William Hurt "assured twice" Midnight Rider bridge was safe

Back in March, the LA Times reported that William Hurt had been assured on two separate occasions that the bridge location was safe to shoot on.

William Hurt subsequently left the production, and Gregg Allman then tried to get the film halted, also suing the producers in the process.

Allman and the production recently came to an amicable agreement, however Sarah Jones' family have now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the production company, the director, DP, location manager and other individuals.

Recently, the director of 'Midnight Rider' admitted that he hadn't been to the location prior to the shoot on the bridge and had spent considerable time with Gregg Allman to discuss how the scene would unfold.

At the time of the shoot, Hurt had been told that the crew had a 60-second window to get off the tracks if there was an oncoming train but he disagreed with this, and stated in his email that the time the crew had was actually 30 seconds.

There was also no railroad representative on the site while they were filming the scene on the tracks according to the report, which was a requirement. In addition it was stated that "no objects should be placed on the track," according to standard safety procedures.

Following the death of Sarah Jones, the film industry campaigned to get her name mentioned at the Oscars. She was given a fitting tribute which was followed by an international effort to improve on-set safety in the film industry.

Given this latest legal battle for the producers of 'Midnight Rider', it would seem that the film's future is more uncertain than ever.

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