Oscar-Nominated Cinematographer Hurt on Set Remains in Hospital

A two-time Oscar-nominated director of photography and one of his camera operators remained in Columbia Los Robles Hospital on Thursday following an accident the day before on the Lake Sherwood set of the Disney movie “Mighty Joe Young.”

Don Peterman, nominated for “Flashdance” and “Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home,” was in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit with a broken leg and minor head injuries, while camera operator Ray de la Motte was in stable and good condition with minor chest and back injuries, a nursing supervisor said.

“Since [Peterman] is listed in stable condition, he is not in a life-threatening situation,” she said. “The clinical prognosis is very good.”

Peterman will be transferred to UCLA Medical Center in Westwood later to be closer to his family, the supervisor said.

De la Motte, speaking from his hospital bed, said he would likely be released Saturday and expressed disappointment that he will miss his family’s annual Fourth of July celebration, when they usually take their boat out to Westlake Island and watch the fireworks.

Crew members are relieved that the injuries are not more serious.

“We’re glad to hear they’re improving,” said Sandy O’Neill, spokeswoman for MJY Productions, a Culver City-based Disney subsidiary making the film.

The two men were injured about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on the filming site at 235 W. Potrero Road when a crane holding a platform 18 feet off the ground snapped, sending the platform crashing to the ground, recalled de la Motte, who was on the structure when it fell. He said Peterman was under the platform at the time.

“Thank God all of the people were there and they took care of [us],” he said. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

De la Motte, who has shot 75 movies, including “All the President’s Men,” “Lethal Weapon 2” and “Mars Attacks” during his 30-year career, said this is the first time he has been hospitalized from an injury on a movie set.

The fall left him unconscious for about five minutes, he added.

De la Motte said Bill Paxton, one of the film’s stars, called to wish him a speedy recovery.

The crew was preparing to shoot a scene of the remake of the 1949 RKO gorilla-on-the-loose classic, shot in black and white.

Besides Paxton (“Twister,” “Apollo 13”), the updated version stars Charlize Theron (“2 Days in the Valley,” “Trial and Error”) and is slated to be released next year, O’Neill said.

The state Occupational Health and Safety Administration spent two hours investigating the accident Wednesday.

Troy Swauger, an OSHA spokesman, said it is too early to determine if any safety regulations were broken.

“We won’t know that for quite some time--a month, maybe longer,” he said.

The set closed down for the remainder of the day Wednesday as well as Thursday, O’Neill said.

“We had planned to be closed down over the July 4 weekend,” she said. “We will resume on Tuesday.”

The accident occurred on the 32nd day of a planned 72-day schedule of filming in the Los Angeles area and on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, O’Neill said.

It was also the second day of a 12-day shoot in Lake Sherwood.

Peterman is a veteran cinematographer whose credits also include “Splash,” “Cocoon,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Mr. Saturday Night,” “Get Shorty” and this summer’s “Men in Black.”

Ron Underwood (“City Slickers”) is directing the film, while Ted Hartley, chairman and CEO of RKO Pictures, and Tom Jacobson, former head of production for Twentieth Century-Fox, are producers.