The Allman Brothers star, who becomes the subject of the biopic, says continuing the production just a few months after the tragic death of Sarah Jones is wrong.
- Apr 26, 2014
AceShowbiz - Gregg Allman wrote a letter to Randall Miller who directs his biopic "Midnight Rider". Learning that production would resume sometime this year, The Allman Brothers Band member urges the director not to proceed with the plan out of respect for Sarah Jones and her grieving family.
Jones, who worked as a camera assistant in the movie, was killed in a fatal accident during a filming on train tracks above a river in Georgia. The production was halted as authorities were investigating the accident, but now the production company, Unclaimed Freight, is looking to continue the filming in June and move the set to Los Angeles.
"I am writing to you as one human being to another, and appealing to you from my heart," Allman said to Miller in his letter as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "I am asking you from a personal perspective not to go forward."
"When the idea of you producing the film first came about, I was genuinely excited about the possibility of sharing my story with fans around the world. Unfortunately, all of that changed for me on February 20 of this year," he went on.
"While there may have been a possibility that the production might have resumed shortly after that, the reality of Sarah Jones' tragic death, the loss suffered by the Jones family and injuries to the others involved has led me to realize that for you to continue production would be wrong."
"Your desires as a filmmaker should not outweigh your obligations as a human being," he added. "I am asking you to do the right thing and to set aside your attempts to resume the production out of respect for Sarah, her family and the loss that all of us feel so deeply."
The movie will be made based on Allman's best-selling autobiography, "My Cross to Bear". William Hurt was initially tapped to play the musician, but he has left the project. The actor was on set when the tragic accident happened this February.
While he hasn't publicly commented on it, the actor described what happened in an email to a friend. "I said, 'Sixty seconds is not enough time to get us off this bridge.' There was a communal pause. No one backed me up," he remembered expressing his concerns to the people on set.
