No matter how safe you think you are on a film set, there is constant danger looming. Check out these instances where some of your favorite actor's lives were threatened in the very place they chose to spend their careers, on a film set...
Catch-22
Director John Jordon had a reputation for being a risk-taker on set. Several years before he shot Catch-22, Jordon was shooting a scene for a film out the door of a flying helicopter, he was not wearing any safety equipment and he somehow ended up chopping part of his leg off on the rotor, forcing the crew to return the ground. Many years later, on the set of Catch-22, Jordon was filming on an airplane that had one of its doors open while it was flying, Jordon was not wearing a safety harness. The plane hit some turbulence and threw Jordon out the window of the plane, sending him falling to his tragic death.
The Dark Knight
Although Heath Ledger’s passing is the most commonly known tragedy from when this movie was filmed, another terrifying death slipped between the cracks. Special effects technician Conway Wickliffe was leaning out the window of a Jeep filming a scene when the driver turned into a tree, causing him fatal neck and spinal injuries. Wickliffe was in a similar accident during the filming of Batman Begins, however, he survived that car accident with minor injuries.
The Expendables 2
This huge budget action flick took a tragic turn when stuntman Kun Liu got caught in a terrible accident caused by faulty pyrotechnics. Liu was supposed to stage a hand to hand combat scene on a boat that was supposed to explode right as he got away. Tragically, the explosives on the boat set off unpredictably, killing Liu and injuring another stunt actor, Nou Sun. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed but was eventually dismissed because of liability waivers that each actor had to sign at the beginning of the filming period.
Gone in 60 Seconds II
During the filming of the sequel to the 1974 action cult classic, Toby Halicki was struck and killed by a 141-foot water tower prop. The idea was that the water tower would fall after the film team was well out of the way, but close enough to get a well-lit shot. Unfortunately, the cable that was supporting this structure snapped and killed Halicki, his movie was never finished. It wasn’t until the 2000 remake of the original Gone in 60 Seconds that Halicki’s ideas were finally memorialized.
The Return of the Musketeers
Despite the preventative advice that was offered by W.C. Fields (never work with a child, horses, bears, or elephants) Roy Kinnear fell off of his horse on the set of The Return of the Musketeers in 1988. Kinnear had never ridden a horse before joining this production, and his novice training was proven insufficient when he was bucked off onto a stone platform. The fall broke his pelvis and ruptured both of his kidneys, putting him in an immediately dangerous position. Kinnear died while he was being transported to the hospital, and this movie was released a year later when a stunt double took his place for the rest of the film.
The Conqueror
The Conqueror has been listed as one of the worst movies of all time more than once. This 1956 retelling of the rampage of Ghengis Khan was capped when 91 of the 220 cast members contracted deadly cancers due to the location of the movie’s filming. This movie was shot in St. George, Utah, only two miles where the U.S. Military tested nuclear weapons during WWII. Of the 91 members of the cast that got cancer, 81 died within the year and the rest died progressively after that.
Jumper
Jumper was a terrifyingly dangerous movie for the characters onscreen, but for the production crew and the actors, it was just another day shooting a green screen. However, an unexpected freak accident can come out of nowhere in any circumstance. Set dresser David Ritchie was helping the production assistants dismantle a “safe” artificial wall that was constructed of fused sand. A large chunk of this wall fell off and struck Ritchie in the head, killing him instantly and injuring one of the production assistants in the process.
Top Gun
This movie was the catalyst for Tom Cruise’s legendary Hollywood career. Top Gun was full of machismo, flashy behavior, and high octane action from start to finish, but with that imagery comes the risk and potential for catastrophic failure. Hired stunt pilot Art School was attempting a flat spin for one of the conclusive scenes of the movie. The pilot was unable to recover from his spin and ended up plummeting to the Earth below, crashing his plane from nearly 3,000 ft in the air.
