While a lot of fans are excited about Tom Cruise and Doug Liman making Edge of Tomorrow 2, the actor and the director actually have another movie on the way, and it's been embroiled in a bit of controversy. News broke a few days ago that the studios behind American Made are suing S&S Aviation for a plane crash that killed two people related to the production, and there's another ongoing lawsuit from those involved with the crash who are suing each other and those responsible for production. However, now documents from the aviation company have been retrieved, noting that the two men who died had complained about safety measures on the set of American Made and are placing some of the blame on Tom Cruise and Doug Liman.
According to documents, American Made was described as a"high-risk" and "action-packed" production, which I guess shouldn't come as a huge surprise, because Tom Cruise does like to try some things that other actors don't. Reportedly the estates of the two deceased men, helicopter stunt operator Alan Purwin and airman Carlos Berl, are now stating that the demands of filming on the flick, brought about due to long hours and a desire for perfection from Cruise and Liman, actually contributed to the crash. The two men are not being sued individually, but have been cited in recent paperwork.
According to paperwork The Blast got its hands on, one of the executive producers on the movie was also unhappy with how American Made came together, complaining about the number of aerial stunts that were being added to the filming schedule. Per the report:
DL [Director Liman] and TC [Cruise] [are] adding entire scenes and aerial shots on the fly. Had to bring in Uni Safety to help wrangle them. In the last 48 hours this has become the most insane shit I've ever dealt with.
Of course all of this is coming just a few days after Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Quadrant Pictures and Vendian Entertainment decided to sue S&S Aviation and a while after the estates of Alan Purwin and Jimmy Lee Garland, who lost feeling across his lower body after the crash, decided to sue each other and the producers. Plus, several other lawsuits related to the crash are in the works. There are a ton of lawsuits and blame going around, and it will be up to the court to get into the nitty gritty of what actually happened on the set of American Made back in 2015.
The original crash that killed Alan Purwin and Carlos Berl, and severely injured Jimmy Lee Garland, occurred on September 11, 2015. So far, people have even disagreed about who was flying the plane at the time of the incident, which suggests there will be a lot of conflicting evidence to work through in the varying lawsuits. The lawsuit from the entertainment companies is suggesting that it was S&S Aviation that was negligent with its safety inspections and other maintenance, for example, while S&S is maintaining there were other factors at play.
We'll let you know how these lawsuits play out. In the meantime, American Made is still heading into theaters, and soon. You can catch the new Tom Cruise starrer on September 29. Be sure to take a look at what else is heading to theaters soon with our full schedule.
