Most Dangerous Movie Scenes In Cinematic History
Filming for a movie is a huge production that goes on for months. After the studio has greenlit the movie, they need to find a director, and actors, scout for locations, hire all the crew, the list goes on. But, even when all the admin has been completed, there is still so much more that happens on set, including safety procedures. Film sets seem to be full of potential hazards, and it is up to the filmmakers to ensure that the highest safety precautions are upheld. However, with all the stunts, lighting, and other dangerous equipment, accidents can happen. These dangerous scenes perfectly depict the fear of our favorite actors as they ended up in risky positions while the cameras were rolling. On three, everyone scream!
Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz is one of the most iconic movies of all time, but despite the success of the movie, all was not so well on set. Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West and in the scene where she was leaving Munchkinland, the smoke that was supposed to be left in her wake appeared on the platform before she managed to leave. When they cut the first take and went for the second, part of Hamilton’s cape became caught in the platform when the burst of fire appeared.
In an instant, her make-up started melting off, causing excruciating second and third-degree burns on her hands and face. It was later discovered that one of the key components in her make-up was copper which ignited the flames. Producers opted to use the first take in the movie.
Back to the Future III
Back to the Future III was full of amazing stunts, but you may not have known that Michael J. Fox almost died when a stunt went terribly wrong. As Marty McFly is whisked back to the Wild West in the third installment of the movie franchise, Marty runs into Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen. The gang then attempts to lynch him!
In the thrilling scene, Doc Brown shoots the rope loose right in time but on set, Michael was accidentally hanged and became unconscious for a short amount of time. Despite the rehearsals for the scene going smoothly, in one of the takes the rope became too tight and cut off Fox’s airways. The terrifying incident was recalled in Fox’s autobiography.
Roar
The 1981 adventure comedy film Roar was about a naturalist who lives among lions and tigers in a Tanzanian nature preserve. The filming went on for a staggering 11 years, as the production was plagued with horrific accidents and natural disasters. It was said that the animals featured in the film were unrestrained and untrained, and without professional supervision!
As a result, it was estimated that between 70-100 people on the 140-person production team were injured. Cinematographer Jan de Bont suffered the worst attack of all after being mauled and scalped by a lion on set. He needed 120 stitches to sew his scalp back in place, but as soon as treatment was complete, he returned to the film set.
The Hangover Part II
The Hangover trilogy had some incredible action scenes throughout the three movies with some of the best stuntmen in the business. In the third installment, stuntman Scott McLean was doubling for Ed Helms, a.k.a the problematic dentist, Stu. Sadly, McLean was involved in a serious traffic collision in Bangkok at three in the morning while filming the taxi chase. McLean went head-on with a truck, leaving him with a huge gash and flesh torn from his skull.
The accident was so serious that he suffered from critical brain damage and was put in a medically induced coma. Despite this, some of the scenes before the crash were still used in the movie so McLean launched legal action against Warner Bros.
The River Wild
Meryl Streep’s 1994 film The River Wild was a challenging role about a white-water rafter who is held up by a gang and forced to take them down a treacherous river. Streep was determined to test herself in the role, but in one dangerous scene, she was tested way too far. At the end of shooting, director Curtis Hanson asked Meryl to reshoot one more river sequence, which almost ended in catastrophe.
Despite pleading that she wasn’t up to it, the director persuaded her. Streep said of the accident “The boat surfed down into the hole, rose, and flipped over, and I went into the river. I remember sinking down to the bottom with this powerful and freezing water pulling me in deeper.” After nearly drowning, Meryl was quite rightly furious with the director.
Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur is an iconic biblical movie that follows a young Jewish prince from an influential family. The film was a huge commercial success and smashed the Academy Award record. However, in one of the movie’s most famous scenes, things got out of control on set. In one of the film’s thrilling chariot races, Judah Ben-Hur, played by Charlton Heston, bounds his chariot over a wrecked one below and is flipped upside down.
When filming the death-defying scene, his stuntman, Joe Canutt, was thrown into the air accidentally. Thankfully, Canutt wasn’t critically hurt and people on set said he got off lightly with just a chin injury that needed four stitches.
