Two technicians working in the shooting of “The Expendables 4” movie in Thessaloniki, Greece, were injured in separate incidents, it emerged on Wednesday.
The injuries occurred during the last few days, according to a report in Mega TV.
The first injury occurred in the town of Vasilika when a technician fell from a boat where filming was taking. The second injury took place in Diavata, another town near Thessaloniki, where a stuntman injured a cameraman with a vehicle.
Panos Kouanis, President of the National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME) told Greek media that the injuries suffered by the two technicians were very light.
“It is a difficult production of an action movie and indeed there have been two injuries,” he admitted, adding, however, that in both cases the technicians received first aid on-site and returned to their duties.
He stressed that all necessary safety measures are in place to safeguard the safety of all workers.
Concerns over safety in film shootings
The incidents are bound to further raise concerns over safety during film productions, following the tragic killing of the director of photography on the set of “Rust” after Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a prop gun.
The 63-year-old actor was rehearsing a scene with a gun that Baldwin had been told was safe, or a “cold gun,” which did not contain live ammunition. Baldwin struck and killed Halyna Hutchins, and injured director Joel Souza.
For the needs of “The Expendables 4”, a set has been constructed on the east side of Thessaloniki where the cast and crew are filming most of their scenes over the course of the next two weeks.
Thessaloniki is now hosting several of Hollywood’s brightest stars, with Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Megan Fox, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Tony Jaa, and Andy Garcia all participating in the Thessaloniki filming.
Stallone began “The Expendables” franchise in 2010
Franchise creator Sylvester Stallone will also be participating in the shoot, although this will be the last time he will work on the series.
Stallone began “The Expendables” franchise in 2010 with the first entry in the series, which he wrote and directed. An ode to the action films the legendary actor made in the 80s and 90s, The Expendables brings together a myriad of actors from the action genre to team up as mercenaries to fight a common enemy.
Subsequent sequels continued to bring in new actors to the series, featuring stars like Dolph Lundgren, Harrison Ford, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, and more.
The last movie, 2014’s The Expendables 3, was a bit of a disappointment as it opted for a PG-13 rating and sought to beef up the cast with new, fresh faces, rather than older, more seasoned ones, which took a bite out of the box office, making it the least profitable of the franchise to date.
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