It was not long ago that Kate Beckinsale was showing off her bruises and injuries from the set of Canary Black on her Instagram. She was responding to a criticism that the stunt performers did the heavy lifting for Beckinsale in the film. In December 2024, she filed a lawsuit under the pseudonym ‘Jane Doe’ against her Canary Black producers for creating an unsafe working environment.
Recently, she amended her complaint to include communications with the defendants, thus revealing her identity. She detailed in her lawsuit that the producers were negligent of an injury she suffered on the sets of the film. She accused the producers of forcing her to continue to work, thus aggravating her injury.
Kate Beckinsale is suing her Canary Black producers for an unsafe working environment
Kate Beckinsale is suing Anton Entertainment Media Services, Inc., the producers of her film Canary Black. Her accusations against Anton employees and producer John Zois include negligence, emotional distress, and battery. According to PEOPLE, the lawsuit stated that the producers cultivated a “dangerous and unsafe working environment” on the sets of the film.
Beckinsale shared in the lawsuit that she suffered a “complex meniscus tear” during the filming of Canary Black in December 2022. The injury halted the production of the film for several months. According to the actress, Dr. Jason Snibbe, her surgeon, told her not to perform stunts for the film. However, she shared that the producers completely ignored the surgeon’s instructions.
She shared that she was forced to perform “unsafe action sequences”, which resulted in the further aggravation of her meniscus tear. Her newly amended complaint shared that Beckinsale and her team raised several “red flags” on the matter. They complained to the producers about the “long, dangerous set days, often lasting fifteen hours”.
They also raised issues about the “inadequate equipment and medical personnel to help manage the high physical workload and recover from the exertion off set.” The lawsuit also accused the producers of not informing Beckinsale of the stunts she was expected to perform beforehand.
The lawsuit claimed that the producers put the actress in danger for their own benefit, stating, “[They] continued to recklessly and intentionally forge ahead with unsafe filming conditions, forgoing safety to maintain profit margins.” Beckinsale claimed that she suffered “significant trauma” to her knee after performing the stunts.
Kate Beckinsale’s team’s requests fell on deaf ears
The amended complaint also included exchanges between Kate Beckinsale’s team and the producers on this matter. The lawsuit claimed that Beckinsale’s agent, Shani Rosenzweig, reached out to the producers via email. In her email, Rosenzweig wrote:
No one is actually taking real action to put a plan in place to fix this situation so it never happens again…[Ms. Beckinsale] keeps showing up to set for her call time, and everyone around her has been made aware it’s going to be a 15-hour [or more] day except for her.
She further wrote to producer John Zois in frustration, “If you’re trying to kill a person, you’re doing a great job.” The complaint claimed that Zois admitted that Rosenzweig was right, sharing, “I don’t know what else to say other than you’re right.” He further agreed to take action on Beckinsale’s “unsustainable” working days.
It was also alleged in the lawsuit that Beckinsale was asked to perform the stunts without “pre-clearing or pre-training”. Earlier in October, the Underworld actress made fans worried when she shared images of bruises she endured during the film.
Beckinsale posted the photos on her Instagram stories as a response to a criticism she got for her film. She shared a snippet of The Guardian’s review of her movie on her story, which suggested that she heavily relied on stunt doubles for the role.
Beckinsale tagged Gabriella Morpeth, who worked in the movie’s costume department, jokingly telling her, “Just a couple of closeups, @gabriellaclaremorpeth” (via PEOPLE). She then shared images of bruises, scrapes, and other injuries to her body. She also shared a pic in a harness, hinting that she did some pretty dangerous stunts for the film.
Canary Black is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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