‘Transporter’ TV Shoot Likely on Hold Until Early 2012 After Star’s On-Set Injury

TORONTO — Cinemax’s cursed Transporter series isn’t likely to resume production in Toronto anytime soon.

Filming on the 12-part action series based on the Luc Besson film franchise was suspended in mid-October due to an on-set injury sustained by star Chris Vance.

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Now Transporter production manager Anna Beben on Thursday in an internal e-mail to talent and crew reports cameras are not likely to roll again before the end of the year.

“It appears that Chris’ recovery is going to take a little longer than we had anticipated. Chris has not been cleared for work and will be reassessed in 3 weeks,” Beben’s memo stated.

The word from the producers is the Prison Break star walks with a limp, leaving him unable to perform required action sequences.

Beben added the Transporter producers — Canada’s QVF Inc. and French partner Atlantique Productions — may prove reluctant to restart production for one episode, only to shut down again for Christmas.

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“The producers may decide that it is best to simply return in the new year,” Beben wrote.

Vance’s health is only the latest challenge to beset the production-plagued Transporter shoot.

The action series went through major creative changes when British director Steve Shill (Rome, Dexter) replaced the original Canadian showrunners Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.

Shill then did a cull of Transporter crew and creative in Toronto, making key replacements in a bid to get the production back on track and avoid cost-overruns.

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The Canadian and French producers have also faced an uphill creative challenge to adapt Besson’s fast-paced, iconic film franchise into a one hour TV series.

Then came the injury to Vance, who stars as Frank Martin, an ex-elite commando turned transporter, delivering mysterious packages against all odds for a series of shady and dangerous clients.

The action series initially shot on location in Europe in June before shifting to Toronto in July.

The original schedule had Transporter shooting here through November.