What is the riskiest movie of this year's crop of Oscar-nominated films? According to Fireman's Fund Insurance Company（FFIC）, this year's winner is perhaps an obvious choice.
Honors go to "The Wrestler", an emotional drama about Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a once popular pro wrestling star, now aging and down on his luck, who battles both personal and health issues. As an insurance risk, the film wins "most risky production" primarily because lead actor Mickey Rourke did much of his own stunt work in the film.
Rourke executes extremely physical wrestling scenes – even deliberately cutting himself to draw blood during a fight. In one scene, Rourke has an especially brutal match accompanied by glass shards, staples and barbed wire.
Adequate precautions to mitigate the risk
"We considered it a major risk because of the factors related to the stunt work: the physicality and quantity of the stunts. Even young actors have difficulty with physically challenging stunts," said Joseph Finnegan, vice president of Fireman's Fund Entertainment division.
"As the lead actor in this film, if Rourke had a serious injury it could have resulted in a delay or even halted production. Fortunately, he trained and practiced for months, and we worked with the production company to make sure adequate precautions were in place to mitigate the risk," said Finnegan.
Among other insurance coverages for films, cast insurance covers a variety of possible scenarios that could happen to an actor where production would be affected. These can include illness, injury, medical issues – even death.
Dedicated to helping producers and studios
Not all films present sizeable risk factors. The least troublesome movies among the nominees, according to Fireman's Fund, are "walk/talk" productions where the actors are shot in simple scenes and don't engage in activities much beyond dialogue. Of this year's nominees, "Frost/Nixon" fell into that category.
There are a total of 79 Oscar nominees this year and Fireman's Fund insured 46 – which is an accurate representation of the approximately two-thirds market share the company commands. Insured nominees include "Milk," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "The Dark Knight," "Changeling," "Iron Man," "Defiance," "In Bruges," "The Visitor," "Frozen River," "Wanted" and "Hellboy II" in addition to "The Wrestler."
With an over 80-year history of insuring Hollywood productions, Fireman's Fund Entertainment is dedicated to helping producers and studios achieve the artistic results they are seeking, yet also ensure they are filmed safely, finished on time and on budget. Its 40-member team includes specialized underwriters and loss control experts who each have about 20 years of experience in the entertainment field.
About Fireman’s Fund®
Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company is a premier property and casualty insurance company providing personal and commercial insurance products nationwide. It is rated ‘AA’ by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services. Fireman’s Fund is a member of the Allianz Group (NYSE: AZ), one of the world’s largest providers of insurance and financial services.
About the MPTV and E&O product of AZCN
As Allianz Group's first non-life insurance operation in China, our company, “Allianz Insurance Company Guangzhou Branch (AZCN)” also launched the MPTV (Motion Picture Television Portfolio Insurance) product, and the E&O (Producers Errors & Omissions Liability Insurance) product, to provide all-round protection covering the aspects of property damage, business interruption, liability for third party property damage, and liability for specified errors, omissions or negligent acts to film and television making in Chinese market.
For additional information, please contact our colleagues in Underwriting Department.