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Netflix has been accused of allowing unsafe working practices to occur in the production of its new original series The Chosen One after two actors were killed in a car accident that left six others injured.
Raymundo Garduno Cruz and Juan Francisco Gonzalez Aguilar were killed in a remote part of the state of Baja California after the van they were traveling in flipped over
Six others, who were also traveling in the vans managed to survive but some were left with serious injured.
The van crashed last weekend near Mulegé in a desert area as the group was traveling between there and Santa Rosalia, where the show is being filmed.
Questions are now being asked over how the cast and crew were treated in the days leading up to the crash.
Anonymous members of the cast and crew have spoken out to share concerns that long working days were being endured by everyone involved in making the show – with the drivers particularly at risk of tiredness with early starts and long drives required to reach the remote desert location.
Netflix said it is ‘deeply saddened’ of the deaths of The Chosen One actors Raymundo Garduño Cruz (L) and Juan Francisco González Aguilar in car accident in Mexico last week that left six others injured
The crew had to travel along a long stretch of the Transpeninsular Highway near Santa Rosalia ith dangerous curves and several long straight sections (file photo)
Netflix outsourced the making of the show to production company, Redrum, who said in a statement that it was ‘shocked’ by the ‘tragic accident’ and that it ‘closely supporting all those affected by this unspeakable tragedy.’
The streamer said the crash occurred when the crew was en route from Santa Rosalía to the local airport, and that the production had been temporarily placed on hold.
In a statement released earlier this week, Netflix said, ‘We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that took the lives of Ray Garduño and Juan Francisco González. Our thoughts are with their loved ones and with those injured during this unfortunate accident.’
‘Redrum has been cooperating with local authorities and initial reports and accounts from witnesses indicate that all safety protocols were in place and this was an unfortunate accident,’ the production company said.
But the accident has now brought attention to the conditions under which the crew and actors found themselves as they attempted to complete several days of filming in a remote portion of the country, with suggestions that corners were being cut to save money which may have put the safety of workers at risk.
Garduno (pictured) and Gonzalez were filming Netflix’s The Chosen One, which focuses on a 12-year-old boy who finds out he’s the second coming of Christ
Netflix had outsourced the production of The Chosen One to Redrum Productions. Filming was taking place near Santa Rosalia in Mexico
A Mexican newspaper, Milenio, ran a report related to the incident entitled: ‘What Netflix doesn’t want you to know.’
It suggested that productions made in Mexico were full of stories of drivers who fall asleep at the wheel, coupled with exhaustingly long days for staff.
The issue, writer Viri Ríos claimed, is that Mexican production houses have attempted to lure producers from streamers such as HBO and Netflix, by setting themselves up on the cheap.
It includes paying personnel the bare minimum together with a skimping on costs for other essentials such as security and production time.
Rios noted how unions in the arts were simply not common in Mexico leaving workers exposed and without protections, unlike the many unions that exist within the entertainment industry in the U.S.
‘The vast majority of film workers are freelancers and some of their professions, such as assistant directors, sound engineers, stagehands, electricians or set construction workers, are afraid of joining a union Some unions have disappeared from the map altogether due to corruption and not knowing how to move with the times. It’s time for entertainment industry workers to come together and create new trade unions that improve their conditions,’ Rios wrote.
Such complaints are now being investigated by the Mexican Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare in Baja California Sur.
‘We heard the complaints of those who claim that the companies that hired them did not provide adequate security, and we have concurrence based on that,’ representative Mercedes Maciel Ortiz said to The Daily Beast. ‘We are investigating the companies that hired the actors, as well as the situation of those injured.’
‘If unsafe conditions are identified, then the companies will be held responsible,’ Ortiz added.
Ortiz, a federal official said the circumstances surrounding the accident will be looked into together with any allegations regarding unsafe travel practices.
A police report seen by The Daily Beast explained how the van in which the Netflix actors were traveling swerved across the median line on the highway before the driver suddenly over-corrected, striking a safety bar at the side of the road and flipping the van onto its roof.
Víctor Gómez who works at theCommunity Hospital at Loreto in Baja California Sur, where two other passengers were being treated for their injuries in the crash, said he believes speed may have been a factor.
Isaías Albelda, another of the passengers aboard said that he did not witness any unsafe practices personally and his complaints were more related to comfort than safety.
‘I never felt unsafe or at risk,’ he said. ‘The vans used for transportation were pretty much the same vehicles I’ve seen in other productions.’
To reach the nearest airport, Loreto International, the crew had to travel along a long stretch of highway with dangerous curves and several long straight sections.
The driver believed to have been behind the wheel in the fatal accident has been identified as 21-year-old Alberto Jiménez Gómez who had only just started working on the production one day prior.
‘As far as I know, he had a chance to rest and everything, but I don’t know, to be honest. Sometimes you’re in the hotel and you can’t rest,’ Albelda said.
One source who worked on the production said the transport surrounding the film shoot was often chaotic with some drivers deciding not to use the hotels that had been provided for them because of the additional driving time required to reach them.
It meant rest schedules were often disrupted with insufficient funds provided to cover basic expenses for trips lasting several days.
‘It was a struggle to make them [Netflix] understand the real expenses that the journeys demanded.’ The source also said several of the vans used did not have working air conditioning.
Another person who was part of the cast on the production told The Daily Beast how production days were always grueling, particularly for those tasked with driving the crew around.
‘In any production, transportation is always the first to wake up and they’re the last to go to bed. Their job is the most important out of all the jobs in the production because their job is to transport lives,’ the anonymous sources said.
Netflix has not publicly commented on the accident and it unclear how the show will proceed moving forward (pictured, a scene from the show)
The cast member said the remoteness of where Netflix was filming meant the cast and crew may well have had to stay on for several days, even if filming were to be completed.
‘The logistics for everybody has been a nightmare. Just because of the remote filming locations, but not because it’s a bad working environment.
‘I also understand that the film and theater community are upset because we lost two people we care about. When you lose people you care about, you’re angry and you’re hurt. And sometimes you need someone to blame. It’s just a complicated situation,’ the cast member noted.
The Chosen One centers around a 12-year-old boy who finds out he is the second coming of Christ. The series is based off a comic book by Mark Millar and artist Peter Gross and the crew began filming in April, according to Comicbook.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Netflix and Redrum for comment over working conditions on set and the circumstances surrounding the tragic accident.
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