Movie sets are always fairly chaotic places but yesterday things went a little off the deep end with reports that there had been a stabbing on the set of Anne Hathaway's upcoming film, The Witches. However, what was called a stabbing at the time now appears to have been less serious, and production of the new film has resumed and was reportedly not greatly impacted by the incident.
It turns out that even having the police called to your film set doesn't mean that production needs to slow down at all. While the initial report claimed the Warner Bros. studio in England was in "lockdown" following the incident where a stagehand was stabbed by a rigger, Variety is now reporting that the production did not cease as a result of the incident.
Also, what was being called a 'stabbing" at the time, is now being called "a small laceration to his neck." This isn't actually too surprising. While the victim was taken to the hospital following the attack, he was released later the same day, which seemed to indicate the wound wasn't actually all that serious.
The new report claims that the fight between the two crew members was over a "trivial matter" which seems to lend some credibility to the earlier report that the fight was over one of the men taking a teabag from the other. The most British reason to cut somebody's neck ever conceived.
The alleged attacker, who apparently committed the act with a Stanley knife, was arrested but has since made bail. He has to return to face charges of intent to do grievous bodily harm in July.
Certainly even if such an incident were to impact the production schedule of The Witches it wouldn't have been by very much. However, it seems that in the end the movie has moved forward without so much as noticing that anything happened. In fact, it really doesn't look like anything at the studio was affected. The Warner Bros. studio in Leavesden was the location for the filming of the Harry Potter movies, and is now home to a studio tour based around the franchise. Even the tour was not affected by the incident, so it appears that while the attack did take place, everything else was exaggerated.
The film is based on a story by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl about a coven of witches with a hatred of children. The book was previously adapted into a film in 1990 and starred Angelica Huston in the role of the coven leader, the role that will now be played by Anne Hathaway. Octavia Spencer and Chris Rock co-star.
The Witches is set for a Halloween release in October of 2020.
