Dylan O'Brien says he was ignored when he raised safety concerns about a stunt that left him 'broken'
20th Century Studios
- Dylan O'Brien told Men's Health his safety concerns over a stunt in "The Maze Runner" were ignored.
- He was hit by a vehicle in a "life-changing" incident.
- O'Brien needed reconstructive surgery.
Dylan O'Brien claimed his concerns that a stunt on "The Maze Runner: The Death Cure" wasn't safe were ignored, resulting in an accident that left him needing reconstructive surgery.
O'Brien played the lead in the dystopian "Maze Runner" action trilogy. The franchise was relatively successful, making $924 million worldwide.
In 2016, O'Brien filmed a stunt for the third film, "The Death Cure," where he was meant to jump between two vehicles. Instead, he was pulled from a moving car and then hit by another vehicle.
In 2020, O'Brien told Deadline that recovery was a "rough and long road" and he felt "fucking broken." He suffered a facial fracture, concussion, and brain trauma.
Since recovering, O'Brien has starred in a number of big projects including "American Assassin" with Michael Keaton and Netflix's "Love & Monsters." He also plays Dan Akroyd in the upcoming "Saturday Night" movie.
In an interview with Men's Health published on Monday, O'Brien said: "I learned after the accident to not conflate taking care of yourself and looking after yourself.
"Don't let them manipulate you into thinking that is being difficult, because I can look at that day and know I was a 24-year-old kid who was raising concerns about how we were approaching things, and they were not listened to, they were not respected.
"And then what happened happened. And by all accounts, it was all pretty gotten away with, I would say, as well."
He added: "It was a life-changing incident. I've approached everything differently, you could say, particularly with regards to standing my ground on set.
"It's very commonplace in the culture for young actors to be controlled, and the way they strive to do that is by always being like, 'Oh, don't become difficult. Don't be a pain in the ass. Or Are you complaining, are you being difficult?' Things like that."
Representatives for Wes Ball, the director of "The Maze Runner: The Death Cure," and 20th Century Studios did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
There have been a number of incidents in recent years where stunts have gone wrong and severely injured or killed people on film sets. In 2021, actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while filming "Rust."
In July 2023, California passed a bill imposing tighter guidelines and restrictions for gun safety on film sets in the state.