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Some Twilight Zone worthy mishaps occurred during the filming of a scene with a helicopter in Vietnam. The protagonist of the film was supposed to be getting chased by American soldiers during a staged battle in the Vietnam war. The scene was shot from a hovering helicopter that the driver momentarily lost control of and decapitated the director of the film. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed but the case was so bizarre that it was dismissed as a true accident and left in the cold.
The Crow
The movie that should have cemented Brandon Lee as an international superstar ended up costing him his life in a strange and unexplainable turn of events. For some reason, the production crew thought that they could avoid needing to purchase blank bullets if they removed the gunpowder from the non-blank bullets they already had. In a scene prior to the event, an extra fired a bullet at Brandon Lee, but since it wasn’t a blank, the slug was engaged and it lodged itself in the gun’s barrel. Fast forward to the end of the filming process, the same gun was used again, and the pressure from the explosion forced the slug out of the barrel and into Brandon Lee’s spine. Lee died on his way to the hospital from the set.
Bang Bang
This 2014 Bollywood film ended in tragedy when famous actor Hrithik Roshan suffered a brain injury on set. Towards the end of the filming process, Hrithik was tasked with completing his own stunts due to the stunt doubles being unavailable to finish the already extended filming calender. Hrithik fell backward in a harness and flipped, causing him to hit his head hard enough to knock him out. He was rushed to the hospital immediately and he had to have a blood clot that formed removed, he is still alive to this day.
Thor: The Dark World
Jamie Alexander was tasked with doing her own stunts in this 2013 film. Although she was an experienced and trained stage actor who had formerly done her own stunts in theatrical performances, she had never worked on a stunt set before this movie. Unfortunately for her, she suffered a fall that fractured 11 of her vertebrae, and she didn’t even find out until three days after the accident. Alexander went to sit down in the back of a cab and she suddenly, painlessly, went paralyzed in her right arm and leg.
Back to the Future III
Do you remember the scene in Back to the Future III when Michael J. Fox got hanged for getting accused of being a witch in the middle ages? Well, if you don’t, Michael J. Fox sure does. During this scene, he was supposed to slip his hand under the crude noose that was constructed by an amateur set designer before his chair dropped, but he was, unfortunately, unable to do so within a reasonable timeframe. Fox suffocated on the rope for 30 seconds before someone recognized that he was in trouble and cut him down, any longer might have spelled a death sentence for him.
Die Hard
Despite his macho exterior, Bruce Willis is just as susceptible to hearing loss as the rest of us. During an action scene in Die Hard, Bruce Willis got a little too close to a gun that was firing a blank at someone that was across the screen. The gun fired its cap, and Willis lost two-thirds of his hearing capabilities in his right ear permanently. It wasn’t until after the scene was finished that Willis expressed his discomfort and was rushed to the hospital.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Han Solo may have been the man to shoot first, but he definitely did not see this hydraulic door mishap coming. Harrison Ford horrifically broke his ankle while filming a scene in which Han solo stands in front of a hydraulic door while it closes. The door came off of its hinges and trapped Ford’s calf underneath it, breaking his ankle at a 90-degree angle. After only 4 months of recovery and one surgery, Ford was ready to finish shooting the scene.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Bruce Willis isn’t the only film star that put himself dangerously close to a gun firing a blank and faced the noise afterward. In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Linda Hamilton was acting in a violent scene, where she was thrown around the room and then had to lay under Arnold Schwarzenegger while he fired a shotgun at some baddies. During the beginning of the scene, Hamilton’s earplugs fell out, and when Schwarzenegger fired the shotgun over her head, she suffered permanent hearing loss.
The Passion of the Christ
If there was anything that would have told Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel that they shouldn’t have filmed The Passion of the Christ, it would have been these events. Naturally, nobody seemed to think anything of the fact that Caviezel was contracting numerous skin and lung infections due to his real injuries during the filming process. Mel Gibson stopped at nothing, even when his star suffered from phenomena, insomnia, trauma, hypothermia, and was even struck by lightning on set. Caviezel recovered from his injuries in a timely manner, but he never quite forgot what it was like to be subjected to torture for the sake of art.
