A British film production company owned by Disney has been fined almost $ 2 million over health and safety breaches after Hollywood star Harrison Ford was hurt by a hydraulic door while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The accident happened in June 2014. On Wednesday, Foodles Production (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to two charges for failing to protect workers.
Ford, who reprised his role as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, hurt his leg when it was crushed by the hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon, his character's spacecraft. According to reports, the hydraulic door came down "millimetres from his face" and crushed his leg like a "blunt-edged guillotine."
As a result of the then 71-year-old actor's injury, production had to be halted for two weeks.
"The greatest failing of all on behalf of the company is a lack of communication," Judge Francis Sheridan said of the case, according to The Verge. "If only they had included Mr Ford in all the discussions, he might have at least been alert to the dangers that he had to avoid," he added.
Ford joked about the accident later on during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show, comparing the advanced technology used in the latest version of the Star Wars trilogy to that used while filming the original movies.
"In the original film, the door would have been closed with a pulley," Ford told the host. "Now, we had lots of money and technology and so they built a f****** great hydraulic door which closed at light speed," he added.
