Gregg Allman, who is the focus of the biopic Midnight Rider, wants production stopped on the film after camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed during filming.
Allman sent director Randall Miller a personal letter where he urged the director to shut it all down, according to The Hollywood Reporter, who first reported the news. "I am asking you from a personal perspective not to move forward."
Though Allman, who was one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, said he was first excited about Midnight Rider, after Jones died he no longer felt that way. "While there may have been a possibility that the production might have resumed shortly after that, the reality of Sarah Jones' tragic death, the loss suffered by the Jones family and injuries to the others involved has led me to realize that for you to continue production would be wrong."
Production on Midnight Rider is currently indefinitely delayed, not the least because William Hurt pulled out of the project just one day ago.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Hurt, who was set to play Allman, had his own concerns about the safety of filming on the train track ahead of the tragic accident. In an email, Hurt said he did not feel having about a minute to get off the bridge would be enough, but filming went ahead anyway.
He then added in the email that when the train did begin to approach where they were, "We didn't have sixty seconds. We had less than thirty."