Prosecutor: Harrison Ford Could've Died on Star Wars Set

Production company pleads guilty in accident that broke actor's leg
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2016 11:31 AM CDT
Prosecutor: Harrison Ford Could've Died on Star Wars Set
In this Jan. 10, 2016 file photo, Harrison Ford arrives at the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif.   (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Harrison Ford got crushed by a hydraulic door and pinned to the ground while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London, and though he recovered in time to finish the movie, a court heard this week that he could have been killed in the incident, the Guardian reports. Ford walked onto the Millennium Falcon set in June 2014 not knowing it was live, and as he passed underneath the door—which weighs as much as a small car—it "came down and hit me on my left hip because I was turned to my right," Ford explained to talk show host Jonathan Ross in December. "And then it flung my left leg up and it dislocated my ankle and as it drove me down to the floor, my legs slapped on the ramp up to the Millennium Falcon and broke both bones in my left leg."

It's not clear exactly how the incident happened, but someone was operating the door at the time. Variety says that "someone pressed a button that caused the door to close on him." Per Ford in December, "They built a f---ing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed and somebody said, ‘Ooh I wonder what this is?’" Foodles Production, the company responsible, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations, and during court proceedings, a prosecutor said the breaches caused a "risk of death" and that Ford could have died had the emergency stop not been pressed in time. The defense acknowledged that the production company was pleading guilty, but denied the level of risk that was said to be involved. (More Harrison Ford stories.)

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