The Resident Evil franchise starring Milla Jovovich is one of the most popular video game movies to date, and while other versions of it failed to work commercially and critically, the zombie-filled action thriller remains the most definitive adaptation.
Like many action films, accidents happen on a frequent basis. One of the most tragic mishaps in the history of Resident Evil’s production occurred when Jovovich’s stunt double encountered a fatal misfortune that changed her life and ruined her career forever.
Resident Evil’s Stuntwoman Suffered Terrible Accident On Set
Olivia Jackson served as Jovovich’s stuntwoman on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. On September 5, 2015, the double was tasked to pull off a motorcycle stunt. Unfortunately, she collided with a camera crane, where she sustained extreme injuries and several broken bones.
On her Facebook account, Jackson explained her condition, including paralysis and a need for amputation.
“2 weeks in a coma, brain bleed, brain swelling, severed main artery in the neck, crushed & degloved face, several broken ribs, paralyzed arm, shattered scapula, broken clavicle, broken humerus, broken radius & ulna, with an open wound and a 7.5 piece of bone missing, amputated thumb, torn fingers, 5 nerves torn out of the spinal cord.”
All these injuries she suffered from the accident changed the course of her career in a blink. Because Jackson made a living out of performing stunts, which she could no longer execute, she lost job opportunities for the rest of her life.
The stuntwoman ultimately filed a lawsuit against Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’s producers in South Africa. In her statement, Jackson claimed that she was not informed when director Paul W. S. Anderson decided to move the camera a little later. She drove into it the way they did in the rehearsals, not knowing there was a change in the pacing.
Jackson also claimed in her testimony that she was told the deadly stunt was covered under insurance policies, which she later discovered was not.
Milla Jovovich’s Stunt Double Went From A Thriving Career To Nothing
In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Jackson expressed how the accident took everything away from her and that she is absolutely “disgusted” with people’s behavior:
“I’ve had so much taken away from me. I can’t ever work again, I don’t have the job that I was extremely successful in and that I loved so much.”
Before Jackson acted as Jovovich’s double, she has previously performed stunts for Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars, and Marvel films. It is disheartening to know that a once-thriving stuntwoman, appearing in major movie franchises, is now left with an amputated arm and damaged skeleton.
Jackson lives in High Wycombe, England with her husband, who also works as a stunt double for James Bond. She revealed that through physical rehabilitation sessions, she tries to gain physical strength.
After the accident, the former stuntwoman has not made a movie, although she worked on creating a documentary that chronicles her journey to recovery.
Source: LA Times
