A Woodland Hills, Calif., woman was killed in a stunt boat accident while she accompanied her stuntman husband and father-in-law on location of the Disney production "Gone Fishin' " in Florida.
Janet Wilder, 29, was pronounced dead at a Naples County hospital following the 10:45 a.m. accident Tuesday that officials said was caused when a boat careened off a ramp and into a crowd of crew members during shooting.The vessel was supposed to fly off the ramp and land among a group of boats, but instead it went off the side and flipped over as it landed on the set, officials said.
"Something went wrong and the boat landed in a crowd of people," said Collier County sheriff's Sgt. Jimmy Snell.
Janet Wilder was a professional model who met her husband while she worked as an extra five years ago and became a part-time stuntwoman to be with Scott as he filmed movies such as "Waterworld," said her mother-in-law, Patricia Wilder of North Hollywood.
"They were always together - they were like two dolphins," she said.
Patricia Wilder added that the family never discussed the risks of stunt work. Her ex-husband was a famous stuntman and her son started doing stunts at the age of 6.
"We never talked about it, probably should have," she said. "You don't think, you just don't think about death when you are doing stunts, you really don't."
Janet and Scott Wilder celebrated their third wedding anniversary last month, said Terry Mohr, a family friend.
Friends and family said Janet Wilder traveled with her husband for the Florida production of "Gone Fishin,' " a buddy film in which two men take a weekend fishing trip together.
The film is a joint project of two Disney subsidiaries - Hollywood Pictures and Caravan Pictures - and wad being filmed in the Big Cyprus Swamp, on the southwest tip of the state in the Everglades.
Stunt doubles for stars Joe Pesci and Danny Glover were in the boat, witnesses said.