September 2, 2010 – A woman who was an extra in the Transformers 3 movie being filmed in the Chicago area was seriously injured Wednesday night when a stunt went wrong near Hammond, Indiana.

Another extra told WLS-TV that in a scene involving numerous vehicles and drivers, one vehicle was being towed by another when the cable broke and, said the witness, “whipped around and sliced through the woman’s car and sliced through her skull apparently.”

The woman, 24-year-old Gabriela Cedillo (left), was taken by medical helicopter to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. As of Thursday morning, she was in critical condition, according to Indiana State Police.

The accident happened at about 6:30 p.m. on a closed stretch of Cline Avenue about 20 miles southeast of downtown Chicago.

According to Indiana State Police, the woman was in her own car, a 2006 Toyota, during filming of the stunt when the object went through her car’s windshield and struck her. Police say the car kept going along a concrete barrier in the median for a mile before stopping. There was extensive damage to the driver’s side of the car.

Shortly after the accident, police shut down the movie set and impounded equipment used in the stunt.

Thursday was the last scheduled day of filming in Chicago, but a morning shoot at Millennium Park was apparently cancelled. It is not known if the cancellation is related to the accident, but it could also be due to thunderstorms forecast for today.

This evening, filmmakers had planned to film from a helicopter flying high above the main branch of the Chicago River, as pyrotechnics were ignited on rooftops of various high-rise buildings along Wacker Drive.

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