The directors of Fast and Furious were fined one million dollars.
The incident occurred in 2019 during filming of “Fast & Furious 9: The Fast Saga” at Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, the BBC reports.
Prosecutors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told the court on Friday (24/11/23) that during a fight scene on a balcony, Joe Watts’ safety line came loose while he was performing a different stunt to the one that had already been repeated several times was.
The 35-year-old stuntman was originally supposed to be thrown over an actor’s right shoulder, but at the last minute he was told he should be thrown over the actor’s left shoulder.
Joe Watts missed the safety mat and suffered brain damage, the court was told.
The safety line was allegedly not checked between takes, a decision rejected by District Judge Talwinder Buttar, who noted that Joe Watts was lucky to be alive.
Prosecutors argued that FF9 Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, “failed to provide the necessary safety mat to mitigate the consequences of an accidental fall following changes to the set and stunt sequence.”
HSE inspector Roxanne Barker described Mr Watts’ injuries as “life-changing”.
Joe Watts has worked on a number of major film and television productions, including Game Of Thrones, Johnny English Strikes Again, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Fast & Furious 9: The Fast Saga will be released in 2021 and stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Ludacris Bridges, John Cena, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron.