We're used to seeing people be the victim of violent attacks on the big screen, but on the set of Anne Hathaway's new movie the violence took place off screen as one member of the crew of The Witches was arrested for stabbing another one in the neck.
The attack took place at the Warner Bros. studio located in Leavesden, Hertfordshire where the remake of The Witches, based on the book by Roald Dahl, is currently shooting. Yesterday afternoon a stagehand was allegedly stabbed in the neck by a rigger. The motive, according to the Daily Mail, may have been that one of the men stole a teabag belonging to another. Although, the two men had apparently worked with each other previously, so there may also be history there.
The exact details of the stabbing have not been determined. Whether the attack came out of the blue or as part of a larger fight between the two is not entirely clear, though the weapon was reportedly a Stanley knife.
While being stabbed in the neck is potentially dangerous business, the wound does not appear to have been too serious. The victim was taken to the hospital and following treatment was released that evening. The alleged attacker was arrested and charged with "intent to do grievous bodily harm" and released on bail.
It should be said that a stabbing over a teabag is the most British motive for a violent outburst one can possibly imagine. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's more to the story here than a swiped teabag, though, I suppose if the attacker was really looking forward to that cup of tea, anything is possible.
It's unclear if Anne Hathaway or any of her co-stars in The Witches, which include Chris Rock, and Octavia Spencer, were on set when the attack occurred. There's no word as to how all this impacted filming.
Movie production can certainly be a stressful job and tension can certainly run high. Still, we rarely hear about things reaching quite this level of violence. Usually the worst thing we hear about is an actor screaming in frustration or that somebody considered violence without resorting to it.
The current production of The Witches is the second film adaptation of the Roald Dahl story. The movie was first made in 1990 and starred Angelica Huston as the leader of a coven of witches bent on killing children. Anne Hathaway will be playing the same role in the new film being directed by Robert Zemeckis.
It's a good thing that nobody was more seriously hurt in suck an attack. One would expect production on The Witches will pick back up fairly soon if there were any problems. The film is currently scheduled for an October 2020 release.
