The set of Jonathan Majors’ new action movie for The Daily Wire seems to be in chaos. A little over a week ago, several crew members from IATSE walked off the South Carolina set, citing safety concerns that, in time, led to a strike. You’d think this would be cause for concern for Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend, but according to Deadline, the producers remain unmoved.
A failure to communicate
According to reports, IATSE called for a strike on March 26 over a litany of labor concerns. When the union tried to establish a contract with the producers, a pact that would secure payment into the union’s health and pension funds, the producers failed to recognize the proposed agreement. When asked for comment, the producers (rather bluntly) told Deadline they “don’t negotiate with communists.”
While speaking with crew members who’ve already exited the production, Deadline learned that the set reached a boiling point when Majors and co-star JC Kilcoyne accidentally tumbled out of a window while filming a scene. Deadline actually caught the incident on camera, which shows both actors falling 6 feet through a sheet of loosely fitted tempered glass.
Check it out:
Kilcoyne needed stitches “all over his hand” after taking the tumble. According to Kilcoyne’s reps, the actor “is doing well and was taken care of immediately by production.” Adding, “JC did not feel unsafe on set and continues to have a positive experience working on the project.” After some digging, Deadline uncovered other incidents on the set, including multiple instances when props fell on crew members. Several crew members vouched for a report that a rigged tree branch fell on the production’s medic.
Safety first, always
The list of concerns goes on, with crew members saying there’s no official production call list, so you never know where anyone is at any given time. The situation is reportedly so concerning that the crew has started sharing its own “black market” list to track one another from one part of the set to the next. Furthermore, crew members say they have concerns about the film’s special effects supervisor, Chris Bailey, who has previously pled guilty to illegal explosives on a movie set. He was prohibited from handling explosive materials “because of a prior criminal conviction”, according to a 2021 press release from the Department of Justice. When Deadline spoke to Bailey about the incident that led to his legal troubles, he said it was all due to a “paperwork infraction,” and that “no pyro was mishandled.”
Responding to the call for a collective bargaining agreement, Sonnier said, “The entire industry is in freefall due to strikes, and now that their members are out of work, they’re trying to sabotage the few people who are still producing. We don’t negotiate with communists.” Deadline collected this statement after Sonnier previously said the producers were “too busy being bad asses, blowing sh*t up, flying helicopters, and killing movie terrorists to concern ourselves with four assholes with signs on the sidewalk and their illegitimate ‘strike’.”
The film, which is set to debut on The Daily Wire, comes from director Kyle Rankin, whose film Run Hide Fight, controversially focused on a school shooting, also debuted on the platform. While it received mixed reviews, it was a breakout for star Isabel May, who went on to lead the Yellowstone spin-off 1883, as well as the recent Scream 7.
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