Poll: If a stuntman dies...

[Squilookle]

So a film is being made, and a stunt is shot. Several takes are done, but on the last take, the stuntman is killed. Lets say that for whatever reason, the director believes that the take in which the stuntman died was the best take of the lot.

Should the take involving the stuntman dying be put in the final film? Do you think the Stuntman would want something he died to make to be shown? Does the director have the right to show it, or the family the right to hide it?

What would you want if you were the Stuntman?

Or the Director?

 

[silver wolf009]

I say yes. If I were the stuntman, I want to be seen. Besides, if its an action movie that needs a stuntman, it's proably a good death.

Also, I would want a little card in the creidts dedicated to my memory.

 

[IamQ]

I wouldn't have it in the movie. Firstly, seeing a death on screen, knowing that it is a real one, will be a whole lot different for the audience.

Secondly, if the stuntman dies, but the scene still gets into the film, won't that mean that directors will put the stunt actors in even riskier situations than before, knowing that they can get away with it, even if he dies?

 

[emeraldrafael]

I think at that point, I'm dead, so no matter what I want wont matter unless its expressed before hand.

Usually stuff like that falls to the immediate family. A director can get into a ton of trouble if they use the footage of the guy dying, and especially with no family consent.


...

This is just me though, honestly, when I hear a stuntman dies, I always think:
a) its funny
b) they were bad at their job.

So I would let them use the footage, if it was best. Or even if it wasnt, just cause the film would be awesome and people would go see it.

 

[fix-the-spade]

A number of near misses (and fatalities) have made it into films. Althogh my favourites are the centurion getting run over in Ben Hur (he lived, barely) and the Helicopter in Attack of the killer tomatoes, which was unscripted and a genuine accident, but the actors just ad-libbed it upon discovering their continued existence.

won't that mean that directors will put the stunt actors in even riskier situations than before, knowing that they can get away with it, even if he dies?

No, because stuntmen are not stupid. If they believe a producer/director intends to put them in a needlessly or overly dangerous situation they just won't do it, stuntmen have unsurprisingly well organised unions.

More importantly, a production won't get insurance if that's how the producer behaves, a film will nver get funded or greenlit if it can't be insured first.

 

[The Night Shade]

Sure and also in the credits there should be a mention on the matter

 

[Canid117]

Wouldn't that technically make it a snuff film?

 

[Squilookle]

I'm sort of on the fence about it. If I were the stuntman I'd most definitely want the footage used, but whose decision it should be in the end I just can't figure out.

 

[Squilookle]

Damn- should also have said that the shot doesn't necessarily explicitly show the stuntman's death. It could be a car or plane crash, for instance... It's more the knowledge that somewhere during that take, the stuntman died.

 

[AvsJoe]

Tough call, man.

I guess a big question here is why the shot is considered the best. Were they filming a single or multiple death scene and the shot is (obviously) the most realistic? Were they filming a car crash and the wreckage/damage was the best/most spectacular in that shot? Were they filming a falling scene that looked better than the other takes?

As a stuntman, I would like the director to make the best damn movie he possibly could and if he has to use my death to do so, then I'm all for it. I'd take consolation that my death wasn't in vain.

As a director I wouldn't use the shot if even a single member of the stuntwoman's family or friends objects.

 

[Ghost_Star]

The only one that should make that decision is the family of the deceased.

 

[Adremmalech]

I've heard commentary on this actually. There was an accident on George Lucas' first film, THX1138. A motorcycle cop totally landed hard on solid concrete. He was fine, but everyone behind the camera thought he had died.
Still, they kept rolling, and let his body come to a stop, thus completing the shot. Lucas said that stuntmen generally agree that if they were to die in a stunt, their last stunt should be included in the movie. Otherwise, they died for nothing.

 

[Squilookle]

Tough call, man.

I guess a big question here is why the shot is considered the best. Were they filming a single or multiple death scene and the shot is (obviously) the most realistic? Were they filming a car crash and the wreckage/damage was the best/most spectacular in that shot? Were they filming a falling scene that looked better than the other takes?

I was initially thinking either a car crash/falling kind of shot, but I'm leaving any kind of shot open for comment. Let's say that the shot is regarded as the best for it's cinematic quality, not for realism, so no crunching bones or neck snapping is in the shot. We're not talking gory.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

In Top Gun, the pilot who pulled the flat spin during the aircraft crash with Goose really did die during the take, but they used it anyway.

They didn't show his crash and death of course, but when you see the spin, that really was the spin that killed him.

I love telling people that story, because it really freaks them out, but I think in general, as long as the stuntman agrees to it beforehand and the actual moment of death is not shown, then you should use the footage.

 

[McPulse]

A real death fundamentally alters the escapism of the film. It's not disrespectful, it simply wouldn't work.

 

[Flare Phoenix]

It's very simple: you just say to the stuntman "I'm going to use your footage so feel free to speak up now if you object".

In all seriousness, I say it'd be up to the family. Not sure what the legal verdict for it would be though.