Director Carlos Carvalho Killed By Giraffe While Filming Movie

Tragedy has struck as award-winning filmmaker Carlos Carvalho has died while shooting the series Wild at Heart for ITV. While working on the series in South Africa, Carvalho was shooting some scenes of a bull giraffe when the animal attacked and killed him.

Carvalho was just 47-years-old.

According to a report from Daily Mail, the popular series was being filmed at the Glen Afric Country Lodge in South Africa which is quite common. Carvalho was working on the series which is about a British family who have opened up a game lodge in the country and their encounters with the animals.

While filming scenes of Gerald the giraffe, Carvalho started to get close-ups of the animal’s feet and body but it appeared to startle the giraffe. Soon, the animal became curious as to what the director was doing and headbutted him, which sent him at least 16 feet into the air and caused major head injuries to Carvalho.

Carvalho was immediately airlifted to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg where surgeons attempted to help him but were unsuccessful. On Wednesday evening, the director succumbed to his injuries and passed away.

This is the same hospital where Mike Hodge, a safari park owner, has been recovering from a recent lion attack.

https://www.facebook.com/CallaCrewOfficial/photos/a.354711301548537.1073741829.296403700712631/608537866165878/?type=3&theater

On Thursday, this post was made on the official Facebook page of the film crew known as CallaCrew.

Back in 2003, Carlos Carvalho won the Silver Lion award at the Cannes Film Festival for a public service announcement he created for Childline. In 2014, he earned an African Movie Academy Cinematography Award for the work he did on The Forgotten Kingdom.

Crewmember Drikus Van Der Merwe said that he was standing next to Carvalho at the time of the giraffe attack on the shoot. It appears as if the director wasn’t the first person that was sought after by the animal.

“He started chasing the boom swinger who joined our unit. The giraffe followed him but we didn’t feel threatened because he just seemed to be inquisitive.”

“We started shooting close-ups of its body and its feet. Then while Carlos was looking through the camera eyepiece Gerald swung his neck and hit him against his head.”

It appears as if Carvalho never even knew he was in danger and that it simply “came out of nowhere.” The horns, known as ossicones, on top of the giraffe’s head are what ended up crushing the skull of the director.

The owners of the South African lodge said that Gerald the giraffe “did nothing wrong” and will remain at the location since this ended up being a tragic accident. Carlos Carvalho was simply doing his job and doing what he loved while filming scenes for Wild at Heart when the horrible incident occurred. His death is one that came suddenly and unexpectedly as the popular TV series was merely filming its next season.