A stuntwoman who suffered devastating injuries during the filming of zombie fliek Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, near Pretoria, has submitted a claim for more than R40 million in damages.
Olivia Jackson’s career as an actress and stuntwoman is now over after the accident in 2015, it was stated in papers before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
The 35-year-old woman was working as a stunt double for lead actress Milla Jovovich.
The Brit suffered serious facial injuries, a punctured lung and had to have her paralysed left arm amputated after things went wrong during an action scene.
She was driving at high speed on a racing motorbike while being filmed by a camera fitted onto a mechanical crane.
LOSS: Left arm amputated. Photo: INSTAGRAM/ OLIVIA_STUNTS
This was, in turn, fitted to a vehicle, which drove towards her while filming her from the front.
The sequence was planned so that the camera would start filming from a position close to the road surface and then would be lifted up to pass over her head at very close range, to allow her to pass safely underneath.
But when it started to rain and the camera was lifted too late, it knocked her off the motorbike and shattered nearly every bone in her body.
Olivia spent 17 days in a coma.
Now she is suing, among others, the Road Accident Fund, as well as the camera operator, the driver of the vehicle to which the camera was attached and the director of the film.
Olivia stated she earned at least R200 000 a month as a stunt performer.
She was due to relocate to the UK to do stunt work there, where her income was estimated at £20 000 a month.
She was now rendered unemployable, she said.
The case is due to be heard sometime next year.