It's been a long and rocky ride for "Silence," a movie the "Taxi Driver" director has been trying to get made since 1991; now, Martin Scorsese's Taiwan shoot gets a new setback, after a terrible accident saw the ceiling collapse in the middle of production and kill a person, plus injuring two others.
A few weeks back, Food World News reported that "Silence" had met with another setback in the midst of production, as "Godzilla" actor Ken Watanabe left the production and was replaced by "Thor" actor Tadanobu Asano; only days later, Martin Scorsese's Taiwan set met with tragedy as they're about to begin shooting.
According to Reuters, Martin Scorsese's Taiwan shoot hasn't even begun yet as it's still on the pre-production stages, but that doesn't mean there aren't people working already; in the case of the recent accident, the people who went through this terrible ordeal were three contractors who were there to reinforce the structure of a building.
Unfortunately enough, as Deadline reports, the structure in the Martin Scorsese Taiwan set was so unstable that it ended up collapsing over the contractors.
"An existing structure on the CMPC backlot had been deemed unsafe by the production, and accordingly a 3rd-party contractor was hired to reinforce and make it safe prior to any production-related work commencing in this building," said a representative for the movie, which will also star Liam Neeson, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield. "Sadly, during this process, the ceiling collapsed, resulting in the death of one of the contractor's employees and injuries to two others. Everyone is in shock and sorrow and expresses their deepest concern and sympathy to the families of the individual who died and those who were injured."
As The Guardian reports, production for the Martin Scorsese Taiwan shoot is set to begin in the next few weeks, with a scheduled release for the end of the year. In past interviews, the director has said that it's a very personal project for him, comparing it with his classic film "Mean Streets."