Yahoo Movies Police Shoot Crew Member On Andrea Riseborough Pic ‘Geechee’; Production Shut Down At Pinewood Dominican Republic
EXCLUSIVE: A serious incident took place this week on the set of AGC Studios’ pic Geechee in the Dominican Republic when police opened fire on a convoy of cars containing crew.
One unidentified international crew member was shot several times, but only suffered minor injuries and has now left hospital and been flown home. No one else was seriously injured.
Our sources tell us that the incident took place on Wednesday evening (September 2). In what appears to have been a case of mistaken identity, undercover local drug enforcement agents pursued and then opened fire on a group of cars containing film crew who were on a location recce.
The initial incident took place in the vicinity of Lantica Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios, where the production is housed. The pursuit continued to the studios where a number of crew were prepping for the day’s filming; they were then held at gunpoint until the situation was diffused and the crews’ status as innocent bystanders was established.
The Dominican Republic has a curfew in place to control the spread of COVID-19, but our sources say the crew members had all necessary permits issued by the authorities.
Naturally, crew were badly shaken up and production has been fully shutdown by producer AGC Studios and completion guarantor Film Finances while they investigate exactly what happened. At this moment, no decisions have been made on whether the movie will look to continue filming in the Dominican Republic or relocate. The majority of the film’s crew have departed the country and returned home for now.
The project rolled cameras on August 19 and has four weeks left to shoot. It was originally due to begin in March but was delayed by the pandemic.
Deadline has reached out to those involved for comment. Lantica Media, a production serves company in the Dominican Republic that operates the Pinewood site said the following:
“Lantica Media has requested a thorough investigation from the national authorities. The authorities have been cooperative and are working to ensure that a similar incident does not happen again in the future. For Lantica Media, the top priority is to guarantee the safety and well-being of its productions, this being the first time that an event of this nature has occurred in any of the 50 plus productions serviced by Lantica since its inception.”
Andrea Riseborough is leading the pic’s cast, playing a successful New York scientist who decides to leave the city with her son to start life over in the remote Sea Islands off the Atlantic Coast.
Jamie Foxx and Datari Turner Productions are co-producing the movie with AGC’s Head of Film Linda McDonough and SVP of Film and Television Glendon Palmer. AGC’s Ford and Miguel Palos, Andrea Scarso and Jamie Jessop of Ingenious Media, and Ricardo del Rio are onboard as executive producers. It is being financed by AGC Studios in association with Ingenious Media.
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