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[Dalek]

http://deadline.com/2017/07/walking-dead-stuntman-dead-john-bernecker-on-set-fall-1202128636/

John Bernecker, the stuntman who suffered massive head injuries in a fall Wednesday on the set of The Walking Dead, has died at Atlanta Medical Center.

The death was confirmed to Deadline by Coweta County Coroner Richard Hawk, who said Bernecker died of blunt force trauma at Atlanta Medical Center July 12 at 6:30 PM ET. A source at the hospital had earlier told Deadline Bernecker had been placed on a ventilator while his family made arrangements, and it was turned off on Thursday.

It’s believed to be the first stunt-related death in the United States in more than 17 years. AMC said earlier today that it temporarily halted production on Season 8 of the zombie apocalypse series in the wake of the accident.

Sources say Bernecker and an actor were rehearsing a fight scene that was supposed to end with a routine fall from a balcony, but he lost his footing and fell 30 feet to a concrete floor. He was pronounced brain-dead at the hospital and was taken off life support today.

IMDb lists more than 90 stunt credits since 2009 for Bernecker, including the recent features Black Panther, Logan, Get Out, The Fate of the Furious and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. He also was featured in a 2014 episode of the web series Behind the Stunts. Watch a 2016 reel of Bernecker’s stunt work below.

Stunt work has always been dangerous, but less so now than ever before, said veteran stuntman Conrad Palmisano, a member of the SAG-AFTRA stunt and safety committee. “Generally, it’s safer now that it was 20 years ago, and I anticipate it being safer 20 years from now than it was today,” he told Deadline. “But it’s still a dangerous business. The nature of stunts is inherently dangerous, and we work very hard to create stunts in the safest possible manner. However, it’s still dangerous and things can go wrong. It’s never one thing. Usually the planets have to align in all the wrong ways for something tragically to go wrong. When we as a stunt community examine what happened, we look to fix the problem, not to affix the blame.”

 

[Geno Breaker]

RIP. Hope CGI gets good enough on the cheap to replace stunt doubles for some stuff.

 

[DarkKyo]

RIP. Hope CGI gets good enough on the cheap to replace stunt doubles for some stuff.

Won't that put a lot of people out of work?

 

[TheJollyCorner]

RIP.

Stunt performers are the unsung heroes of action film/TV. The illusion of the art makes the audience believe it's Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington breaking through a window and falling down five stories onto a (conveniently placed) pile of trash, but it's really some insanely hardworking stuntperson who's face is never shown. Broken bones, bruises, cuts... tough as nails professionals through and through.

Always sad hearing that one of them doesn't walk away from a set that day- and although the comforting thing to say is "they died doing what they loved to do", my heart still goes out to their family.

 

[Lumination]

Won't that put a lot of people out of work?

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

 

[bananafactory]

Won't that put a lot of people out of work?

Yeah, I think the best answer is to continue to improving safety practices and prevention to make sure these don't happen.

 

[RangerX]

Thats some tragic news. RIP.

 

[Jon Carter]

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

Stuntmen tend to love what they do though. Plenty of people do risky jobs that they're passionate about.

RIP.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

But that's the thing- stunt performers are a unique breed. I don't want to generalize and say 'all', but a heavy majority of them legitimately love what they do. They willingly put themselves in dangerous situations for their art.
Replacing that with CG or robots or whatever would deprive a lot of those very skilled professionals a means of performing their natural talent.

 

[Carnby]

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

But stunt people like doing stunts. No one is forcing them to do it due to financial hardship. Lol.

 

[Merriweather]

Hopefully they take this opportunity to stop doing the "In Memoriam for Zombies" bit on Talking Dead. It was stupid to begin with, but now it would just be in poor taste.

 

[Cardon]

Damn shame. I know some folks in the stunt community who were friends with this chap and they're of course heartbroken about what happened.

RIP.

 

[Enduin]

Very tragic event. Really remarkable that it's been 17 years since a fatality in the US, despite the huge increase in action and spectacle heavy shows and films during that period. Good preparation and safety standards go a long way. Sadly you can never be completely safe, given enough time like here, something will go wrong eventually.

Actually going through the Wikipedia article of film and TV accidents it seems like set dismantling is pretty damn dangerous. Quite a few fatalities there.

 

[Robdraggoo]

Why were there no pads on the ground? Isn't that standard operating procedure

 

[shadow_shogun]

Damn, sorry to hear. RIP.

 

[Pastry]

Why were there no pads on the ground? Isn't that standard operating procedure

It sounds like he slipped and missed the pad?

 

[DarkJediKnight]

I'm trying to understand this: An actor and the stuntman was 30 feet up, and below them was concrete?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound like a safe working environment.

A lawsuit is likely in order here.

RIP young man. Life cut short too early.

 

[Harmen]

Rest in peace.

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

I think many stunt people do their job out of passion. Just like (extreme) sports for example. Some proffesions involve major risks and this is one of them. This being the first fatality in like 17 years shows that in general the safety preparations must be very good. There are a lot of "common" jobs where people sometimes die on the workfloor as well, from construction to laboratory research.

 

[Lakitu]

Oh fuck, that's horrible.

