Twilight Zone accident
The Twilight Zone accident refers to a tragic incident that occurred on July 23, 1982, during the filming of *Twilight Zone: The Movie*. Actor Vic Morrow and two young children, Myca Dinh Lee and Renee Shinn Chen, were killed when explosives detonated, striking the tail rotor of a helicopter overhead. This mishap resulted in the helicopter's main rotor hitting the performers, leading to fatal injuries. Morrow's character was depicted as rescuing the children during a scene set in a war zone, which underscored the complexity of the film's themes of prejudice and violence.
Following the incident, a series of investigations ensued, including a grand jury inquiry that resulted in involuntary manslaughter charges against several crew members, including director John Landis. The subsequent trial revealed uncomfortable details about safety practices on set, particularly regarding the employment of child actors and the handling of dangerous stunts. Ultimately, all defendants were acquitted, as the jury did not find the accident foreseeable.
The accident had a lasting impact on the film industry, prompting stricter safety regulations and increased scrutiny regarding child labor and stunt work on film sets. It marked a significant shift towards prioritizing actor safety and transparency in production practices, allowing industry professionals to voice safety concerns more freely.
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Twilight Zone accident
The Event Vic Morrow and two Vietnamese juvenile extras are killed filming a movie
Date July 23, 1982
Place Indian Dunes Park, near Los Angeles, California
The Twilight Zone accident raised public awareness of the risks assumed by film actors, stunt performers, and crew members to meet directors’ demands for realism. The ensuing court case marked the first trial of a Hollywood film director for crimes related to an on-set accident.
At 2:30 a.m. on July 23, 1982, the final day of shooting on the first of four planned segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow, seven-year-old Myca Dinh Lee, and six-year-old Renee Shinn Chen were killed when detonated explosives hit the tail rotor of a low-flying helicopter. The three performers were struck by the main rotor; Morrow and Lee were beheaded. The actors were shooting a scene in which Morrow’s character, an American bigot transported into the past and transformed from oppressor to oppressed, had become a Vietnamese citizen being attacked by American soldiers. His character was rescuing two children from a bomb-besieged village.
An inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board was followed by a Los Angeles County grand jury investigation in 1983 and a preliminary hearing in 1984. The investigations culminated with five production crew members being charged with involuntary manslaughter. The most famous defendant was director John Landis, who was also one of the movie’s producers (with Steven Spielberg). Landis had directed The Blues Brothers (1980) and An American Werewolf in London (1981) in the previous two years.
When the trial opened on July 23, 1986, prosecutor Lea Purwin D’Agostino described the defendants as “careless and negligent”; Landis’s attorney, James Neal, countered by characterizing the deaths as an “unforeseeable accident.” Over sixty-nine days, seventy-one witnesses were called, many offering potentially damaging testimony regarding Landis’s conduct and demeanor on the set. When Neal called his client to testify on February 19, 1987, Landis admitted breaking California child labor laws by hiring Lee and Chen to work after 6:30 p.m. However, he maintained that he was never warned of any potential peril in shooting the scene. After closing arguments on May 19, 1987, the jury deliberated for nine days and returned not guilty verdicts for all defendants. The acquittal was based on the prosecution’s failure to prove that the accident was foreseeable. When the film was released in 1983, it included the work of Vic Morrow.
Impact
The Twilight Zone accident inspired increased oversight on film sets. Studios and production companies became both more careful and more carefully regulated in their use of children; their efforts to achieve bigger, more dramatic mechanical and physical effects; and their safety precautions to protect actors and stunt doubles. The tragedy also marked the end of the era of silence and secrecy regarding potentially dangerous film scenes; workers in the industry felt freer to express safety concerns without fear of losing their jobs.
Bibliography
Farber, Stephen, and Marc Green. Outrageous Conduct: Art, Ego, and the “Twilight Zone” Case. New York: Arbor House, 1988.
Labrecque, Ron. Special Effects: Disaster at “Twilight Zone”—The Tragedy and the Trial. New York: Scribner, 1988.
McBride, Joseph. Steven Spielberg: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.