The Eagle
This (fairly) underground film featuring Channing Tatum in an uncharacteristic role permanently scarred America’s Sweetheart in the worst way possible. During a specific scene, Tatum swam in icy water for a long period of time, while only wearing peasant leather clothing. In order to help him sustain his core body temperature, Tatum wore a suit that had heated water running through it. However, the water ended up being so warm that Tatum suffered second-degree burns on his “nether regions,” and he vowed to never wear a heat suit again.
Rocky IV
Although he wasn’t necessarily supposed to ask for this, Stalone asked Dolph Lundgren to actually punch him in the chest in order to make the scene where Rocky fights Ivan Drago more realistic. Lundgren obliged, but he hit Stalone so hard that a vessel in his heart swelled up and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Lundgren was the first one to reach Stalone while he was in the ICU, as a joke, he told Stalone that he could have one clean shot at his chest. Stalone laughed, and politely declined the offer.
Armor of God
This 1986 film was arguably the peak of Jackie Chan’s career, but it also could have been the end of it. During a seriously dramatic scene, Chan insisted that he was comfortable jumping 20 feet from a high castle wall into a nearby treetop. Chan missed the tree and fell 25 feet and cracked his skull open, putting him into a coma for a week. He ended up going back and retrying the stunt after he was fully healed.
Force 2
Force 2 star John Abraham slipped on set and injured his knee. This was no problem, and it didn’t even hinder his acting, until he slipped in the same spot and landed on his knee once more, prompting a trip to the hospital. The doctors found that there was a massive blood clot in his knee that was caused by the first accident, and if it weren’t for his second fall, he might have been dead within the day.
The Wizard of Oz
As historical as The Wizard of Oz is, it didn’t make its official Hollywood debut without a few injuries sustained by the cast. Margaret Hamilton suffered second and third-degree burns due to the lights on the set superheating the standing surfaces. Additionally, Buddy Ebsen, the original Tin Man, suffered permanent lung damage and scarring due to the silver makeup that was used to cover his face being somewhat corrosive.
Troy
This movie took nearly twice as long to make as it was originally suspected due to constant injuries and setbacks. George Camilleri was a stunt man on set, until one day he was performing a stunt that caused him to compound fracture his femur. Two weeks later, he died due to complications caused by the injury. The production staff also had to endure two hurricanes that tore their set apart twice, and Brad Pitt tore his Achilles tendon, unrelated to filming.
Do Lafzon Ki Kahani
Randeep Hooda starred in this Bollywood classic, but things took a turn for the worse when he was asked to act out an actual martial arts scene without the help fo his highly trained stunt double. Hooda was asked to pretend to kick a fellow actor in a fight scene when he actually kicked his counterpart in the ribs. Hooda’s coworker was perfectly unharmed, but Hooda himself suffered 5 broken toes from the incident.
Syriana
During this 2005 sleeper hit, George Clooney suffered injuries so horrific that he still feels the effects 15 years later. Clooney fell on his head backward out of a chair during a torture scene in this movie, cracking open his skull and breaking his spine. Clooney was so terribly injured that spinal fluid actually flowed out of his nose on the way to the hospital. Evidently, the pain was so bad that Clooney still goes to therapy for it to this day.
Aeon Flux
Charlie Theron had always boasted that she could do a standing backflip, but when the time came to prove it, she ended up injuring herself almost to death. When prompted to do a backflip for a scene, Theron landed on her head and neck, nearly paralyzing her. She had to undergo extensive surgery on her spine, and now just suffers from a herniated disk.
Rock On!! 2
In 2016, this Bollywood film was being shot in an active warzone due to the lack of availability for shooting locations. While shooting a scene outside, protagonist Shraddha Kapoor was struck in the eye with a piece of grenade shrapnel, causing her to permanently lose function in her ocular muscle. Her eye had to be removed, and she wears a glass eye now.
