Megan Fox and Bruce Willis’ film had resumed shooting after a hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, stopped shooting again recently.
The film called Midnight in the Switchgrass, starring Megan Fox and Bruce Willis has stopped its shooting again. The film is a crime thriller whose shoot stopped in March but resumed again in July.
Reason for the halt
A report in Mid-day stated that a spokesperson from the film quoted cases of coronavirus among the crew members as the reason for the shoot’s halt.
The filming, which was in Puerto Rico with the COVID-19 protocols and safety measures, was stopped as an outbreak occurred on the sets. The production has stopped again as two members of the crew have tested corona positive.
The two crew members who tested positive were asymptomatic and have been quarantined now. The director of the film, Randall Emmett, is now planning to resume the shoot in Santa Barbara in a few weeks, with stricter measures to avoid such a situation again.
Other films that halted the shoot
A lot of Hollywood films are starting to resume shoot but not in the US due to the lack of widely available coronavirus testing.
Many films have started production in other countries. This includes Ben Affleck’s movie. The movie was supposed to be filmed in the US, but it is now being shot in Canada. The production has to follow safety protocols related to the COVID-19.
Another major film, Jurassic World: Dominion, shot a lot of scenes in London.
The rising cases in California make it difficult for the film producers to resume shoot in the US. Major films have re-located to other countries to ensure a smooth, safe shoot—the Elvis Presley biopic, which will have Tom Hanks, started production in Australia.
As per reports, the major problem lies in the shortage of COVID-19 tests, a delayed time between the test and the lab result, which would violate the agreement with the unions who represent the cast and crew.
Although labs in the US say they’ve recently decreased the waiting time for the results, the country is currently running around 600,000 tests a day when most epidemiologists state that the government needs to do a million tests a day to reopen the economy.
Almost all the films that have resumed shoot are spending massive amounts of money to ensure safety protocols onset, increasing the film’s budget by around 20-25%.
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