The producers of “Fast & Furious 9” have been ordered to pay $1 million to Joe Watts, the stuntman injured during filming.
In July 2019, stuntman Joe Watts fell from 8 meters high on the set of Fast & Furious 9. The latter fell from a balcony during a fight scene.
There BBC specifies that, during training, Joe Watts was supposed to be thrown over the right shoulder of Vin Diesel’s voice actor, but the stunt was changed during filming and the victim went over the left shoulder of his colleague .
The safety line, which had worked during the first take, came loose from his vest during the second and Joe Watts plunged to the ground, missing the safety mats. The cable was not checked between the sockets.
The stuntman suffered a fractured skull, brain damage and a shoulder injury and was in a coma for five days. According to his lawyers, he ends up with “a series of cognitive and physical problems” requiring specialist support and therapies. They describe his injuries as wounds “that change life”.
Joe Watts filed a lawsuit against the production and sought $1.2 million in damages. Last June, the producers of Fast & Furious 9 recognized their responsibility.
“Responsibility is therefore admitted in its entirety and it is therefore accepted that [Joe Watts] is entitled to damages as the court may assess or which the parties may agree”, specified the defense report.
A fine of 920,000 euros
The company FF9 Pictures has just been ordered by the Luton Magistrates’ Court to pay a fine of 800,000 pounds (a little over 920,000 euros / 1 million dollars) to the stuntman after having admitted breaches of security.
District Judge Talwinder Buttar criticized the decision to modify the stunt in particular “at the last minute“without changing the place of the protective mattresses and declared that Mr. Watts had”lucky to be alive“.
Joe Watts was an experienced stuntman and had worked on Game Of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Ready Player One.