Gothika
During a particularly violent scene, Robert Downey Jr. was interrogating Halle Berry’s character by holding her down and attempting to physically intimidate her into giving him the information he wanted. Downey, unfortunately, did not know his own strength and he snapped Berry’s ulna, audibly. Downey nearly broke her radius as well, which is the other bone in the human forearm that matches up with the ulna.
Coolie
Amitabh Bachchan is a long-time beloved Bollywood actor that has a track record of being clumsy and accident-prone on set. Bachchan fell during the filming of a fight scene and struck his abdomen on the side of a table, rupturing his large intestine and causing massive internal hemorrhage. He was immediately rushed to the hospital and he almost died due to his injuries.
The Hangover Part II
Zach Galifianakis’s stunt actor, Scott McLean, was struck in the head while leaning out of a car window while filming a scene. McLean did not die, but he did suffer permanent brain damage and scarring. He ended up suing Warner Brothers for an undisclosed amount of money, and he won the case.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Daniel Radcliffe used to do his own stunts, but one day he was sick and couldn’t attend the set for an action scene. His stand-in, David Holmes, then opted to perform the stunt for him, which was a 13-foot lateral throw that ended in colliding with a padded wall. Holmes performed the stunt but was immediately rushed to the hospital complaining of neck pain. He had broken his neck in 3 different places and later was paralyzed from the neck down intermittently for 3 years.
Now You See Me
In one scene in Now You See Me, actress Isla Fisher got trapped in a glass tube that she was scripted to break out of. The tube was not preset to break, so Fisher got trapped inside the enclosure for three minutes before the production crew was able to identify that she was not in control. Fisher was stuck in a coma for roughly three hours after she got trapped, but she was brought back to consciousness in the hospital.
XXX
Vin Diesel was at the height of his career when XXX came out. Diesel was so popular, his producers no longer permitted him to do his own stunts and instead hired an actor named Harry O’Connor to stand in for him when the assistance was needed. When O’Connor stepped in to shoot a rapping scene, where Diesel was supposed to rappel from a helicopter onto a submarine, but the act went terribly wrong. O’Conner was slammed into a bridge and killed instantly. The scariest part is that they ended up using that shot anyways.
Atuk
This is one of the greatest Hollywood tragedies in recorded history. Atuk is a movie about an Eskimo visiting New York City that was originally supposed to star John Belushi. Belushi died of an overdose a week after they started filming the movie, so they hired Sam Kinison to stand-in. Kinison died in a car accident, so they hired John Candy, who died of a heart attack, and then finally they hired Chris Farley, who died of an overdose just one week after his acceptance. Atuk has yet to be made, and no actors will accept the role because some think the script is cursed.
The Exorcist
Shortly after The Exorcist was slated to be filmed, a bunch of crew members got stuck in a set fire that destroyed the entire backdrop that was placed for the first half of the film. After the fire, two other crew members were killed, one of them was a security guard, the other was a special effects technician. Both of them were killed by falling to their deaths in the warehouse that the movie was filmed in.
Godspell
With all 4 iterations of Godspell, each person that played Jesus in the independent films died of some external cause at an alarmingly young age. Although none of them died on the set, all of their deaths were related to the shooting of the movie. All of the causes were related to brain trauma, the first Jesus died of a random brain hemorrhage at the age of 22. One died of a brain tumor, the other of an undiagnosed illness that ate holes in his brain, the third died of brain rot caused by an undiagnosed case of syphilis.
Poltergeist
In addition to Godspell, none of these deaths were related to the actual filming of the movie, but they were all set in motion after the movie was released. Within 6 years of the movie’s release, 4 of the key cast members died in various ways. One was murdered, one died of stomach cancer, the other died of liver failure, and the final person passed away due to septic shock.
