In April of last year, Michael "Crazy Mike" Gaboff, a pro stuntman, performed a stunt for the DVD release of
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. He was to jump a motorcycle off of a ramp, while lit on fire, and then land safely in water. One big problem, the stunt went terribly wrong, Gaboff overshot the lake and made a hard landing on the ground, which caused "a broken lower back, pelvis, neck, both arms, ribs, collar bone, and collapsed lungs." Making it worse, he was on fire, and since he didn't land in the lake, which would've extinguished the flame, he incurred second-degree burns.
TMZ has learned that "Crazy Mike" filed a lawsuit on Friday against the companies in charge of the film; Sony Pictures, Break Point Media and Next Point Inc..
In the lawsuit, Mike says the movie's "negligence" is to blame for his near-death experience -- claiming the film knew the move posed a HUGE risk and yet it "consciously chose not to take specific safety measures."
Not only that, Mike says production-honchos were WARNED not to go through with the "ultrahazardous activities," but chose to risk it "despite requests not to do so."
Mike's suing for medical expenses and loss of earnings -- he doesn't specify a dollar amount -- but he reportedly spent two months in a hospital recovering, with bills over $1 million.
NICOLAS CAGE returns as Johnny Blaze in Ghost Rider™ Spirit of Vengeance. Still struggling with his curse as the devil's bounty hunter, Johnny is hiding out in a remote part of Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect of the church to save a young boy from the devil. At first Johnny is reluctant to embrace the power of the Ghost Rider, but it is the only way to protect the boy and possibly rid himself of his curse forever.
Ghost Rider : Spirit of Vengeance directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor's starring Nicolas Cage, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba, and Johnny Whitworth.