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William Hurt is dropping out of Midnight Rider, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The actor was starring as Gregg Allman in the movie, which had been looking to gear up again after the on-set death of camera assistant Sarah Jones on Feb. 20 due to a train accident.
Director Randall Miller had been trying to restart the production in Los Angeles, with a goal to resume shooting the film in June. The movie had previously been shooting in Georgia.
STORY: A Train, a Narrow Trestle and 60 Seconds to Escape
Insiders say that if Midnight Rider does resume production, it could face union pressure, litigation and protests from sectors of the film community that have highlighted Jones’ death as a preventable fatality.
The project will likely have to recast if other actors don’t return as the film looks to restart production.
Hurt had disclosed in email correspondence that he brought up the danger of shooting on a trestle that crosses the Altamaha River in rural Georgia.
“I said, ‘Sixty seconds is not enough time to get us off this bridge.’ There was a communal pause. No one backed me up,” the actor stated in a copy of an email published by the Los Angeles Times on March 21.
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