Un pompier meurt pendant un incendie sur le tournage du film d’Edward Norton

le 26/03/2018 à 15:50 par Alexandre Bernard

"Notre ville a perdu un héros."

La semaine dernière, un incendie a ravagé un immeuble classé de Harlem, à New York. En plus de dégâts matériels, le feu a provoqué la mort d’un pompier de 37 ans, laissant derrière lui quatre enfants, a indiqué la police de New York à l’AFP. Si les causes de l’incendie n’ont pas encore été déterminées, le feu s’est déclenché au sous-sol du bâtiment qui servait de décor à Motherless Brooklyn, le prochain film de Edward Norton, qui sera devant et derrière la caméra. Les flammes ont ravagé quatre étages.

Très vite, de nombreux hommages ont été rendus sur les réseaux sociaux. "Notre ville a perdu un héros", a déclaré le maire de la ville, Bill de Blasio, au détour d’un tweet.

Our city lost a hero tonight. Firefighter Michael R. Davidson was a 15-year veteran of @FDNY. The prayers of 8.5 million New Yorkers are with his wife, his four children and his loved ones. https://t.co/3iKf9lsecZ

— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) 23 mars 2018

Fight Club a 18 ans : pourquoi ce film reste un chef d’œuvre unique

Le réalisateur du film n’est pas resté dans le silence non plus. Accompagné d’une photo d'un écusson noir des pompiers de New York, Edward Norton est revenu sur les événements, en rétablissant la vérité sur certains points, victimes de rumeurs.

Many of you know that the crew of our film ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ experienced a dramatic and ultimately tragic event on Thursday night, in which a fire engulfed the building we were working in and an FDNY firefighter died fighting the blaze. Thanks to the many, many people who have written to us supportively. Our team’s formal statement on the event is here in the slideshow. It has been reported in some news outlets that the fire ‘started on the set’. This is incorrect. It appears to have started in the basement cellar of the building we were working in. We were filming in a bar and an apartment within the building and our crew noticed smoke rising up into where we were working. It has been reported that I was the one who smelled smoke and raised an alarm. This is incorrect. I was outside setting up a shot outside the building. Our fantastic 1st AD was the first to notice the smell of smoke before anyone even saw it and it was he and others on the crew who acted decisively and quickly to try to locate the source of the smoke, evacuate cast and crew, call the fire department and then rapidly move our equipment and vehicles away so that the FDNY had clear access. I cannot praise the professionalism of our crew highly enough. Had our team not noticed the situation and responded and alerted the fire department with the speed they did, I believe the residents of the building above would have perished. And though we described what we saw the FDNY do in our statement and articulated our feelings, it’s worth doubling down. I have never witnessed firsthand that kind of bravery. I’m in awe of that kind of selfless courage. It’s devastating to contemplate that one of the men we watched charging in there lost his life. Please send a prayer of thanks for the spirit and courage of Michael Davidson. Our team is committed to honoring him and assisting his family and, in due course, when we can determine with his family what form they’d like that to take, I’ll pass along any information I have about a verified way people can contribute.

Une publication partagée par Edward Norton (@edwardnortonofficial) le 24 Mars 2018 à 9 :49 PDT

"Il a été dit que le feu s’est déclenché sur le plateau. C’est incorrect. Il s’est déclenché au sous-sol d’immeuble. Nous étions à ce moment-là en train de filmer dans un bar et un appartement se trouvant dans ce bâtiment. […] c’est d’ailleurs notre fantastique assistant réalisateur qui a senti la fumée et donné l’alerte […]". La production a, en effet, loué l’emplacement de l’ancien club de jazz St. Nick’s, institution du quartier qui a fermé ses portes en 2011. Le réalisateur a également assuré que son équipe ferait tout pour "honorer [le pompier] et aider sa famille".

Motherless Brooklyn sera adapté du roman de Jonathan Lethem, Les orphelins de Brooklyn (2003). Si aucune date de sortie n’a été annoncée, on sait déjà que le film devrait voir le jour en 2019. Coté casting, Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin et Willem Dafoe seront en haut de l'affiche.