Amazon denied a report alleging its Lord of the Rings series is not abiding by production safety standards.
The company issued its statement in response to an article published by The New Zealand Herald, reporting "at least three" stunt performers were seriously injured on the show's set. Moreover, two injuries requiring surgery were not "proactively reported" to New Zealand's workplace health and safety regulator WorkSafe, reported Variety.
“Amazon Studios takes the health, physical and emotional welfare of our cast and crew extremely seriously,” said an Amazon Studios spokesperson. “As a top priority, the production team continues to be in full compliance with the mandated WorkSafe New Zealand Safety and Security government regulations. Any allegation or report that activities on set are unsafe or outside of regulations are completely inaccurate.”
Among the incidents cited by The New Zealand Herald was one involving Dayna Grant, a seasoned stunt worker whose recent credits include 2020's Wonder Woman 1984. Grant suffered a head injury filming the Lord of the Rings series in March and was later diagnosed with an eight-millimeter aneurysm and upper spinal injuries, necessitating emergency brain surgery. According to Variety's sources, Grant's injury was initially determined to be a mild concussion, which isn't a "notifiable event" per WorkSafe guidelines. The New Zealand Herald's source revealed Grant suffered her injury after being asked to perform a maneuver she wasn't comfortable with.
In a separate incident, stunt worker Elissa Cadwell -- whose credits include 2016's The Shallows and 2018's Aquaman -- reportedly received $500, 000 from Amazon after suffering a serious injury while filming the Lord of the Rings series in Feb. 2020. New Zealand stunt performer Thomas Kiwi also left the show's production in March after suffering an injury to his right shoulder's rotator cuff. Speaking to The New Zealand Herald, Kiwi alleged "there's a lot of s*** that's happening in the stunt department and a lot of unsafe stuff that's happened [on the series]."
Produced by Amazon Studios, The Lord of the Rings stars Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Nazanin Boniadi, Tom Budge, Morfydd Clark, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Ema Horvath, Markella Kavenagh, Joseph Mawle, Tyroe Muhafidin, Sophia Nomvete, Megan Richards, Dylan Smith, Charlie Vickers, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry, Ian Blackburn, Kip Chapman, Anthony Crum, Maxine Cunliffe, Trystan Gravelle, Sir Lenny Henry, Thusitha Jayasundera, Fabian McCallum, Simon Merrells, Geoff Morrell, Peter Mullan, Lloyd Owen, Augustus Prew, Peter Tait, Alex Tarrant, Leon Wadham, Benjamin Walker, Sara Zwangobani, Charles Edwards, Will Fletcher, Amelie Child-Villiers and Beau Cassidy. The series is expected to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in 2021.
Source: The New Zealand Herald, Variety
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