“Game of Thrones” stuntwoman Casey Michaels is suing Fire & Blood Productions, the HBO-owned U.K. subsidiary, for $5M, over a “serious fracture-dislocation to her left ankle” during the final season of “Game of Thrones” in 2018. Michaels claims the injury came when she was instructed to “walk off a 12-foot high roof as if unaware of the drop, in keeping with the zombie-like nature of the Wights” during Episode 3.
However, ” By their nature, the cardboard boxes are not durable and become damaged as each stunt performer lands on the box rig and as each stunt performer climbs off of the box rig after landing,” the claim alleges. The claim cites physicians who say “her range of movement and function has been significantly reduced, barring Michaels from skiing, skydiving, gymnastics, or running due to her sustained injuries and basic tasks such as shopping, cooking, and gardening.”
Fire & Blood Productions denied the allegations, saying the box rig was “durable and was not compressed when a stunt performer stepped off onto the mattress and rolled away. And that Michaels did not walk off the roof as instructed by the stunt coordinator but rather dropped “‘like a pencil,’ in a rigid or vertical manner.” Fire & Blood Productions additionally claims Michaels’ injury was “caused either by the Claimant’s failure to execute the pleaded stunt properly and with the skill and care of a reasonably competent stunt performer or by pure accident.”
– Excerpt from an article for Indie Wire by Samantha Bergeson. Read the full article here.
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