How 'Midnight Rider' Victim Sarah Jones Lost Her Life

This was a bad idea for a movie in the first place. I met Greg Allman and he was a bore. Duane was the sociable one but his demise was so sad.

 

People gotta work. But I know the unions are up in arms about this, and you could make a good moral argument that the director and producers are wrong to keep this thing going. Their excuse is, "if the movie makes money, we'll be in a better position to pay off Sarah Jones' family," but I think that rings very hollow.

 

Gregg Allman should just pull the plug on it. Maybe do a biopic on Duane in a couple of years instead. Nothing good is ever going to come from this film.

 

How long before the producers claim that they're dedicating the film to Sarah Jones and that "Sarah would have wanted us to finish what we started," etc.

 

Would you say this is mainly due to a perceived lack of viewer interest, or is it more a case of the "journalists" not wanting to **** where they eat?

 

Apart from everything else, I can't see any way this film continues with this Director, First AD and UPM as they are all likely to be charged with criminal negligence in the least and manslaughter in the most likely. How or who will possibly insure and bond the production with a cloud like that? And that doesn't even address the civil suits against these individuals and production company.

 

These are good questions. There's some other interesting facts: 1) the location manager and the location manager's assistant were told to not be there on this day [and normally they would be responsible for safety on exteriors]; 2) the train company never gave permission for anybody to be on the tracks; and 3) this was supposed to be a camera test day, not an actual production day. Very suspicious and stupid.

 

Looks like the criminal side of this will finally come down soon and no doubt the civil filings will follow.

http://www.wsav.com/story/25279681/da-to-get-sarah-jones-investigation-monday

 

William Hurt has dropped out of the film.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...-rider-20140423,0,1747436.story#axzz2zqHRCnM3

 

People don't remember thirty years ago. Hell they were barely even born then

 

The families of the dead remember.

 

Agree about that. But its like after psychos with guns shoot up schools. Everyone is up in arms and demand changes, laws and restrictions for a few minutes then for the most part.... everyone forgets and nothing happens. Look at the new Georgia gun Law. Guns galore everywhere now. But I guess thats what the majority of people want in GA. Isn't that where the Walking Dead is filmed? Now I get it.

 

I remember the Twilight Zone tragedy, read the Outrageous Conduct book, which was chilling, and even saw a bad 3/4" dub of the Vic Morrow helicopter scene. I don't know how anyone could possibly forget it. California completely rewrote the laws regarding the use of children on sets because of that incident, I believe.

This is just heartbreaking. The tabloid shows don't care, because there is no sensational angle, nor can the facts be distorted to make that so. William Hurt was not involved directly enough(not that I am wishing that to be so). There is no other drama surrounding it, no other A-listers are saying anything about it, there is no "cute animal or child" involved so the story does not exist to them. It's sickening, but then again, who watches those shows to be "informed"?


Dan

 

That seems like a pretty scary place to shoot even without the risk of a train. Going out on a rickety old railroad bridge high above a river with gaping holes between the ties would be enough to have me turn away.

 

We've all read "The Body", and/or seen Stand by Me, right?

 

Gregg Allman doesn't want them to resume filming.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gregg-allman-begs-midnight-rider-698952

 

I agree. As a 42 year fan, this film should be scrapped.

 

Given the tragedy and irresponsible Sturges of the filming, it should not be resumed. Doing so would be insensitive jut as it was with the Landis Twilight Zone segment.

 

I hadn't heard of this until reading this thread. That they were shooting on a train track that was in service at the time, and they knew it, is just appalling, and astonishingly stupid. I feel terrible for the girl who was killed and her family.

 

That's a very interesting case, and I know a lot about this one (and read both books on it). The difference there was, Vic Morrow's death happened on the last day of shooting, so they basically had that whole segment already in the can and were able to finish the film (but cut out the helicopter scene out of respect to the family). The Midnight Rider accident happened on the first day of the shoot, so they've got nothing.

I think one huge, huge issue is I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the insurance company is refusing to pay, because the filmmakers didn't have permits to shoot on the railroad tracks, and that's a big contractual condition for many insurance carriers. If they shut down the movie and ask the insurance company to pay, it'll be a huge lawsuit and I don't think the filmmakers can win. So I think that's why they're trying to go ahead and get it going again. If they abandon it, the investors will lose all their money and the producers will be responsible.

I think now that William Hurt has walked off and Allman himself doesn't want it made, they're basically done.

They had permits and lots and lots of safety protections in place on that film, plus they completely controlled the trains on those tracks. In the scene where the kids were running down the tracks from the train, they were actually separated by about 30 feet and were never in danger; the shot was done in such a way as to make it look like the train was much closer than it really was. Today, they'd do 90% of it in CG and it'd be much, much scarier (and possibly more real).

I'm still blown away that they didn't do this train scene in CG, which wouldn't have cost that much or taken that much time. Very, very, very bad planning on this mess.

 

Yeah I would have thought it a straight two shot composite.

 

Gregg Allman Files Lawsuit Against Producers of Midnight Rider

" Last week we reported that Gregg Allman is urging director Randall Miller not to resume production on his biopic Midnight Rider follow the death of Sarah Jones. Now it appears he is attempting to achieve this goal through other means. A story in the Hollywood Reporter reveals that Allman contends the filmmakers no longer hold the rights to his life story. Allman has filed a lawsuit charging that these rights lapsed because (a) the producers did not begin principal photography by February 28, 2014 as stipulated via contract and (b) the producers did not pay him the complete sum owed to him in order to adapt his story for film. Allman’s attorneys have requested a temporary restraining order to prevent work on the movie. A judge will hear arguments about this matter on May 12. "

http://www.jambands.com/news/2014/0...-lawsuit-against-producers-of-midnight-rider/

 

Without Gary Oldman, who I read quit, how in the world did Miller even dream that he could now make a worthwhile movie?

 

Stick a fork in it... it's done.

 

It looks like the lawsuits are on the way, including suing Gregg.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=868518