Rebel Without a Cause
This one is a doozie. Even though James Dean died in a car chase, and this movie came out before his passing, some deeply related incidents occurred after his death. Natalie Wood, who played James Dean’s star crossed lover in Rebel Without a Cause, drowned in a lake behind her house. Sal Mineo played a teenager that was obsessed with James Dean’s character, she was stabbed in the heart on her way home from rehearsal, and the man who murdered her stole her car. Coincidentally, he died in a car accident in her stolen car, which was the care James Dean died in just a year before.
Rosemary’s Baby
Before Rosemary’s Baby was filmed, director William Castle was sent a letter that threatened him to not make the film, and if he did he would die of an unknown illness within the next few years. Castle made the film but died of a heart attack shortly after it came out. His wife and daughter were then murdered by the Manson family
Superman: The Movie
Immediately after filming Superman, actor Christopher Reeves was riding a horse with his fiance, when the horse bucked him off and threw him to the ground. The fall broke his spine, rendering him completely paralyzed from the neck down. Ironically, after playing a character who could literally stop bullets, he became a partial vegetable and never acted again.
The Omen
Right before filming The Omen, Gregory Peck, the protagonist, lost his son to suicide. Then, while flying on his way to the funeral for his son, his plane was struck by lightning. Coincidentally, the plane that the scriptwriter and director were flying on also was struck by lightning. The crew was also bombed several times by the IRA during the filming of the movie.
The Hobbit
No human being was harmed in the making of the Hobbit, but 27 animals were. The American Humane Society raided the set of the Hobbit to find that 27 of the crew’s hired animals had died due to negligence, this included 2 tigers and an elephant. None of the directors or handlers were charged for the deaths of these animals, but still, this is an ethical blemish on Hollywood.
Rambo: First Blood
Sylvester Stalone seems to be a walking insurance hazard, incidentally, he has been injured more times on movie sets than some can count. On the set of Rambo: First Blood, Stalone fell off of a balcony into a tree, breaking all of the ribs on the left side of his body and dislocating his shoulder. The producers still used this scene, and the audio, in the film.
The Expendables
During an epic fight scene between Sylvester Stalone and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Stalone suffered a lifechanging injury. Austin threw Stalone through a table, breaking his spine in two places. If it weren’t for Austin’s EMT training, Stalone would likely have been paralyzed. Stalone had to get two metal plates implanted in his back to prevent his spine from healing improperly.
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Fortunately, Sylvester Stalone did not suffer any injuries during this movie. Unfortunately, his pyrotechnics engineer did. Cliff Wegner Jr. was one of the hired pyrotechnics artists in this film, and his tragic death is shrouded in controversy. It has yet to be confirmed whether he blew himself up with his own explosives, or if he fell off of the waterfall he was standing on when his explosives detonated prematurely.
Midnight Rider
This retelling of the life of Gregg Allman was canceled when a producer of the film died in a train accident, after only being given a one-minute warning of the train’s arrival. Gregg Allman retracted his agreeance to use his likeness in the film, and the movie was canceled. This wrongful death cost the producers nearly $70 million.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
During the filming of an explosion scene in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, an extra was suspended in a car, supported by steel cords that suddenly snapped and dropped her to the ground. The extra didn’t die, but she did endure near-fatal injuries, leaving her permanently physically deformed and with brain damage. Warner Brothers Studios ended up settling with the extra and her family for $18 million worth of damages.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
While shooting a high octane car chase scene, protagonist Dylan O'Brien got caught in between two moving vehicles and shattered his pelvis. He was immediately rushed to the hospital and the public was given no word on his health condition for several weeks into his recovery. Due to his injuries, he never decided to continue the Maze Runner series, but he did finish up his role in Teen Wolf.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Milla Jovovich's stunt double, Olivia Jackson, was riding a motorcycle at nearly 100 mph in one scene that was purely supposed to be CGI’d into the movie. Jackson struck a camera pole that was supposed to raise as she flew under it, completely pulverizing her left arm to the point that she needed to get it amputated. Jackson took the production company to court, but she eventually lost the case due to the waivers she signed before she performed the stunt.
