Producer to cut B-52 crash from upcoming movie
Film producer Michael Bay on Wednesday apologized for the inclusion of footage of a B-52 crash in a new movie, and Paramount Pictures said it will remove the shot.
A trailer for the Bay-produced time-travel movie Project Almanac shows the characters watching news footage of a fiery plane crash. The footage appears nearly identical to actual video of a 1994 B-52 crash at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington state, which killed four Air Force officers.
Families of two of the crash victims — Col. Robert Wolff and Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan — were outraged after seeing clips from the film, and told Air Force Times they had no doubt it showed the crash that killed their loved ones. They said they were disappointed the clip was apparently being used in a context that is entirely different from what actually happened.
Paramount Pictures said Tuesday that the filmmakers used footage of a different crash that took place in Tokyo in 2009, but that crash does not resemble the film footage that angered Wolff's and McGeehan's families.
Bay, whose movies include Transformers and Armageddon, said in a statement he thought a two-second shot of the plane crash in Project Almanac was a visual effect when he watched the completed movie. Bay said he was upset to learn first-time director Dean Israelite had instead used actual crash footage.
"I let film directors make their movies at Platinum Dunes (Bay's production company) and give them tremendous responsibilities," Bay said. "Well, unfortunately a very bad choice was made to use a real crash instead of creating a VFX (visual effects) shot, without realizing the impact it could have on the families."
"I have asked Paramount Pictures to remove this shot immediately from the picture," Bay said. "I want to also extend my deepest apology to the families, and also to the U.S. Air Force."
In an e-mail, Katie Martin Kelley, Paramount's executive vice president for publicity, said the studio is "in the process of removing the footage from the film and promotional materials. The film's theatrical release date (Jan. 30) will remain the same."
Wolff's daughter, Whitney Wolff Thompson, said in an e-mail that she accepted Bay's apology.
"Mr. Bay, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your apology and your quick response to this," Thompson wrote.
Sarah Wolff, Wolff's daughter-in-law, also accepted Bay's apology and said she is glad he has asked the shot be cut."
Attempts to contact Israelite were unsuccessful.