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Hollywood Breakdown

Stunt community asking tough questions after 2 recent deaths

A motorcycle racer named Joi "SJ" Harris died on the set of Deadpool 2 this week while attempting a stunt for the film. Harris was an accomplished racer, but did not have stunt experience. Some in the stunt community are asking why she was hired in the first place, and saying that her death could have been prevented.

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KCRW placeholderBy Matthew Belloni • Aug 17, 2017 • 3m Listen

A motorcycle racer named Joi "SJ" Harris died on the set of Deadpool 2 this week while attempting a stunt for the film. Harris was an accomplished racer, but did not have stunt experience. Some in the stunt community are asking why she was hired in the first place, and saying that her death could have been prevented. There's speculation that Harris, who was African American, could have been hired partly because her skin tone more closely matched that of the character she was serving as a stunt double for. And for the film, she was driving a much larger and heavier motorcycle than she was used to racing. Her death follows another tragedy last month on the set of The Walking Dead where a stuntman fell to his death. In less serious news, Tom Cruise, who likes to talk about how he does his own stunts for the Mission Impossible movies, broke his ankle while filming Mission Impossible 6 in London. The injury will reportedly delay production by eight weeks -- a very expensive pause.

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    Matthew Belloni

    founding partner of Puck News

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    Kim Masters

    partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

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    Kaitlin Parker

    Producer, 'The Business' and 'Hollywood Breakdown'

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