Disney is being sued over an injury that took place during the production of its live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, according to a report from Variety.
Incident has left a special effects artist injured
Special effects artist Christine Overs, a specialist in making beach and snow sets, claims she was sculpting a lagoon scene for the film at Pinewood Studios in October 2020 when she fell from a polystyrene step onto concrete and broke her wrist.
Overs claims that the fall occurred because the production company hadn’t provided “any adequate access to the set.”
Overs, 74, is suing Disney for £150,000 ($190,000) after she was required to get surgery on her wrist and have steel pins inserted into her arms, something she claims still gives her trouble doing simple tasks like buttoning up shirts.
Overs’ barrister in court claims that she would have expected to continue working into her eighties, but due to her craft requiring more finer movements of the hand, the incident has essentially ended her career while also leaving her with pain, disturbed sleep, and a “substantial level of disability.”
Prior to her work on The Little Mermaid, Overs had been working in the world of special effects for decades, having done work on Dune, Alien, Golden Eye, and Neverending Story III as a member of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
The production company being sued, the Disney-owned Sandcastle Pictures, has admitted liability for the fall, but is disputing the total in damages that Overs is seeking. A trial on the matter is set to take place sometime in the future.
