There was a tragic death Wednesday on the set of Martin Scorsese‘s “Silence,” which is to star Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver. The film is in pre-production at Taiwan’s CMPC Studios. After the production deemed a structure on the backlot unsafe for use, a contractor was hired to reinforce it.
It was during this work that a ceiling collapsed, resulting in the death of one of the contractor’s employees and injuries to two others, a spokesman for the film told TheWrap.
“Today there was an unfortunate accident at CMPC Studios in Taiwan, where the Martin Scorsese film, ‘Silence,’ is in pre-production,” the spokesman said in a statement. “An existing structure on the CMPC backlot had been deemed unsafe by the production, and accordingly a 3rd-party contractor was hired to reinforce and make it safe prior to any production-related work commencing in this building. Sadly, during this process, the ceiling collapsed, resulting in the death of one of the contractor’s employees and injuries to two others. Everyone is in shock and sorrow and expresses their deepest concern and sympathy to the families of the individual who died and those who were injured.”
“Silence” is a historic drama based on the novel by Shūsaku Endō. It is produced by Scorsese, Paul Breuls, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Barbara De Fina, Randall Emmett, George Furla, Emma Tillinger Koksoff and Irwin Winkler. Paramount Pictures will distribute the film to theaters, with an expected release date in 2016.