Looks like Bird Box is in hot water again. One day after Netflix’s Canadian-American sci-fi drama Travelers was accused of using stock footage from the tragic Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, footage from the same incident was also found in the Sandra Bullock thriller. And despite outcry and criticism from the Quebec town’s mayor, it appears the streaming giant will not remove the clip.
More than 40 people died during the 2013 tragedy, in which a train carrying crude oil derailed, causing a massive and deadly blaze. When the footage was first discovered in Travelers, Netflix said it had contacted the show’s production company, Peacock Alley Entertainment, and confirmed that the footage would be removed. But the same is not true for Bird Box, which will remain untouched, a source confirmed to V.F.
Julie Morin, mayor of Lac-Mégantic, has called for Netflix to review its originals to ensure that no other films or series carry images of the event. “I don’t know if this is happening all the time,” she told a local outlet, “but we are looking for assurances from Netflix that . . . they are going to remove them. You can be sure we are going to follow up on this, and our citizens are on our side.”
Peacock Alley Entertainment President Carrie Mudd said her company was unaware of the real-life source of the footage used in Travelers, which the production company purchased from the stock-footage company Pond5. “We sincerely apologize and had no intention to dishonour the tragic events of 2013,” Mudd told the outlet in an e-mail. “We are already working to replace the footage in the show.” In its own statement to the BBC, Pond5 expressed its remorse that the clips had been “taken out of context and used in entertainment programming,” and apologized “to anyone who was offended, especially the victims and their families.” The company also vowed to contact all customers who had purchased related clips to alert them to “the sensitive nature of this footage.”
This post has been updated.
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