VANCOUVER: “Deadpool 2” star Ryan Reynolds is mourning the death of a motorcycle stunt driver killed during production Monday.
Reynolds released a statement on Twitter a few hours after the accident near the waterfront in downtown Vancouver.
“Today, we tragically lost a member of our crew while filming Deadpool,” the actor wrote. “We are heartbroken, shocked and devastated ... but recognize nothing can compare to the grief and inexplicable pain her family and loved ones must feel in this moment.”
Reynolds, a native of Vancouver playing the Marvel Comics superhero Deadpool in the 20th Century Fox movie, said his heart “pours out to them — along with each and every person she touched in this world.”
The motorcycle crash happened near the Shaw Tower office building, where a crumpled motorcycle was seen lying on its side and a window was smashed.
Nathan Kramchynski, who works on the seventh floor of the building, said he watched rehearsals for the stunt outside the Vancouver Convention Center. The stunt woman had been riding the motorcycle down a set of stairs from the center and stopped when she reached the street, he said.
But when the accident happened, the driver appeared to pick up speed, crossed the street and swerved to avoid pedestrians before disappearing from his view, Kramchynski said.
“She lost control really quickly. It happened in a split second,” he said. “She was going full throttle and then there is a building there.”
Another witness, Sharmina Kermalli, said she had just walked into a Starbucks next door to where the accident happened when she heard a loud crash. She ran outside and saw glass still falling on the body of the motorcycle driver.
The name of the stunt woman was not immediately released.
Police said WorkSafeBC, the British Columbia provincial workplace safety agency, and the coroner’s service were investigating. Trish Knight Chernecki of WorkSafe BC said some investigators are looking at any possible occupational health and safety issues while others examine the cause of the crash and prevention in the future.
The last stunt death in British Columbia was in 1996, when a person jumped from a helicopter and a parachute failed to open, she said.
In March 2016, actor Dylan O’Brien suffered injuries on the British Columbia set of the latest instalment of the “Maze Runner” film series. WorkSafe BC said Fox Productions Inc. did not rehearse a stunt sequence properly, but Fox said the stunt was thoroughly rehearsed.
A stuntman was fatally injured last month in Georgia during production of “The Walking Dead.” He fell head-first onto concrete about 22 feet (7 meters) below after appearing to try to grab a railing to stop his fall.
Stunt driver dies while filming ‘Deadpool 2’ in Vancouver
Stunt driver dies while filming ‘Deadpool 2’ in Vancouver
ABC signs Jimmy Kimmel to a one-year contract extension, months after temporary suspension
President Donald Trump won’t be getting his wish. ABC said Monday it has signed late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel to a one-year contract extension.
Kimmel’s previous, multiyear contract had been set to expire next May, so the extension will keep him on the air until at least May 2027.
Kimmel’s future looked questionable in September, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Following a public outcry, ABC lifted the suspension, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before.
He continued his relentless joking at the president’s expense, leading Trump to urge the network to “get the bum off the air” in a social media post last month. The post followed Kimmel’s nearly 10-minute monologue on Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Kimmel was even on Trump’s mind Sunday as the president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.
“I’ve watched some of the people that host,” Trump said. “I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people, if I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”
Kimmel has hosted the Oscars four times, but he’s never hosted the Kennedy Center show.
Just last week, Kimmel was needling Trump on the president’s approval ratings. “There are gas stations on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Trump right now,” he said.
Kimmel will be staying longer than late-night colleague Stephen Colbert at CBS. The network announced this summer it was ending Colbert’s show next May for economic reasons, even though it is the top-rated network show in late-night television.
ABC has aired Kimmel’s late-night show since 2003, during a time of upheaval in the industry. Like much of broadcast television, late-night ratings are down. Viewers increasingly turn to watching monologues online the day after they appear.
Most of Kimmel’s recent renewals have been multiyear extensions. There was no immediate word on whose choice it was to extend his current contract by one year.
Following Kirk’s killing, Kimmel was criticized for saying that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The Nexstar and Sinclair television ownership groups said it would take Kimmel off the air, leading to ABC’s suspension.
When he returned to the air, Kimmel did not apologize for his remarks, but he said he did not intend to blame any specific group for Kirk’s assassination. He said “it was never my intention to make the light of the murder of a young man.”
