Several Injured During Filming of New Eddie Murphy Comedy

Several crew members were injured in Atlanta over the weekend while filming The Pickup, Eddie Murphy’s new heist comedy, according to Entertainment Weekly. Murphy and his co-stars Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson weren’t on set at the time of the accident.

A collision between a car and a truck led to the injuries, according to an Associated Press report. “It was a completely freak accident,” someone on the set told AP. “It wasn’t even a complicated or dangerous stunt.” Injuries ranged from “bumps and bruises” to broken bones. One crew member is still in the hospital, but everyone involved is expected to make a complete recovery. 

A second unit assigned to capture non-central footage filmed the scene, meaning the movie’s director Tim Story was also not on set. The misfortune occurred when the truck locked up and hit the car, a scene that had been rehearsed with safety precautions in place, a studio spokesperson said in a statement. 

More from the studio’s statement: “Unfortunately, the sequence did not go as planned, and several members of the crew were injured as a result. We are still in the process of gathering facts on what happened and why, but first and foremost our thoughts are with those who are recovering. The well-being of the entire crew and cast is our first priority, and we will continue to insist on the highest industry standards of safety while filming. All safety precautions were reviewed prior to and monitored during the shoot.”

With no one seriously injured, filming on The Pickup will likely continue as scheduled. Amazon MGM Studios paid seven figures for the project, which Deadline described as “a heist comedy in the Bad Boys (mode), and Murphy would play a guy who becomes smitten with a woman and finds himself mixed up in a heist attempt.”