Actor Sues After Alleged Unsafe Working Conditions Caused Her to Fall Face First Through Glass on Set

Actor Taylor Hickson has filed a lawsuit stating that production company Incident Productions is responsible for the face-scarring injury she received on the set of a horror movie called Ghostland, written and directed by Pascal Laugier.

Deadline acquired the lawsuit papers, as well as some pretty horrifying pictures of Hickson’s injury, a cut that goes from under her chin to her upper left cheek and required 70 stitches to close. The incident occurred in December 2016, shortly after Hickson turned 19, while shooting a scene where she was directed to bang on a glass window. Typically, a production would use safety glass for this sort of shot, and Hickson was assured she was safe to slam away:

“In the course of shooting the scene, the director [Pascal Laugier], consistently told [Hickson] to pound harder on the glass with her fists,” the suit states. “At one point during the filming of the scene, and after being asked to increase the strength with which [she] pounded on the glass, [she] asked one of the producers and the director if it was safe to do so. That producer and the director both replied in the affirmative.”

The glass window shattered soon after, causing—according to the suit—Hickson’s face and upper body to fall through it. In an interview with Deadline, Hickson said that the “crafts services lady held my face together with napkins in her hands.” It was the last day on set, and she was rushed to the hospital.

Since the injury, Hickson has gone through silicone and laser treatment, but the scar remains. Her lawsuit alleges that the scar has made it much more difficult to find work as a young actress. In addition to loss of work, she has suffered “mental distress which she continues to struggle with to date.” She blames the production company for not taking reasonable measures to assure her safety according to industry standards.

The film is set to premiere in Paris on March 14. Hickson is not going, saying, “I never worked so hard on a production in my life, and now it’s a bittersweet way to end this piece of art that we worked so hard on.”