Freak Accident on the Set of 'Transformers 3'

Gabriela Cedillo, an extra on the movie set of Transformers 3, was seriously injured while filming a scene on Wednesday evening in Indiana. She was sitting in her car, when debris from a nearby stunt crashed through her windshield and severely injured her head.The 24-year-old bank teller was paid an additional $25 to use her own car during the film shoot.

"The vehicle was being towed by another vehicle," fellow extra Blaine Baker told a local ABC station. "The cable between the two vehicles broke. It whipped around and sliced through the woman's car and sliced through her skull, apparently."

In May, during the filming of The Big Year in Tolfino, British Columbia, extras were thrown from a boat after it hit a sandbar during low tide. All of the extras involved in the boating incident were transported to a local hospital; their injuries were considered minor. The producers talked to the extras thrown from the boat and they each wanted to continue working in the film. The Big Year stars Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin.

In 1982, a deadly helicopter accident on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie, took the lives of one adult and two children. The adult was actor, Vic Morrow, and the two children, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were extras in the movie. Pyrotechnic explosions caused the helicopter pilot to lose control and crash into the three victims, killing them instantly. While no one affiliated with the production of the film were criminally charged, legal battles against the film-makers ensued over a decade. As a result of the Twilight Zone tragedy, regulations were changed in regards to children working in films.

Injuries endured on movie sets and film locations are not uncommon; it's the severity of the injuries that range in each incident. Unfortunately, Gabriella Cedillo's injuries are serious. She was air lifted to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, and underwent brain surgery. Her family reported that she is in critical condition. The filming of Transformers 3 was scheduled to continue Thursday, but film-makers canceled the shoot. No reports have indicated whether or not the cancellation has anything to do with Wednesday night's freak accident. According to Nikki Finke of Deadline, she received a comment from an executive at Paramount Pictures stating, "We feel horrible that anyone was injured and will take all appropriate action."

It doesn't look as if Gabriella Cedillo's injuries will greatly affect the filming of Transformers 3. If anything the cancellation on Thursday will delay production or finalize filming in that area. Hopefully, Cedillo will have a speedy recovery.

Sources:
'Transformers 3' extra suffers head injury, The Hollywood Reporter
The Twilight Zone Tragedy, truTV
Minor injuries in boat mishap on Tofino set of Jack Black, Owen Wilson movie, The Vancouver Sun