Los Angeles Times

Crash injures crew members on set of Eddie Murphy film

‘The Pickup,’ a movie by Amazon MGM Studios, is being shot in Georgia. Workers expected to recover.

- By Christi Carras

Several crew members were recently injured in a crash on the Georgia set of an Amazon MGM Studios film starring Eddie Murphy, the Associated Press reported this week.

The studio said the accident happened April 20 while shooting a sequence that “did not go as planned.”

Two of the injured crew members were hospitaliz­ed after the incident, a person close to the production told the news outlet.

“We are still in the process of gathering facts on what happened and why, but first and foremost our thoughts are with those who are recovering,” an Amazon MGM Studios spokespers­on said this week in a statement to the AP.

“The well-being of the entire crew and cast is our first priority, and we will continue to insist on the highest industry standards of safety while filming. All safety precaution­s were reviewed prior to and monitored during the shoot,” the spokespers­on said.

The incident occurred when a truck “locked up” and collided with a car behind the scenes of “The Pickup,” which was filming on location outside of Atlanta. The injuries reportedly included bumps, bruises and broken bones. All the workers are expected to make a full recovery.

The person who spoke to AP described the event as a “completely freak accident,” noting that the sequence didn’t involve any “complicate­d or dangerous” stunts. The Internatio­nal Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that represents Hollywood crew members, is looking into the incident.

None of the film’s stars, who include Murphy, Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson, were on set when the collision took place, the AP reported.

The industry has been roiled by a rash of serious injuries on film sets in recent years, including the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones on a railway trestle in Georgia in 2014 during filming of the movie “Midnight Rider.”

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