Warner Bros. Studios was put on lockdown in Hertfordshire, England, on the set of Anne Hathaway‘s new movie The Witches after a stagehand was stabbed in the neck during a fight, the Daily Mail reports. Filming on the film was suspended.
The fight was between a rigger and stage hand on Wednesday afternoon.
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“Police were called at around 12.35pm today (Wednesday, June 19) to reports of an incident at Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden,” a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman confirmed to the Daily Mail, adding that “one man sustained a neck injury and was taken to hospital by ambulance.”
She added that “a second man was arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and is currently in police custody.”
“It is believed the men are known to each other,” she continued. “Enquiries are continuing at this time to establish the circumstances around what happened.”
After the attack, several crew members reportedly rushed to help the wounded man, who is believed to be in his 30s.
A source who was working in an adjoining studio told the Daily Mail that “People started messaging each other about what happened to I went out to take a look and saw loads of police. The Warner Bros. Studio there is famous for filming the Harry Potter movies and part of one of the largest complexes in England, made up of 16 separate film studios and spread over 200 acres.
“We’ve heard that it was a fight between a stagehand and a rigger. This is a very big production and very embarrassing for Warner Bros,” the source continued. “Things can get quite heated on set but I’ve never known of anything like this to happen in all the years that I’ve been involved in the industry.”
Warner Bros. declined to comment to the Daily Mail because the matter is under police investigation.
The Witches is a remake of the 1990 classic from Robert Zemeckis and Warner Bros. Hathaway closed a deal in January to star as the Grand High Witch, originally portrayed by Anjelica Huston. In addition to Hathaway, the film also stars Octavia Spencer and Chris Rock. It’s not known if any of them were on set when the stabbing took place.
Based on the 1973 novel, the film follows a 7-year-old boy who has a run-in with real-life witches. Warner Bros. had previously adapted the book in 1990 with Huston playing one of the title characters, but sources close to the project say Zemeckis’ version will be more rooted in the original source material.
Zemeckis wrote the script and is producing with partner Jack Rapke through their banner ImageMovers, along with Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro.
