A stuntman was injured on the set of Fast & Furious 9 at Leavesden Studios in the U.K. on Monday, with the man reportedly now fighting for his life after sustaining a critical head injury.
Sources told the Daily Mail that the man’s name is Joe Watts and that he is the film’s stunt double for actor Vin Diesel. Watts reportedly fell 30 feet onto his head and had to be placed in a medically induced coma.
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Sources say that Diesel was present at the time of Watts’ injury and was reportedly “choking back tears” as the stuntman fell and “looked ashen” and “totally in shock” afterwards.
Watts’ fiancรฉe, Tilly Powell, spoke out on social media and wrote that her “heart is shattered.”
“I love him so much. He has all his friends and family by his side to get him through this,” she wrote on Facebook, adding that Watts had suffered a serious head injury and was in an induced coma but that he is “stable and being monitored closely throughout the night.”
“Tilly is absolutely devastated but she has known the risks that were always involved,” a family member said. “She grew up with a father who was a stuntman and has followed the same career. She knew that they always faced risks on any dangerous stunt. Tilly is at the hospital with Joe and like everyone else just praying that Joe will pull through.”
“Joe is one of the nicest men you could meet,” they added. “Everyone in the family loves him and he is devoted to Tilly.”
Powell is also a stunt double and was working on The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard on another set in London when she learned of Watts’ accident. Previous projects Watts has worked on include Game of Thrones, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Jurassic World, Kingsman Golden Circle, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
“We had an injury on the set of Fast 9 today in Leavesden with one of our stuntmen,” a spokesperson from Universal said in a statement to Deadline on Monday. “We have halted production for the day to focus on this situation.”
“An ambulance, three ambulance officer vehicles and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance were called to Leavesden Studios shortly before midday today, following reports of a man injured in a fall,” a spokesman for East of England Ambulance Service added. “One patient with a serious head injury was transported to the Royal London Hospital by air ambulance.”
Fast & Furious 9 is the next upcoming installment in the Fast franchise and stars Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Diesel, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Helen Mirren, Michelle Rodriguez, Anna Sawai and Charlize Theron. The movie will follow the spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham and will be released on Aug. 2. Fast & Furious 9 is expected to hit theaters on May 22, 2020.
Photo Credit: Getty / Paul Archuleta
