UPDATE: The victim has now been identified as Joi “SJ” Harris and apparently, this was her first film stunt.
Earlier today, tragedy struck the set of Fox’s Deadpool 2 in Vancouver when a stuntwoman was killed in a shocking accident. Investigations are still underway and it’s unclear what exactly went wrong – was it driver error, or perhaps a technical fault? – but production has been shut down effective immediately with no word on when it may resume.
From what we understand, the unidentified victim was said to be performing a motorcycle stunt in and around Shaw Tower near Jack Poole Plaza when the accident occurred. Emergency services rushed to the scene, before local law enforcement reported the death via social media, stating, “Vancouver Police can confirm that a female stunt driver has died on the set of Deadpool during a stunt on a motorcycle.”
The studio issued an official statement on the matter not too long ago and now, Ryan Reynolds has come forth as well to speak up on the incident, posting a message on Twitter this afternoon in which he said that everyone involved in the project is “heartbroken, shocked and devastated.”
Filming on Deadpool 2 initially kicked off back in June, when Reynolds and the crew took to the streets of Vancouver to capture scenes for the David Leitch-directed sequel. Production had been coming along at a brisk clip, as well, particularly after the back-to-back unveiling of Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz), though one would assume that 20th Century Fox will now halt things for a while to accommodate for what’s happened today.
As always, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear of any further updates, but for now, our very best goes out to all those affected by this horrible tragedy.