WENN/Daniel TannerRichard and Elizabeth Jones learn that the ‘Midnight Rider’ director, who served a year behind bars for his part in the death of their camerawoman daughter, has helmed a movie in Serbia and Colombia.
- May 29, 2020
AceShowbiz – The parents of tragic camerawoman Sarah Jones are urging Directors Guild of America officials to kick Randall Miller out of the organization after learning he directed a movie in Serbia and Colombia last year (19).
Miller served a year behind bars for his part in the death of Jones, who was hit and killed by a train while shooting footage for his aborted Allman Brothers biopic “Midnight Rider” in Georgia in 2014.
The camerawoman’s parents, Richard and Elizabeth Jones, are convinced Miller violated the terms of his probation by shooting “Higher Ground” overseas and they want DGA bosses to act.
In a statement to Deadline, the parents write, “The legal system will decide whether Mr. Miller violated the terms of his probation when he produced and directed the feature film Higher Grounds, but in our opinion he most certainly violated the moral and ethical standards that informed his court sentencing.”
“To us, his actions were blatantly defiant and egregiously disrespectful to the entire creative community, to the six crew members who were injured while filming Midnight Rider, and to the memory of Sarah Jones, who died on Mr. Miller’s set as a direct result of the unsafe conditions that he willfully and illegally created.”
“To help ensure that the film industry consistently protects the lives and safety of all its members, it is imperative to hold those responsible for Sarah’s death fully accountable.”
They continue, “In light of Mr. Miller’s continuing insistence on pushing and arguably overstepping the boundaries of court rulings and common decency, we urge the Directors Guild to reconsider Mr. Miller’s membership. The prestigious DGA has such an esteemed list of law-abiding, safety-conscious members that it is increasingly difficult to imagine why they would allow Mr. Miller to claim equal standing among them.”
Under the terms of his probation, Miller is “prohibited from serving as director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production,” but his lawyer, Ed Garland, tells Deadline the document contained a lot of ambiguous language, adding, “The day that sentence was entered, the language of that sentence indicated he could continue to direct.”
Garland has yet to respond to the statement from Sarah Jones’ parents.
Source: Movies - aceshowbiz.com
