Movie productions these days do everything they can to keep everybody safe at all times, but sometimes there's only so much that can be done. Case in point, we now have some freaky news from the set of Project X, the new film from action legend Jackie Chan. According to a blog post from the actor himself, shooting on location was meant to start this week, but now those plans have gone a bit sideways due to a massive mudslide.
Jackie Chan keeps a blog at JackieChan.com, allowing him to provide his fans with all the latest updates about his career sin December 2012 - and the most recent bit of news he's posted involves some seriously scary weather. According to the post, the crew of Project X was operating for a normal day and was all set up when the environment turned ugly fast. Quickly heavy rains and winds started to rock the set of the movie, and it looks like they even experienced some of their vehicles sliding around and getting stuck. Fortunately, though, as Chan wrote, they had the equipment to help fix things:
A few of our production trucks were stuck in the river of rushing mud. Many of the crew became frightened because it was so sudden. Luckily, some large hook trucks come to our rescue and helped tow our production trucks to safety.
Ultimately it sounds like it was a pretty scary experience for the cast and crew making the movie, but thankfully there's no mention of any serious injuries. Instead, Jackie Chan simply expresses great gratitude to the production team for handling the situation with professionalism and expertise.
As for Project X, the film only went into production in the last couple of weeks, based on an original script by Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco). The movie is directed by Scott Waugh (Need For Speed), and is a two-hander action-adventure thriller that stars Jackie Chan opposite John Cena. The two stars will play ex-special forces soldiers who are tasked with escorting civilians through the "Highway of Death" in Iraq in order to safely make it to the country's Green Zone. It doesn't look as though the film has an official release date yet, or potentially even a domestic distributor, but we will keep you updated on details about the project as it continues to make its way through production. Hopefully there won't be any more delays - caused by weather or otherwise - and the feature will have a shot at hitting cinemas some time next year.
In the meantime, we're just thankful that everyone involved with the production and present during the mudslide is safe, and hopefully the rest of the making of Project X will go much more smoothly.
