EXCLUSIVE: Just over a week after several crew members walked off the South Carolina set of Jonathan Majors’ upcoming untitled action film from The Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend, more details about the safety concerns that led to the strike have emerged.
As we previously reported, IATSE called a strike against the production on March 26 over a series of labor issues. We understand that, initially, the union attempted to sign a contract with the production in order to secure payment into the union’s health and pension funds. However, things got more serious as the safety concerns grew over the past five weeks of production.
Producers have not denied any of the below allegations but, when reached by Deadline for comment, said they “don’t negotiate with communists.”
Deadline spoke with several crew members who have since stopped work on the production who say that the strike effort gained steam at the top of last week, after Majors and co-star JC Kilcoyne accidentally tumbled out of a window while filming a scene.
The incident was captured on video obtained by Deadline, which is embedded below. Multiple sources confirm to Deadline that the accident occurred after the window was replaced with an unsecured sheet of tempered glass to be purposefully shattered in a later stunt that did not involve any actors.
WATCH: Jonathan Majors & Co-Star JC Kilcoyne Fall Through Window On Set
Since the tempered glass was only sitting loosely in the window, both the actors and the sheet of glass fell about six feet to the ground. Kilcoyne required stitches “all over his hands” after the incident, sources with knowledge of the incident say.
One crew member, who says they arrived on set after the incident to help reset the scene told Deadline on the condition of anonymity: “When I got there, nobody mentioned anything about people falling out the window…It seemed weird to me.”
Reps for Majors have not returned Deadline’s request for comment.
In a statement to Deadline, reps for Kilcoyne wrote that the actor “is doing well and was taken care of immediately by production”.
“JC did not feel unsafe on set and continues to have a positive experience working on the project,” the rep added.
While that seems to have been the inciting event for the strike, crew members who walked off the job tell Deadline that it was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of their concerns. Multiple workers corroborated incidents involving props falling onto crew, including a rigged tree branch that hit the set medic.
Several crew also confirmed there were no meetings with department heads or writer-director Kyle Rankin ahead of complex stunts or the use of prop firearms (we hear the production has been using airsoft guns; outreach to the armorer and prop master to determine set safety protocols surrounding firearms were not returned.)
In fact, one crew member with decades of experience told Deadline they witnessed “no normal production activities” on set, such as the presence of a unit production manager or even a crew list.
”You couldn’t find anybody. You didn’t know who they were,” they said, adding that crew eventually began circulating a “black market” crew list to try to identify their colleagues themselves.
Deadline also understands that the production required a location change after crew pushed back on the use of a space that was infested with black mold. Producers had wanted to move forward with the location even after a contractor warned that the building was likely constructed with asbestos and should be properly tested. Instead, crew discovered the mold on their own as they prepped the location.
“They didn’t really care about the long-term effects on the crew,” one of the former set laborers told Deadline. “I don’t think it even crossed their minds, because they’re so inept.”
Members of the crew said they’ve also raised concerns about special effects supervisor Chris Bailey, who has previously pled guilty to illegal possession of explosives on a movie set. He was prohibited from handling explosive materials “because of a prior criminal conviction”, according to a 2021 press release from the Department of Justice. The special effects supervisor on a movie set is responsible for designing and executing practical, in-camera effects such as explosions, pyrotechnics, rigs, and atmospheric elements. When reached by Deadline, Bailey called that incident a “paperwork infraction” and said “no pyro was mishandled”.
By the time that the crew went on strike late last week, more than 60% had signed union cards affirming that they wanted a collective bargaining agreement via IATSE. However, the films’ producers have made it quite clear they have no intention of doing so.
In a new response to Deadline on Friday, Sonnier said: “The entire industry is in freefall due to strikes, and now that their members are out of work, they’re trying to sabotage the few people who are still producing. We don’t negotiate with communists.”
That’s after his statement Thursday, when we first reported the news of IATSE’s efforts, in which he said he and his fellow producers were “too busy being bad asses, blowing sh*t up, flying helicopters, and killing movie terrorists to concern ourselves with four assholes with signs on the sidewalk and their illegitimate ‘strike’”.
While Sonnier claims the strike is not legitimate, Deadline understands that production has received official communication from IATSE International regarding the effort. Typically, IATSE will step in to try to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement on a non-union set only after crew reaches out with concerns.
Deadline has also confirmed that the production is operating under a SAG-AFTRA contract. It is quite common for the below-the-line unions to try to demand a deal if one has been granted to above-the-line workers.
While details about the film have been largely under wraps, we hear the film is titled Run Hide Fight Infidels and is an “anthology sequel” to Rankin’s 2020 action thriller Run Hide Fight. The story is said to be in the vein of ’80s and ’90s action movies like Red Dawn and Toy Soldiers, which were both about groups of teenage boys who had to band together to defeat invading enemies.
It is unclear where production currently stands, though we hear that filming continues in some capacity despite the picket line. The companies are actively seeking to replace striking crew. The union is, of course, discouraging others from taking the job.