A SERIOUS ACCIDENT: THE STORY BEHIND THE TRAGIC DEATH OF BRANDON LEE
Without a doubt, one of the deaths that shocked the entire film industry was that of Brandon Lee, a serious accident that could have been avoided.
Over the years, we have been painted that the film industry is full of glamor and stars. However, this is not always the case, as everything has a dark side where even accidents often happen that end the lives of those who work behind many films. And without a doubt, one of the most famous cases is that of Brandon Lee, a young actor who wanted to shine in Hollywood but unfortunately went down in history for a very sad event.
Without a doubt, this case went around the world for a lot of reasons. The first was Lee's sudden death at age 28, plus years later we learned that things could have been very different for him if the production had foreseen the impending accident. This caused a huge legend and theories to grow around Brandon as to why he probably died, but this time we will not go with the rumors, but with the facts.
A brief review of Brandon Lee's career
Brandon Lee was born on February 1, 1965 in Oakland, California. Without a doubt, many will remember him for being the son of the martial arts movie legend, the great Bruce Lee. However, just like his father, he wanted to follow in his footsteps and appear in movies, that's why he dropped out of school to go to Los Angeles to look for an opportunity, like any young man who wants to succeed in the film industry and without using his last name as an influence that would probably
It was until 1985 when he had his first role in the movie Crime Killer, where he played a gangster. A year later he finally got an important character, when he played Brandon Ma in the film Legacy of Rage, from there he managed to appear in other productions such as Laser Mission, Showdown in Little Tokyo and Rapid Fire. But after so much time in front of the cameras and almost a decade later, the project that would catapult him to fame and the last of his career would come.
'The Crow' and the accident that killed him
In 1993, Brandon Lee was cast as the lead in The Crow, a film adaptation based on the 1989 comic book series created by James O'Barr. Of course the young actor was very excited about the idea of playing the main character of this film, Eric Draven, that is why during all that time he prepared himself, read the comics and was even so committed that he offered to do all the risk scenes.
However, this desire to do things perfectly and get involved in everything that he had to do with his role would unknowingly put him in an extremely dangerous situation. On March 31, 1993, Brandon walked onto the set to film the scene where Draven remembers being shot by Funboy (played by actor Michael Massee). Before filming this part, they shot a close-up of the Smith & Wesson Magnum revolver that character was using, showing it loaded.
A brief explanation of the operation of the weapon that killed Brandon
Normally for these shots, fake cartridges are used, without gunpowder or primer. However, due to lack of budget, in the production of The Crow they acquired real bullets from which the gunpowder was removed, but not the primer. At some point someone pulled the trigger to test it, although they did not expect that the firing pin fired the blasting cap and the bullet made a short journey and this caused something very serious: the bullet got stuck inside the barrel.
However, due to lack of time and budget – since the master gunsmith, who was in charge of preparing the pistol for the scene, was allegedly fired – no one checked the revolver to make sure everything was in order. They simply removed the real bullets for some blanks and when actor Michael Massee pulled the trigger, the powder from the blank detonated with enough force to push the bullet that had gotten stuck in the barrel, which ended up directly in the abdomen. by Brandon Lee.
Brandon Lee lost his life and his legacy began
From the impact, Brandon fell to the ground and was mortally wounded. As expected, realizing that he was not getting up, The Crow's team rushed him to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina. There, the doctors tried to save his life but unfortunately at 1:03 in the afternoon of the same March 31, 17 days after his wedding and 8 days after finishing filming, the doctors confirmed that the young actor had died at the age of 28 .
Brandon Lee was buried next to his father in Lake View Cemetery on Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. However, even though he left the film partway through, everyone involved in the production decided to continue and finish filming. Finally, on May 11, 1994, this film was released as a tribute to this young actor who lost his life in an accident, which could probably have been foreseen if they had had the help of a professional in arms.
The actor's family wanted to do justice
The footage of the fatal shot in which Brandon died was used as evidence in the investigation, and was later personally burned by director Alex Proyas. Currently the circumstances of the actor's death are still part of theories and legends such as the curse of the Lees – which we may tell you about in another installment – but for several years the medical documents that certified his death and the causes of death were made public. same.
Since then, Brandon Lee's family has fought because his death was not in vain. Years later and following an investigation, District Attorney Jerry Spivey announced that no criminal charges would be filed in the act's death, saying that while negligence was a factor in his death, there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. . Lee's mother, Linda Cadwell, filed a civil lawsuit against the studio for negligence, which was eventually settled out of court.
In 2005 and according to CNN, Michael Massee, who died in 2016 at the age of 64, said that the tragedy had left him with a serious trauma: “What happened to Brandon was a tragic accident. It's something I'm going to live with… It took me a long time to not only put it into perspective, but to be able to move on with my life. It is very personal. It's something I want to make sure when I work that it never happens again. Therefore, I am well aware that things are going wrong on set.”
Brandon's name came up again for another unfortunate fact
However, although things seem to have calmed down with Brandon Lee's family, a current event made many remember the actor's death. It turns out that in an event that we could say was exactly, Alec Baldwin fired a gun and accidentally killed the film's cinematographer, Rust, Halyna Hutchins, in addition to injuring the film's director, Joel Souza (HERE we tell you about they). Faced with this situation, Lee's official account published a message on social networks:
"Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and everyone involved in the 'Rust' incident. No one should be killed by a gun on a movie set. Point".
Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on “Rust”. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period. 💔
— Brandon Bruce Lee (@brandonblee) October 22, 2021
