Midnight Rider subject Gregg Allman, a founding member of the iconic Southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band, is urging director Randall Miller not to proceed with production on the controversial biopic after the tragic death of camera assistant Sarah Jones.

Allman sent Miller a personal letter asking him to not move forward with the film amid reports that the director was looking to resume shooting in L.A.

“I am writing to you as one human being to another, and appealing to you from my heart,” Allman began. “I am asking you from a personal perspective not to go forward.”

This news come after star William Hurt dropped out of the project and after production was slated to move ahead in L.A.

It’s very difficult to imagine how this project could move ahead without Allman’s support, and even harder to imagine who would even go see the film given all the circumstances involved and given the amount of anger about Jones’ tragic, senseless death.

And there might be other obstacles to continued production. From the AJC’s Film accident exposes safety weaknesses on the set:

In coastal Georgia, prosecutors are weighing criminal charges in the death of a 27-year-old Atlanta woman struck by a train while filming a Greg Allman biopic in February. […]

Sheriffs†investigators in South Georgia last week turned over preliminary findings of their two-month probe. Several federal regulatory agencies are also looking into the accident and civil lawsuits are a certainty.

‘Midnight Rider†Suspends Production After Fatal Train Accident (EXCLUSIVE)

“Midnight Rider,” the Gregg Allman biopic on which a crew member was killed last week, has suspended production.

Crew members are being released, though theyâ€ve been told that they will be recalled at some future date.

Sarah Jones, the second camera assistant, was killed Thursday on the productionâ€s first day of shooting near Jessup, Georgia. The company was shooting a dream sequence on a railroad trestle, with a hospital bed on the tracks, when a train came across the bridge. Star William Hurt, director Randall Miller and the productionâ€s still photographer tried to get the bed off the tracks but did not have time.

This is the first mention in the press of star William Hurt having been on the scene of the tragic accident.

Variety also notes the possibility of criminal charges and the seeming likelihood of lawsuits. This could get ugly — or maybe I should say uglier.

Meanwhile, the new Slates for Sarah Facebook page has over 30,000 fans, and there’s a movement that has been gaining steam to have Sarah Jones included in the memorial tribute that is included at each year’s Academy Awards. Click here for the petition.

Here’s just one of many posts from that Slates for Sarah Facebook page:

I think it’s too early to come to firm conclusions about the incident. I have no idea if Jones’ death will jeopardize the projects future.

In this post, I’m just going to link some various media that I’ve run across over the last day or so.

By the way, these Facebook links should be showing up as embedded posts, but that function has been compromised for some reason.

From the Associated Press:

JESUP, Ga. (AP) — A movie crew was working on train tracks without permission from the railroad when a freight train crashed into the production team and its equipment, killing one and injuring seven others, a sheriff’s investigator said Friday.

The Savannah-based crew was shooting footage for “Midnight Rider,” a film based on the life of singer Gregg Allman, when the crash happened Thursday afternoon. Wayne County sheriff’s detectives were working Friday to piece together how and why it happened.

It’s frankly unclear at this point if the sheriff’s investigator’s conclusion about permission is correct.

From the LA Times:

Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for Rayonier, said the film crew had been granted permission to shoot on the company’s land for one day. The film crew had separate discussions with CSX about the bridge and tracks, he said.

“I’m not privy about what access they had to CSX property,” Schweiss said. “They were well aware of the property boundaries.”

Ian Somerhalder Pays Tribute As Vampire Diaries Crew Member Sarah Jones … http://t.co/C6BLPqzH86

— ian somerhalder (@iSomerHalderHub) February 22, 2014

We are sad to report the loss of one of our own. Sarah E. Jones was killed while working as a camera assistant on… http://t.co/KxTNs0QSkp

— COFC COMM (@COFCCOMM) February 22, 2014

From The Wrap’s William Hurt to Play Gregg Allman in Biopic ‘Midnight Riderâ€:

Oscar winner William Hurt has been cast as Gregg Allman in the biopic “Midnight Rider,” which is being produced by Randall Miller and Jody Savin of Unclaimed Freight Productions.

All-American Rejects singer/songwriter Tyson Ritter will play young Gregg Allman, while Hurt will portray the singer in present day. Wyatt Russell (“22 Jump Street”) co-stars as Duane Allman.

Also Read: William Hurtâ€s Journey to Portland Stage

“I am a tremendous fan of Williamâ€s work. I canâ€t wait to work with him,” said Miller, who will direct from a script he co-wrote with Savin.

William Hurt has had an incredible career and has remained busy for decades, but he’s never matched — who could? — the string of amazing films from 1983 to 1987: Body Heat, The Big Chill, Gorky Park, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, and Broadcast News. I mean, wow.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Midnight Rider will begin filming in Savannah at Meddin Studios in February.

That should be another nice boost for filmmaking in Savannah.

Here’s “Just Another Rider” recorded at Elevated Basement here in Savannah:

Open Road Films and Unclaimed Freight Productions†Randall Miller and Jody Savin are partnering to bring My Cross To Bear, Gregg Allmanâ€s autobiography to the screen.

Miller and Savin produced CBGB, about the famous New York City rock ‘n†roll club, which is being repped in the Cannes Film Market by The Exchange. They will produce Cross, about the legendary blues singer, along with their music business partner, Brad Rosenberger. Savin and Miller also will write the screenplay, with Miller directing. Open Road will handle U.S. distribution.

The only real news here is the addition of Open Road Films to the project.

As I’ve cautioned here before, the movie business is amazingly fluid. The CBGB team has already put a couple of previously announced projects on the backburner, apparently even giving up on one completely.

Still, each additional company announced as being involved with the Allman biopic brings it one step closer to reality.

In a post a couple of days ago, I noted that a special screening of CBGB in Savannah might have been in part to lure additional investors to the new film.

From that piece:

The filmmakers behind the upcoming music-themed feature CBGB are aiming to keep the rock flame alive with a biopic on Gregg Allman.

Randall Miller and Jody Savin have picked up the rights to My Cross to Bear, Allmanâ€s New York Times best-selling memoir co-written with Alan Light.

Savin and Miller will write the screenplay for the movie, and Miller will direct. The duo will produce via their Unclaimed Freight banner along with their music biz partner Brad Rosenberger.

Allman has had an extraordinary life — from phenomenal success as a musician to multiple marriages, including to Cher, and personal tragedy with the deaths of his brother Duane and bandmate Berry Oakley.

CBGB is moving ahead in post-production, and several official posters have been released. So it looks like the film will be released later this year sometime.

As with any movie news, there’s an element of uncertainty in all this. Miller and Savin have previously been slated to make Caribou , the story of Caribou Records that I posted about in January, and The Drummer, a biopic about Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, which was slated to star Rupert Grint. Given the vanishing entry on IMDB, it seems like The Drummer is dead. Caribou has possibly just been delayed.

It’s obviously too early to know if the Gregg Allman pic will shoot in Savannah, but Allman lives in the area much of the year and the filmmakers have a history here.