RIP

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Very tragic event. Really remarkable that it's been 17 years since a fatality in the US,

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

 

[HardRojo]

Didn't another member of the team die recently too? In an accident not related to the show I believe it was.

RIP.

 

[Goodstyle]

That's the first stunt death in 17 years?! I'm honestly kind of shocked.

 

[Ridley327]

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

The accident on TDK happened at Pinewood Studios in England, while the last RE movie was also shot overseas.

 

[Enduin]

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

The Dark Knight death wasn't stuntman, but a cameraman. So kind of a technicality though it occurred during a driving stunt and that was in the UK I think. And the Resident Evil death was also a crewmember, technicality again, and that was in South Africa, not the US.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

The accident on TDK happened at Pinewood Studios in England, while the last RE movie was also shot overseas.

The Dark Knight death wasn't stuntman, but a cameraman. So kind of a technicality though it occurred during a driving stunt and that was in the UK I think. And the Resident Evil death was also a crewmember, technicality again, and that was in South Africa, not the US.

Okay, thanks.

 

[Johndoey]

Always sad to see a young man die. RIP.

 

[Lakitu]

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

Wait, the stuntwoman from Resident Evil died? Last I heard, she had really bad facial scarring injuries.

 

[NekoFever]

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

The Dark Knight one happened in the UK.

Edit: Beaten.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

That's the first stunt death in 17 years?! I'm honestly kind of shocked.

I find that hard to believe as well.

 

[Altazor]

tragic, may he rest in peace

 

[Enduin]

Wait, the stuntwoman from Resident Evil died? Last I heard, she had really bad facial scarring injuries.

No she lived, lost her arm and pretty messed up but another crewman after that incident was crushed by a Humvee.

 

[TheOMan]

I'm trying to understand this: An actor and the stuntman was 30 feet up, and below them was concrete?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound like a safe working environment.

A lawsuit is likely in order here.

RIP young man. Life cut short too early.

My question exactly....how was there not padding around any of the area that he might fall on?

Tragic loss of life.

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Wait, the stuntwoman from Resident Evil died? Last I heard, she had really bad facial scarring injuries.

I was thinking of the crewmember that was crushed and killed by a Hummer.

 

[jett]

Jesus. That sounds like an unsafe set.

 

[A Grizzly Bear]

My question exactly....how was there not padding around any of the area that he might fall on?

Tragic loss of life.

There's next to no detail about what actually happened and you're quoting someone making an assumption. There very well could have been padding and having lost his footing made him hit it the wrong way. If you look at the previous 3-4 deaths from falls you'll see a pattern of them hitting their airbag/padding, but then either being launched into something or hitting it in a way that let their head hit the ground or an object.

 

[Christian]

To do all those crazy ass stunts, just to die by tripping during a rehearsal. Absolutely awful. RIP

 

[OraleeWey]

I find that hard to believe as well.

Considering how brutal on set deaths have been, it's not hard to believe.

Spoiler tagging this because it is brutal to read for some.

Spoiler

Children have been decapitated by helicopter blades on set.

That incident led to better standards.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Zone_accident

 

[Enduin]

Goddamn, reading through the Wiki article of accidents there is some really insane and massively tragic stuff.

They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Three horsemen perished during the cavalry charge, one of whom was extra Jack Budlong, whose horse tripped as he rode alongside Errol Flynn. As he fell forward, he had the foresight to toss his sword ahead of him. Unfortunately, it landed handle down and stuck in place. Budlong was impaled on his own sword, and died in a Los Angeles hospital a few hours later.

The Messenger (2002). Russian actor and director Sergei Bodrov, Jr. and 42 film crew members were killed in the Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide after finishing the second day of shooting on 20 September.

The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1989). The largest number of on-set deaths in film history took place during the filming of this Indian made-for-TV movie. A total of 62 extras and crew members met their demise when a fire broke out, and they were trapped inside the burning film studio. Director and star Sanjay Khan suffered major burns and had to spend 13 months in hospital – undergoing 72 surgeries in that time.

 

[Gattsu25]

I don't know how this is true.

Didn't someone die in a driving stunt in The Dark Knight, also the last Resident Evil movie.

The RE one took place in South Africa.

The Dark Knight death was a camera operator. Looking through the Wikipedia page it seems like they are much more likely to die than stunt doubles or actors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_and_television_accidents#2010s

That Resident Evil one, though. I wasn't ready when I read what happened to that poor stuntwoman. She survived but...was severely injured.

 

[Chesskid1]

does his family get compensation?

 

[TransTrender]

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

Hah! I remember that from Junior high.

 

[HotHamBoy]

The overall goal is that people won't have to be put into dangerous situations to make a living.

As robots continue to get more sophisticated, no one will cry for the loss of jobs in the radioactive cleanup sector.

But they like doing it.

Should we replace boxers, race car drivers and football players with CGI, too?

These people are thrillseekers and they know the risks.

 

[johnny956]

That's the first stunt death in 17 years?! I'm honestly kind of shocked.

First death of a stuntman/woman in the U.S in 17 years. Extras have died on set (I believe one did in the Transformers movie and some others)