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Stuntman in John Woo film killed on Beijing set
2008-06-10
BEIJING (AFP) - A stuntman was killed when fire broke out during the filming of a crash scene for acclaimed director John Woo's latest movie, state media reported Tuesday. The accident happened on Monday morning when the crew was filming a scene for "Red Cliff" in which a small boat crashed into a big ancient vessel, on set in a northwestern suburb of the Chinese capital, the Beijing News reported. Lu Yanqing, a 23-year-old stuntman, was killed when the boats caught fire, the report said, adding another three people were rushed to hospital with unspecified injuries. The rescue team was quoted as saying the crew might have accidentally ignited a flame that came into contact with inflammable gas on a boat, setting off the fire from which Lu was unable to escape. Woo was in Hong Kong when the accident happened, the paper said. "Red Cliff", an 80-million-dollar epic film starring Hong Kong superstar Tony Leung and Japan's Takeshi Kaneshiro, depicts events during the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China from 220 to 280 AD. It is divided into two episodes, with the first due to be released before the Olympic Games in August. Woo, a Hong Kong film director and producer, rose to international prominence with "Face Off" starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in 1997. He was also the director of "Mission: Impossible II" starring Tom Cruise.
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