Deadpool 2
Stuntwoman Joi Harris was killed while riding a motorcycle on the set of Deadpool 2. Evidently, the accident was caused by her own negligence. Harris was supposed to ride through the set at a fixed speed and careen through two open doors, through which there was a safety bridge to collect her when she came through. Harris overshot the safety bridge and she struck a curb on her bike, throwing her through a glass window nearby, killing her instantly.
The Pact
Ike Barinholtz was a stunt actor in The Pact. Evidently, he was severely underqualified to perform the acts from this film and was hired anyway because his quote was nearly twice as low as the other stunt actor in contention. Long story short, Barinholtz broke his neck and died on set, which was covered up until the end of the film’s production run.
Mission: Impossible 6
Tom Cruise is one of the coolest and most baller actors to ever get nuts on the side of a building. Cruise actually ascended a large portion of a building without a harness, and it was only when he was given a harness to put on for the remaining duration of filming that he got hurt. Cruise’s harness snapped and sent him plummeting to the lowest connected bolt on his route. Fortunately, he only broke his ankle in the accident.
Django Unchained
This was one of those Leonardo DiCaprio performances that you absolutely should not have missed. During a tense scene towards the climax of the movie, DiCaprio smashes a glass on the table that the characters in question were sitting at. The glass cut his hand so badly that he needed 20 stitches to hold the whole thing together, but he was able to continue acting in the scene with the added flair of having a bleeding hand.
Moulin Rouge
During the audition period for Moulin Rouge, actress Nicole Kidman broke a rib while auditioning for her role on the fourth trial. She got the role but later broke the rib again while tightening her corset towards the end of the film. Instead of giving up, Kidman pushed through and finished filming the movie before seeking out medical attention.
Batwoman
Ruby Rose did her own stunts in Batwoman, and she did stunts for a living for nearly 10 years beforehand. Rose herniated two discs in her neck due to repetitive motion injuries caused by doing stunt jobs, which proved impossible to ignore when she briefly became paralyzed due to her injuries. She needed immediate surgery to return her mobility, which left her neck scarred permanently.
The Spy Who Dumped Me
Justin Theroux almost died in a motorcycle accident on the set of The Spy Who Dumped Me. He was headed through a scene and he overshot his landing ramp. Theroux and his motorcycle went careening into oncoming traffic, forcing him to brake abruptly and fly over his handlebars, cracking open his skull onto the pavement. He was rushed to the hospital and revived in the emergency room.
Tag
Jeremy Renner broke both of his legs while performing a jump over 20 chairs to tag one of his adversaries in the movie Tag. He was rushed to the hospital, where the staff had to both stop his bleeding and remove the distended bones. His femurs were replaced with steel rods and 6 months after his injury he returned to acting. Fortunately, that was his final scene in the movie.
Titanic
While Kate Winslet was filming Titanic, her dress got snagged on a real boat prop and she was pulled underwater momentarily. The shock from the cold water forced all of the air out of her lungs, and she passed out pretty much immediately. DiCaprio dove down into the water to save her, but the driver of the boat took the initiative by piling all the weight on his boat to the other side to pull Winslet out of the water
The Hunger Games
Jennifer Lawrence spent so much time submerged in stagnant water during the filming of the hunger games that she suffered from long term ear infections long after the film was finished. Lawrence spent a total of two months in and out of the hospital dealing with her spreading infections, one of which needed to be surgically addressed. In response to this, Lawrence declared that she would no longer be doing underwater scenes in any of her upcoming movies from now on.
The Lone Ranger
Johnny Depp was thrown from a horse and nearly trampled to death during the filming of this American Western classic reboot. Fortunately for him, the horse narrowly missed his head and neck and stomped the ground around his body. Unfortunately for him, the footage from this event was kept and sold to TMZ and it was spread all over the internet and it even made it to the nightly news.