One killed, two injured at Martin Scorsese film set

A ceiling collapsed on three Taiwanese construction workers who were reinforcing an old brick-and-wood house at the Chinese Culture and Movie Center Central Pictures during pre-production, said the Taipei city fire department.

A worker identified as Chen Yu-lung was pronounced dead at the hospital while the others sustained injuries to their legs and heads, it said.

“The director is shocked and saddened that one worker was fatally wounded…he regrets that this incident happened ,” said David Lee, a Taiwanese producer working with Scorsese, the award-winning director of such movies as “Taxi Driver”, “Casino” and “Wolf of Wall Street”.

Lee told reporters that the incident was not expected to affect the filming schedule.

Shooting was due to begin on Friday, according to two financial backers of the film — the companies Fábrica de Cine and SharpSword.

“Silence”, based on a novel by Shusaku Endo, portrays Portuguese Jesuits in the 17th century suffering persecution as they work in isolated areas of Japan.

It will star Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver and will be released in cinemas in 2016.

Scorsese is the latest Hollywood heavyweight to film in Taiwan in recent years, following Taiwan-born director Ang Lee who filmed Oscar-winning 3D adventure “Life of Pi” on the island, and French director Luc Besson, who shot some of his sci-fi thriller “Lucy” in Taipei. -AFP