Movie filming again after woman’s death
Professional racer crashed in Deadpool stunt
VANCOUVER • The cameras are rolling again on the Vancouver production of the movie Deadpool 2, two days after the motorcycle death of stuntwoman Joi “SJ” Harris.
Deadpool 2 star Ryan Reynolds and director David Leitch led a moment of silence on the film’s set Wednesday to honour Harris, who was killed in a crash during production earlier this week.
Harris, a 40- year- old professional motorcycle racer from New York, was performing a stunt near Canada Place Monday when she lost control of her bike, which jumped a curb, and crashed headfirst into a glass window at Shaw Tower.
Harris was treated by paramedics but died at the scene. The B.C. Coroners Service and WorkSafeBC are investigating.
It was reportedly her first film as a stunt driver.
Harris was doubling for actress Zazie Beetz, who plays the mutant mercenary Domino in the sequel to the 2016 blockbuster based on the Marvel comic book.
Production on the 20th Century Fox film, which was halted for two days after her death, was underway again Wednesday as t he crew, including Reynolds, were shooting a scene under the Granville Street Bridge.
The lot beneath the bridge has been made to look like a used car dealership.
The original Deadpool, also filmed in Vancouver, earned $780 million in 2016 on a $ 58- million budget to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever.
Reynolds’ co-stars Morena Baccarin and T. J. Miller are reprising their roles as Deadpool’s love interest and best friend in the sequel. New to the cast are Josh Brolin ( No Country For Old Man) as Cable, a mutant super soldier from the future, and Beetz (Atlanta) as Domino.
Deadpool 2 is scheduled for a June 2018 release.
Stunt- related deaths are rare in the film industry, but they do happen. In 1998, Vancouver stuntman Marc Akerstream was killed when he was struck in the head by a piece of flying debris while observing an explosion on the Squamish set of the TV show The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Two years earlier in Squamish, 32- year- old Vancouver stuntman Keith Perepelkin died on the set of the movie Firestorm, after his parachute failed to open during a jump from a helicopter.