What is known about the death of an older adult during a shoot in Soyaltepec, Oaxaca

Filming of the Mexican film La gran seducción was suspended on April 7 without the production company Pimienta Films specifying the reason. However, a local media outlet on the island of Soyaltepec in Oaxaca, assured that the real cause would have been the death of an older adult who was apparently acting on the shoot.

Although the death of the 88-year-old woman on April 6 is confirmed by the Municipal Government of San Miguel Soyaltepec, there is no information that confirms her participation as an extra character in the cast of the film.

A face-to-face source of this fact was consulted by Infobae México and assured that the older adult was not part of the production nor had she auditioned to be an extra or secondary character; however, the woman fulfilled the profile to go to the casting, she lived in the region and the date of her obituary coincides with the suspension of filming.

“Our sincere condolences to the Lorenzo Ventura family on the sensitive death of Mrs. María Cristina Ventura López”, was read on the Facebook page of the Municipal Government of San Miguel Soyaltepec.

It should be noted that Mexican production company Pimienta Films is the one behind films such as Noche de Fuego (2021); the filmmaker who coordinates and directs it is Nicolás Celis, who served as a producer for Rome (2018), directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

On April 7, local media El Piñero reported that the 88-year-old woman died on the set due to apparent recklessness. On this website, it was assured that “due to carelessness and speeding”, the vehicle in which Rodrigo Sánchez Vázquez, a member of Nahuala Casting and the older adult who died, was overturned.

On the other hand, the local media shared that the member of the production had suffered a head injury, this information coincides with the statement made by the person who consulted this medium and claimed to have been there at the time of the accident.

According to this source, the older adult would have come to visit her relatives, since on the island of Soyaltepec the streets are tilted, she would have asked for a ride to go down, so members of the production tried to help her by getting her on board, they would have climbed her on the ATV, however, the weight of the attendees and the steep slope caused it to destabilize.

Towards the end of March, Nahuala Casting launched a call for the population of the island of Soyaltepec, Tuxtepec, and Jalapa de Diaz, regions located in the state of Oaxaca. Anyone over 25 could audition as a secondary or extra character in the film La Gran Seduction by Pimienta Films.

The castings were held between March 31 and would have been extended until April 8, according to the Municipal Government of San Miguel Soyaltepec.

“They don't need a specific level of education or age, as long as they are over 25 years old, even older adults can come, they will have about four photos taken and they just need to want to participate,” said Gustavo López, casting coordinator at Nahuala Casting, in a video.

Graciela Lizbeth Miguel Villanueva is the casting director for the film La Gran Seduction by Pimienta Films, after the fatal accident related to the vehicle, issued a statement on behalf of this company.

“We hereby inform you that our casting team made up of Gustavo López, Carlos Oropeza and Emmanuel Tovar will stop auditions from this moment on in the area (Tuxtepec, Sayaltepec and Jalapa de Diaz) due to the fact that production has generally suspended previous works for the production of the film”, it was possible to read in it.

The announcement also stated that “The production will contact the appropriate authorities to give more information officially.” According to Ángel Camarena, a tvbus news reporter, the montage for the shooting of a film was already removed from the island this 8 April.

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