‘LIFE-CHANGING’

‘Fast & Furious’ Producers Fined $1M After Stuntman Breaks His Skull

Joe Watts was left with a broken skull and brain damage after he plunged eight meters to the concrete.

The makers of the Fast & Furious franchise were slapped with a fine equivalent to $1 million after a stuntman was left with brain damage from a fall sustained while filming the series’ ninth installment. Joe Watts’ safety line detached during a choreographed fight scene on a balcony on the British set of F9 in July 2019, according to the BBC, and he plunged eight meters to the concrete after the stunt went wrong. On Friday, FF9 Pictures, a Universal subsidiary, admitted to health and safety failures in relation to the incident. Presiding District Judge Talwinder Buttar said that Watts was “fortunate to be alive” after the incident. An inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, which prosecuted the case, said that Watts’ injuries had been “life-changing” and that he easily could have been killed. “In stunt work, it is not about preventing a fall but minimizing the risk of an injury,” she said.