JOSHUA TREE, CA — An actor filed a gross negligence lawsuit Tuesday after a film crew buried him alive for a desert scene and forgot to dig him up until the wrap party.
“We were frantically rushing to pack up the trucks and beat the sunset, so it was just an honest mistake,” said 2nd AD Marisol Delgado. Delgado confirmed the crew realized the error three hours later at a hotel bar when the director proposed a toast to the actor.
“Everyone was looking around for him, and then there was a scream as someone remembered we had never dug him up after calling cut. Then it was mass panic! We all dropped our margaritas, grabbed whatever cocktail spoons or ice scoops we could find, and sprinted back out into the pitch-black desert to dig Doug out of the trench,” Delgado said.
Following his rescue, Doug Pellegrino initiated legal action against the production company for unspecified damages. However, studio accountants confirmed Thursday that because Pellegrino failed to physically initial his timesheet before being covered in dirt, the six hours he spent underground will officially be classified as "regular work" under "conditions typical of film production".
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