Kate Beckinsale has filed a lawsuit against the producers of "Canary Black," accusing them of exposing her to "perilous and hazardous working conditions," as revealed in a complaint obtained by PEOPLE. The 51-year-old actress starred in the crime thriller, which premiered on October 3, 2024. Seven months later, she is charging the film's production house, Anton Entertainment Media Services, Inc., and its personnel, notably producer John Zois, with negligence, deliberate infliction of emotional distress, and battery, with Puck magazine first breaking the news.
Initially, Beckinsale filed the suit under the pseudonym "Jane Doe" in December 2024. However, on Wednesday, May 21, she submitted an amended complaint, incorporating communications with the defendants and providing more vivid details about her on-set injury.
While filming in December 2022, Beckinsale sustained a complex tear in her left meniscus. This necessitated surgery, causing a months-long halt in production. Prior to her return, her orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jason Snibbe, advised against engaging in stunts involving running, jumping, harness suspension, squatting, or kicking, according to the complaint. Unfortunately, these medical directives were allegedly disregarded.
Beckinsale's complaint asserts that her knee injury worsened as her doctor's instructions were repeatedly flouted, and she was allegedly pressured into executing "unsafe action sequences." In the newly revised complaint, she claims to have suffered a "severe trauma" to her knee due to the "dangerous and hazardous conditions" on the "Canary Black" set.
"Ms. Beckinsale and her team repeatedly sounded the alarm regarding unsafe conditions both on and off the set, highlighting long, treacherous days often stretching to fifteen hours, inadequate equipment and medical support to manage the arduous physical demands and recover from the exertions off-set, and a failure to adequately brief Ms. Beckinsale about the stunts she was expected to perform until often the very moment she had to execute them," reads the complaint.
The actress further alleges that despite her repeated warnings, the producers callously "placed her in harm's way" by "recklessly and intentionally proceeding with unsafe filming conditions, sacrificing safety to protect profit margins."
Her team's numerous communications expressing concerns over the set conditions were accompanied by an email from her agent, Shani Rosenzweig, to Zois, stating, "No one is actually taking concrete steps to devise a plan to rectify this situation and prevent it from recurring… [Ms. Beckinsale] consistently arrives on set for her call time unaware that it will be a fifteen-hour [or longer] day, except for her." Rosenzweig demanded immediate action to address the unsafe conditions, writing to Zois, "If you're aiming to kill someone, you're doing an exceptional job," after inquiring about his plans to rectify the situation. The complaint alleges that Zois responded by acknowledging the need to shorten the actress's "unsustainable" workdays, saying, "I don’t know what else to say other than you’re right."
Despite Zois's assurance, Beckinsale's attorneys contend that she continued to work fifteen-hour days, was assigned to "perform perilous action sequences without pre-approval or pre-training," and the "set conditions remained hazardous." Consequently, due to the alleged negligence and "conscious and reckless decisions," Beckinsale suffered further injuries, including the aggravation and exacerbation of her pre-existing wounds, which were entirely preventable, according to the complaint.
