Screencap of stunt accident from the set of Transformers 3
Last week, an extra on the set of Michael Bay's Transformers 3 was gravely injured when a stunt went horribly wrong. The actress -- 24-year-old Gabriela Cedillo -- was on a set in Hammond, Indiana, when a cable being used in the scene snapped and hit her in the head.
The accident occurred during the filming of a highway stunt. It appears that Cedillo was not involved in the stunt itself; she and other extras were paid an additional $25 (over and above their average daily rate) to drive their own cars in the background of the shot. During one take, a cable connecting Cedillo's 2006 Toyota Corolla to another vehicle broke, ripped through the Cedillo's windshield, and struck her in the forehead. She was rushed into emergency brain surgery, where doctors induced a coma to prevent additional damage.
Footage of the incident has now been posted to RadarOnline. You'll have to click through to see it (it's not embeddable), but you can take some comfort in the fact that it's not very graphic. Around the :23 mark, there's some curious action in the distant background. A few seconds later, around the :31 mark, Cedillo's car appears, skidding along the median. Related? Possibly.
Paramount, which is producing the film, have jumped to Bay's defense, claiming that the shoot was a safe one and that Cedillo was involved in a freak accident. However there seem to be a number of discrepancies between Bay's version of the story and the facts turned up during a police investigation. We're not siding with anyone, although our opinion of Bay ain't that great.
On the good-news front, Cedillo is apparently doing better: although she remains unconscious, she's been moving in her sleep, indicating that she may have retained her motor skills. We wish her a speedy recovery, and we hope the film wraps soon so that it can hit multiplexes, make loads of cash, and Cedillo can sue the pants off Michael Bay. Not that it takes a lawsuit to get his pants off, but you know what we're saying.
