In 2011, a 22-year-old stunt performer from Australia named Destan Arslanoski suffered a career-ending injury while working on a film in Malaysia.
Arslanoski says that the performer who was scripted to swing a prop ax at his back, Craig Fairbrass, had been told to ‘tone down’ the aggression of his approach during rehearsals. Nonetheless, Fairbrass missed the spine protector Arslanoski was wearing, hitting his lower back and causing an immediate and long-term injury.
Representatives for Fairbrass declined to comment for this story. The film’s production company also declined to comment.
“I collapsed to the ground and couldn’t feel my legs,” says Arslanoski, who today, at 30, is working as a corrections department custodial officer and serving part-time in the Royal Australian Air Force. Crew members dragged him near a fan in the almost 120-degree heat, and he lay prone and waited for nearly an hour before paramedics finally arrived – there were none manning the set – to take him to a hospital.
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