Tragedy befell production of TNT’s sci-fi drama Falling Skies on Monday night, as a security guard was killed near the set in a most horrible and unpredictable manner. The Season 5 production was shut down today so that the proper authorities could handle the situation.
Around 8:30 p.m. on Monday night, in Burnaby, British Columbia, an unattended truck began to roll down the hill that it was parked on, striking the guard and pinning him against a tree. It’s not clear whether the initial impact is what killed him, or if he died due to complications from his injuries. The identity of the security guard, who was a part of Vancouver Teamsters Local 155, is being kept from the public at this time, according to Deadline.
Scott McCloy, spokesman for British Columbia’s Workers’ Compensation Board, said the truck was on a 6% slope and its tailgate was lowered, which meant it was being used to unload equipment. Apparently whoever was using it didn’t give much thought to the admittedly small slope, failing to engage the parking brake. McCloy also said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating the truck to see if there was anything that could have gone mechanically wrong that led to its rolling backwards. Good old Canada isn’t going to assume the obvious here, and maybe they’ll find something out. However it goes, it doesn’t make the situation any less saddening.
Earlier this year, the production of the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider faced a major disaster when camera assistant Sarah Jones was struck and killed by a train during production. (Several others were injured as well.) While that incident at first looked like a crazy accident, it was soon revealed that the Randall Miller-directed film didn’t even have clearance to film in the area. Miller, his wife and co-writer Jody Savin and executive producer Jay Sedrish were charged with Involuntary Manslaughter and Criminal Trespassing, with a status hearing set for next week.
Season 4 of Falling Skies just ended on August 31, with TNT putting in its order for a fifth and final season back in July. If next season is like the last four, it will presumably be starting up again in June. It’s unclear just how long Falling Skies’ production will be shut down, but it doesn’t seem likely that this will cause any delays. Unless things go the Midnight Rider route.
We at Cinema Blend send our condolences and thoughts to the guard’s family and friends in their time of grief.
