The film industry was devastated by two recent deaths that have led to a movement to alter this Sunday’s “in memoriam” segment of the Oscar telecast: One was the natural causes passing of comedy filmmaker Harold Ramis, 69, and the other was the accidental death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, 27, who was struck by a train in Georgia while working on a biopic of rock musician Gregg Allman.
Ramis, the star of Ghostbusters and Stripes, and director of Vacation, Caddyshack, and Groundhog Day, died on Monday at his home in Chicago, while Jones, whose credits include Midnight Rambler (the film that led to her death) and the TV series The Vampire Diaries, was killed last Thursday while filming on a bridge that authorities said was supposed to be off-limits to the production. Due to the questions surrounding her death, her name has become a rallying cry for behind-the-scenes workers calling for more scrutiny of on-set safety.
It has also led to a movement. Many are signing petitions and making telephone calls asking the producers of the Oscars to include her in the telecast’s tribute. But … that effort misunderstands how that part of the show is created.
