It was an accident that rocked Deadpool 2 and the wider film community.
Joi “SJ” Harris, a 40-year-old professional rider from New York City, was killed last month when a motorcycle stunt went awry on the Vancouver set of David Leith’s superhero sequel. Production shut down for three days, during which time 20th Century Fox and local authorities conducted an investigation on the “freak accident,” before filming resumed towards the end of August.
Led by series star Ryan Reynolds, tributes poured out from all across the industry, and it’s all but certain that the final cut of Deadpool 2 will include some form of heartfelt tribute to the late Harris. Her memory lives on, though, as Domino actress Zazie Beetz told Entertainment Tonight at the 20th Century Fox Emmys After-Party. It’s a short, emotional interview, one in which Beetz breaks down while remembering Harris and her contribution to the sequel.
It really rocked our boat, and still is. It changed a lot in our production, changed a lot in the film. That week, we shut down production for a few days and then we came together and it actually really did bring the cast to sort of to this same place… the crew as well. We had a memorial for her. Yeah, it was very sad. It was a very strange time and still is – like, it’s still the same with us, and for the stunt community, too.
The actress isn’t the only one to address the on-set tragedy, as Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) recently admitted that most of the cast and crew are still reeling from the accident.
Subsequent reports have been fairly damning, asserting that the inexperienced Harris was only brought on board because of her resemblance to Zazie Beetz, the actress for whom she was standing in for at the time of the accident. This, coupled with the fact that Deadpool 2 was Harris’ first film gig, has led critics to claim that the accident “absolutely could have been prevented,” which, if true, makes this entire ordeal all the more tragic.
Currently simmering in post-production, Deadpool 2 will see a release on June 1st, 2018.
