A lot of hard work, sweat, and dedication goes into making a movie. Even though it seems like actors are the only ones working since they are always on the screen, there are dozens of people doing their job right outside the frame. In huge movie productions, something can go wrong at any moment: loose lights crashing, sound cutting out, and of course, there’s always a chance a stunt could end in an ambulance.
Many actors get injured on set, and some even die, which makes you wonder if the price they pay for entertainment is worth the risk.
1. Isla Fisher — “Now You See Me”
Isla Fisher almost died while filming a stunt. She went into the tank filled with water, but something went wrong. The actress couldn’t break the chains! She started panicking and screaming, but the water muffled everything. One of the chains got caught on her bathing suit, and Isla was essentially stuck underwater for five whole minutes until the crew realized she needed help.
2. Jaimie Alexander — “Thor: The Dark World”
Jaimie had no idea that she would get injured on the set by just walking. She came to the set to do a casual scene that didn’t involve any risky stunts or complicated actions, but the situation changed in a matter of seconds. It was a cold rainy night. The actress was going down a metal staircase and… slipped, just like that. The fall was quite literally bone-shattering, as she displaced a disk and fractured the 11th vertebra.
3. Michael J. Fox — “Back To The Future III”
When filming one of the scenes in Back to the Future 3, Michael decided to make it more realistic. The scene in question is the one where his character almost gets hanged. The actor decided to knock out the box from under his feet, effectively hanging himself for about 30 seconds. He almost died of suffocation before Robert Zemeckis realized what was going on.
4. Sylvester Stallone — “Rocky 4”
The wallops and haymakers in the Rocky movies really came out great, mostly due to the actors actually punching each other. Stallone asked Dolph to do it for real, and in that last fight, Lundgren packed so much power into his punch that Stallone flew straight into an ambulance with a heart muscle injury. This Falcon Punch pushed the filming schedule back by eight days while everyone waited for Sly to come out of the ICU.
5. Jason Statham — “The Expendables III”
In the scene where Statham drives a three-ton truck at full speed, the worst thing that could happen happened. The vehicle malfunctioned, and Statham had to jump out before it crashed into the sea from an 18-meter drop. Fortunately, the truck’s door was removed for filming purposes, and the actor managed to jump out in time. If it weren’t for his excellent swimming skills, Statham would not have been able to survive this terrible incident.
6. Chevy Chase — “Modern Problems”
During the filming of Modern Problems, Chase nearly died. The landing lights he was wearing at the time short-circuited and the actor was zapped with a strong electric shock, losing consciousness. Luckily for everyone, Chevy Chase didn’t suffer any permanent damage.
7. Halle Berry — “The Call”
While filming one of the scenes, Berry seems to had placed her feet in the wrong spot and ended up smashing her head on the concrete floor. The blow was so strong that she was immediately transported to the nearest hospital. The actress soon regained consciousness but was unable to keep filming, which is understandable.
8. Jackie Chan — “Police Story”
Fear is not a feeling Jackie Chan experiences too often, but this time it was warranted. When the actor jumped onto a metal post and started sliding down, dozens of lightbulbs began to explode. This stunt caused severe burns, but the day was not over yet. The cast used “sugar glass” instead of the usual “stunt” glass, which turned out to be much thicker than expected. Jackie Chan flew through the glass, fracturing his seventh and eighth vertebrae and dislocating his pelvis on impact. That must have hurt!
