If you've seen Deadpool 2 at this point, you may have been distracted by the end-credits scenes, which may well be some of the best of all time. If you weren't distracted by the end-credits scenes, you were probably straining your eyes trying to figure out who cameoed in the movie. If you paid attention beyond that, however, you may have noticed that Deadpool 2 spent time during the credits dedicating the movie to the memory of Sequana Harris, aka Joi or S.J. Harris, the woman who lost her life doing stuntwork on the movie when it was filming in 2017.
The "in memory of Sequana Harris" notice is an innocuous part of the credits sequence, but it is an important reminder that making movies is not always fun and games. Back in August of last year, we learned that S.J. Harris had died on the set of the movie, crashing a motorcycle during a stunt that featured Harris standing in for Domino in Deadpool 2. At the time of the accident we learned that Harris was a seasoned motorcyclist at the time of her death, and had even become the first African-American woman in road racing. Soon after, we learned that during the filming of the stunt, Harris had "continued driving" past the safe stopping point those on the movie had laid out for her. This led to her driving down another ramp and eventually hitting a curb, after which Harris was thrown through a plate glass window.
The accident was a tragedy, and the cast were all affected by the event. The production even shut down for 48 hours after S.J. Harris' incident to evaluate what happened. Later, Zazie Beetz, whose character Domino was the one Joi Harris was standing in for, was particularly affected by the incident, previously noting,
It really rocked our boat, and still is. It changed a lot in our production, changed a lot in the film. That week, we shut down production for a few days and then we came together and it actually really did bring the cast sort of to this same place and we had a memorial for her. Yeah, it was very sad. It was a very strange time and still is -- like, it's still the same with us, and for the stunt community, too, there I dunno I just want to say like, we're really proud of our stunt team and they're a fantastic team. I just really want people to know that wasn't supposed to happen. And we're a really good team.
Other actors related to the movie, including Josh Brolin --who plays Cable -- and series lead Ryan Reynolds also spoke out about what happened. The movie moved forward in development and now, after months of work, it is finally hitting the big screen this weekend, but the level of work and craftmanship that went into the making of the big budget movie will not be forgotten, and the safety concerns of those who often do difficult and dangerous stunts on the sets of movies have been highlighted.
Ultimately, Deadpool 2 was a big movie with a lot of moving pieces that had to continue pushing forward after the accident happened. The movie didn't have to pay tribute to the stunt driver at the end, but it is a nice gesture to remember S.J. Harris in the credits, as she was an important part of the movie, just like the major actors, as well as the countless other people who help through editing, post-production, coordinating, costuming, directing, and working as camera operators, gaffers, grips, makeup artists and much more. So, don't just stick around during the end credits to watch Deadpool goof around. Stick around to pay attention to the names that normally don't get all the lauds.
