Sunday 26 June 2022 01:54 AM Netflix cops in Mexico after van carrying cast from The Chosen One careened off ... trends now
Netflix has been accused of allowing unsafe working practices to occur in the production of its new original series The Chosen One after two actors were killed in a car accident that left six others injured.
Raymundo Garduno Cruz and Juan Francisco Gonzalez Aguilar were killed in a remote part of the state of Baja California after the van they were traveling in flipped over
Six others, who were also traveling in the vans managed to survive but some were left with serious injured.
The van crashed last weekend near Mulegé in a desert area as the group was traveling between there and Santa Rosalia, where the show is being filmed.
Questions are now being asked over how the cast and crew were treated in the days leading up to the crash.
Anonymous members of the cast and crew have spoken out to share concerns that long working days were being endured by everyone involved in making the show - with the drivers particularly at risk of tiredness with early starts and long drives required to reach the remote desert location.
Netflix said it is 'deeply saddened' of the deaths of The Chosen One actors Raymundo Garduño Cruz (L) and Juan Francisco González Aguilar in car accident in Mexico last week that left six others injured
The crew had to travel along a long stretch of the Transpeninsular Highway near Santa Rosalia ith dangerous curves and several long straight sections (file photo)
Netflix outsourced the making of the show to production company, Redrum, who said in a statement that it was 'shocked' by the 'tragic accident' and that it 'closely supporting all those affected by this unspeakable tragedy.'
The streamer said the crash occurred when the crew was en route from Santa Rosalía to the local airport, and that the production had been temporarily placed on hold.
In a statement released earlier this week, Netflix & Redrum said, 'All of us on the production of are shocked by the tragic accident occurred past Thursday, while on transit from Santa Rosalía, Baja California, to the local airport.
'We are deeply saddened by the passing of our colleagues Ray Garduño and Juan Francisco González and are closely supporting all those affected by this unspeakable tragedy. Redrum has been cooperating with local authorities and initial reports and accounts from witnesses indicate that all safety protocols were in place and this was an unfortunate accident.'
But the crash has now brought attention to the conditions under which the crew and actors found themselves as they attempted to complete several days of filming in a remote portion of the country, with suggestions that corners were being cut to save money which may have put the safety of workers at risk.
Garduno (pictured) and Gonzalez were filming Netflix's The Chosen One, which focuses on a 12-year-old boy who finds out he's the second coming of Christ
Netflix had outsourced the production of The Chosen One to Redrum Productions. Filming was taking place near Santa Rosalia in Mexico
A Mexican newspaper, Milenio, ran a report related to the incident entitled: 'What Netflix doesn't want you to know.'
It suggested that productions made in Mexico were full of stories of drivers who fall asleep at the wheel, coupled with exhaustingly long days for staff.
The issue, writer Viri Ríos claimed, is that Mexican production houses have attempted to lure producers from streamers such as HBO and Netflix, by setting themselves up on the cheap.
It includes paying personnel the bare minimum together with a skimping on costs for other essentials such as security and production time.
Rios noted how unions in the arts were simply not common in Mexico leaving workers exposed and without protections, unlike the many unions that exist within the entertainment industry in the U.S.
'The
