WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Two child actors and screen legend Vic Morrow were killed in a nightmare accident on the set of The Twilight Zone movie as the kids’ parents watched.
Twilight Zone: The Movie is a name that will forever live in cinematic infamy.
Based on the TV series of the same name and co-directed by Steven Spielberg, John Landis, George Miller and Joe Dante, the film was to include a scene where Bill Connor, played by Vic Morrow, rescued two children from an American helicopter.
But disaster struck during the filming, killing all three in brutal circumstances.
The disaster happened at 2:20am on July 23, 1982. Recording at Indian Dunes, California, Morrow, 53, was meant to carry child actors Myca Dinh Le, seven, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, six, away from a low-flying helicopter, piloted by Vietnam veteran Dorcey Wingo.
John Landis, who was directing the scene, allegedly made Wingo fly lower to the ground than he felt comfortable.
As the chase was being filmed, a planned pyrotechnic was set off to imitate a mortar bomb. However, the explosive went off before the helicopter had enough time to manoeuvre away from it. Debris from the special effect mortar struck the helicopter’s tail rotor, causing the vehicle to spin out of control.
As the 2,500 kilogram helicopter plunged to the ground, its 15 meter long rotor blades spun through Morrow’s and Le’s neck, beheading them both.
Chen, who was missed by the rotors, was instead struck by the body of the vehicle and was crushed and killed under its immense weight.
The parents of both children had been on set during filming and witnessed their children’s deaths. None of them had been told that a helicopter or explosives would be involved in the scene.
After the catastrophe, it was revealed Landis had violated child labour laws to get the children on set and hidden their involvement from firefighters and welfare workers who were on stand by.
The catastrophe resulted in a 10-month trial in which Landis and four others involved in the making of the film were eventually acquitted of manslaughter, the first time a film director was tried for an accident on set.
During the trial group of 16 prominent filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, John Huston, George Lucas, Sidney Lumet and Billy Wilder, wrote a public letter expressing their support for Landis.
But Spielberg refused to sign the letter, saying: “No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now than ever before to producers and directors who ask too much.
“If something isn’t safe, it’s the right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell ‘cut!'”.
After the criminal trial, the families of Le and Chen filed a civil lawsuit against the producers and directors. They reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum, although it is reported both families received millions of dollars.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its findings on the incident in October 1984, determining the “probable cause of the accident was the detonation of debris-laden high-temperature special effects explosions too near a low-flying helicopter.”
This had led to “foreign object damage to one rotor blade and delamination due to heat to the other rotor blade, the separation of the helicopter’s tail rotor assembly, and the uncontrolled descent of the helicopter.”
The report continued: “The proximity of the helicopter (around 25 feet off the ground) to the special effects explosions was due to the failure to establish direct communications and coordination between the pilot, who was in command of the helicopter operation, and the film director, who was in charge of the filming operation.”
Despite the fatal incident, production resumed and the film released in cinemas on June 24, 1983, less than a year after the deaths.
The film received mixed reviews and was called a “flabby, mini-minded behemoth” by the New York Times.
Nonetheless, it was a commercial success, earning $42 million from a budget of $10 million.
Spielberg personally distanced himself from the film and was “disgusted” by Landis’s behaviour. Although it was Spielberg who had initially brought Landis onto the project, he ended their friendship shortly after.
