Producers guilty over Ford’s broken leg on Star Wars set
A PRODUCTION company involved in making “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has pleaded guilty in a British court to failing to protect actors and workers after an incident in which Harrison Ford’s leg was broken, officials said on Tuesday.
The star, who plays the muchloved character Han Solo, was injured after he became trapped under a rapidly closing metalframed door during fi lming in June 2014 at Pinewood Studios, near London.
The power of the door’s drive system was comparable to the weight of a small car, said Britain’s Health and Safety Executive ( HSE), a state agency which enforces workplace safety regulations.
“This was a foreseeable incident,” a spokesman for HSE said in a statement.
“Managing on- set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff — regardless of their celebrity status — is vital to protecting both on- screen and off- screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry,” he said.
The production fi rm, Londonbased Foodles Production ( UK) Ltd, could not immediately be reached for comment. Representatives of the fi rm entered the guilty plea during a hearing earlier at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court.
Ford, who was 71 at the time, was airlifted to a hospital in Oxford after the incident and later had surgery on his left leg.
With global ticket sales worth well over US$ 2 billion, “The Force Awakens”, the seventh installment of the Star Wars saga, is the third highestgrossing movie in Hollywood history, behind “Avatar” and “Titanic”.