`Quantum of Solace` filming suspended after third accident leaves stuntman in coma

Filming on the new James Bond film in Italy has been suspended after three accidents hit the "cursed" production in five days - reports The Telegraph.

The latest incident left Aris Comninos, an "experienced" Greek stuntman, in a coma after his car collided with a lorry and then crashed into a wall. His co-driver, Bruno Verdirosi, was also treated in hospital but is not said to be in a serious condition.

It follows another accident involving the stuntmen on Saturday. An Aston Martin used in the filming was driven into Lake Garda earlier this week.

Mr Comninos suffered a fractured cranium during the filming of a dramatic 15-minute car chase which opens the movie, which is titled The Quantum of Solace.

He played a villain chasing James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 in an Alfa Romeo 159 along a curving road by the shore of Lake Garda.

He was airlifted after the crash to the nearby Borgo Trento hospital in Verona, where his condition is said to be stable.

"He is doing as well as can be expected," said a spokesman for his family. An investigation has been launched into the accident by the Italian authorities.

Mr Comninos worked on a previous Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, and has also worked on Saving Private Ryan and The Bourne Ultimatum, for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Meanwhile a spokesman for Eon Productions, the makers of the Bond movies, said he did not know if filming would restart at Lake Garda. The accident occurred on the penultimate day of the shoot.

The two stuntmen had already been to hospital after an accident the previous Saturday while they were shooting the same scene. One of them was given 15 stitches to his hand but was immediately discharged, according to local Italian newspapers.

The stunt director of the film's second unit, Gary Powell, was allegedly unhappy with the results of Saturday's shoot and had ordered the sequence to be shot again on Wednesday.

The Eon spokesman said suggestions that the film was jinxed were "ridiculous". He said Eon intended to wait for the results of the investigation.

Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, was not on the set at the time. Nor was the overall director of the film, Marc Foster.

More than 40 stuntmen have been working in Italy since last August on the new film, which also includes scenes from the Palio horse race in Siena.

Earlier this week, one of the five Aston Martin DB5s used by the filmmakers was wrecked after swerving off the road and plunging into Lake Garda.

The £134,000 car was destroyed in the accident, but Fraser Dunn, the 29-year-old driver, managed to break free and swim away unharmed. He was fined by Italian police for speeding.

The Eon spokesman said: "That was nothing to do with the production. That car was being driven by an Aston Martin engineer to a press event."

The film has been plagued by long series of mishaps. Mr Craig was allegedly injured while filming in Panama in March, and was taken to Punta Pacifica hospital for a check up after bruising his ribs.

Earlier this month, production was briefly interrupted when Carlos Lopez, the mayor of Sierra Gorda in Chile, drove onto the set to complain the filmmakers had not asked his permission.

A Bolivian minister, Pablo Groux, filed a formal complaint against the film in a court in Bolivia, complaining that the film stigmatises Bolivians as drug dealers. He added that he was offended the producers had chosen to film scenes representing Bolivia in Chile, its historic enemy.

Discuss this news here...