The tragic death of a stuntwoman on the set of “Deadpool 2” could’ve been prevented, veteran stunt performers said Thursday.
They told The Hollywood Reporter that Joi “SJ” Harris, who was killed Monday while filming a stunt in Vancouver, wasn’t experienced enough to be driving the Ducati motorcycle she lost control of in the first place.
“She was a highly qualified motorcyclist racer but not an experienced stuntperson,” said Conrad Palmisano, a veteran stunt coordinator and second unit director who’s worked on “21 Jump Street” and other movies.
Harris was a professional road racer, but that meant she rode “300cc cycles. The one she crashed on was a 900cc motorcycle — much bigger, more powerful,” Palmisano added.
It was Harris’ first movie as a stunt rider and she had just signed onto the hit Marvel production last week as a double for the character Domino.
She died after losing control of her motorcycle during a scene and crashing through the glass windows of a building. Her death is under investigation.
Witnesses said Harris appeared to pick up speed before crashing.
“It absolutely could have been prevented,” a stunt veteran told Hollywood Reporter. “Joi was totally unqualified and never should have been there or put in that position. She was just a girl from Brooklyn who liked to road race — which was not remotely similar to what was required for the shots. She didn’t have the experience or skills for the job they brought her in for.”
Steve Kelso, a 40-year veteran of the film and TV industry who’s worked on the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, noted professional racers focus their careers on not crashing.
The end result for stunt riders, however, is usually a deliberate wreck — and they wind up learning when to escape a stunt before it becomes deadly.
Kelso said the difference between a professional stunt rider and one who isn’t as experienced becomes clear when just one detail goes wrong.
“One is about knowing when to fall off because you’ve lost the bike, or when to stop because you screwed up from the beginning,” he said. “She appears to have been a capable rider, but it just turned into a terrible, terrible accident.”