured. They don’t feel as if Amazon is taking the workplace risk seriously enough and it’s led to multiple issues so far, some of them quite serious in nature. According to the NZ Herald, there have been at least four stunt people who have had to leave the production because of either injury or mental health concerns.
Some of the backlash from stunt people on The Lord of the Rings series stems from the reported injury to stunt expert Dayna Grant. While filming a scene for the show Grant was injured and, at the time, received medical attention. But it was later found that she had a brain aneurysm and major back injury. Because she is renowned in the industry for her previous work on other films like Wonder Woman 1984 and Mad Max: Fury Road her industry did become major news around the production.
But there have been other injuries as well. As part of the same reporting, apparently, Amazon and The Lord of the Rings production has already paid out of $500,000 settlement to Elissa Caldwell. This happened when the stuntwoman fell into a large tub of water as part of a scene, but his her head in the process. She’s since left the production.
Amazon, for their part, has responded to the allegations of an unsafe environment for the stunt people on the set of The Lord of the Rings. They issued a statement regarding the incidents that have already taken place as well as the assertion that they haven’t reported the injuries correctly when it comes to workplace obligations around safety. Here’s what the company had to say about the issues:
Amazon Studios takes the health, physical and emotional welfare of our cast and crew extremely seriously. As a top priority, the production team continues to be in full compliance with the mandated Worksafe New Zealand Safety and Security government regulations. Any allegation or report that activities on set are unsafe or outside of regulations are completely inaccurate
In the litigious times we live in, this response from Amazon is to be expected. Even if the work environment was unsafe on The Lord of the Rings, they’d never actually admit it in a public forum. So there’s really not all that much to read into when it comes to how they are treating the situation from their perspective.
The Lord of the Rings is set to be one of the biggest television series ever. Amazon has already paid $250 million for the rights to the story for a season, with the number ranging up to $1 billion when it’s all said and done. It’s a massive undertaking but has had its share of issues already. Let’s hope they are able to correct some of the production’s safety concerns and move ahead with what could be a television epic.
