Still Fire After All These Years: ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ Stunt Sets a Record with Full Body Burn

Fire stunts are nothing new in movie production, but for one stuntwoman, going up in flames was record-setting.
71-year-old actress and stuntwoman Yvette Ferguson came out of retirement to appear in the opening scene of the upcoming Final Destination Bloodlines. The next film in the franchise offers complicated casualties as a rule, but in Ferguson’s case, performing a stunt that had her appear to be completely consumed by fire, made her the oldest person ever to be set ablaze on camera.
Bloodlines director Zach Lipovsky is the one making that claim. “We lit so many different people on fire, including breaking the world record for oldest person on fire with Yvette Ferguson, who did that full body burn in the silver dress,” he said in an interview.
The film’s stunt team reached out to Guinness World Records to officially submit the feat for consideration, but have yet to get confirmation.
Ferguson plays a character called Mrs. Fuller. In the opening sequence, main character Iris (Brec Bassinger) has visions of her fiery death inside the fictional Skyview Tower as a premonition. Lipovsky said that in all, the shooting for that scene took up half of the production’s schedule.
Bassinger talked to reporters about Ferguson’s record-breaking stunt. “Oh, I was on set when they lit her on fire! I was within her vicinity. God, it was beautiful. Everyone started clapping…She was so pumped,” she said.
As for Ferguson, she shared her record-setting news the way everyone does: on Instagram. Yvette shared a fiery photo from the filming with the caption, “I had the opportunity to do a fire burn for @burnettsimonstunts @fire4hirestunts 🔥 Thank you for a great opportunity and check it out in theatres coming soon!”
Final Destination Bloodlines starts burning up the box office on May 16th.