Raging Bull
Martin Scorcese’s Raging Bull was the film adaptation of former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta’s 1970 memoir. LaMotta’s temper and violence led him to become one of the boxing greats, but at home, it led him to loneliness. Robert De Niro played LaMotta in the film while Joe Pesci played his brother Joey.
Given the nature of the film, there were plenty of sparring scenes and in one of them, Robert De Niro accidentally broke Joe Pesci’s rib. Instead of cutting it out, Scorsese loved the rawness of the footage and left it in the final cut. You can see De Niro punch Pesci on the side before he groans and it cuts to another scene.
The Evil Dead
The 1981 horror film The Evil Dead followed five friends to a cabin in the woods, where they accidentally released some terrifying demons. The cult film became famous in the horror genre as the actors were subjected to some of the most grueling and dangerous conditions on set. But, nothing quite matched up to the near-death experience of the director Sam Raimi.
In the second part of the film, the main character Ash hears something out of the window and fires his gun at it. Raimi admitted he set up the shot so the actor had to fire a live round near him and the camera. After almost getting shot, he told the actor to aim higher on the second take. Talk about dangerous leadership.
Armour of God
The 1986 action-comedy Armour of God became a cult classic after combining Jackie Chan’s martial arts abilities with comedy and stunts. Chan is no stranger to deathly film stunts and he typically performs all of them himself. While the innovative action scenes usually go off without any issues, in this film one thing went majorly wrong.
He leaped from a wall to a tree and the branch that Chan grabbed onto, immediately snapped off. Chan fell to the ground and hit his head on a rock which nearly killed him. He was left with a permanent hole on the right side of his head, along with some hearing loss in one ear. Despite this awful accident, Chan still insists on doing his own stunts today.
Rocky IV
Sylvester Stallone has undeniable superstar power as one of the biggest action movie stars in the world. His critically acclaimed films and stunts speak for themselves, but there are some occasions when Sly has to remind himself that he isn’t, in fact, invincible. In one scene in Rocky IV, he told Dolph Lundgren to go hard on him in one of the fight scenes.
He explained “I said, ‘Hey, I got an idea: For the first 45 seconds, really try to knock me out. I mean, go for it.’ Bad idea. He comes across — boom, boom! He catches me in the chest, next thing I know, I’m in intensive care for five days. He hit my heart so hard that it banged against my ribs and started to swell.”
Whiplash
The 2014 psychological drama film Whiplash saw J.K Simmons play jazz teacher Fletcher, while Miles Teller took on the role of his enthusiastic student, Andrew. Both actors pushed the bounds of acting during the 19-day production. Although it was mostly based on emotional manipulation, things took a physical turn towards the end of the movie.
As the mental torture became too much for Andrew, he finally snapped and charged at Fletcher. During the intensely physical scene, Simmons opted for no pads, but Teller’s strength proved too much and broke two of his ribs. Despite the pain, Simmons never broke character and continued with the scene like a true professional.
Troy
When Brad Pitt took on the role of Achilles in the epic historical war film, Troy, it was always going to be one to remember. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, the film follows the assault on Troy by the United Greek forces, and it is packed with thrilling action from start to finish. The death-defying stunts that occurred in numerous battle scenes caused some terrible accidents.
During one scene, stuntman George Camilleri jumped into the fight scene and suffered a serious leg injury that required surgery. However, a few weeks after the incident, he went back to the hospital and died from a pulmonary thromboembolism. In addition to the fatality, more accidents followed, including Brad Pitt injuring his tendon which ended up pushing back production by ten weeks.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2 is still regarded as one of the greatest action movies of all time. From incredible stunts to special effects, the whole movie is packed with thrilling action and Linda Hamilton became an integral part of the movies, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. With every action movie comes an element of risk and there were quite a few accidents on set, but Linda Hamilton had one of the most dangerous.
During the escape-from-hospital scene, Hamilton forgot to put her earplugs in, leaving her with severe hearing loss in one ear. The actress said “The doors closed, we had shotguns and started blasting, and suddenly I was in agony. I fell to my knees in pain. I thought I’d been shot. The noise was so intense, so extreme, I’ll never forget it.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Harrison Ford is no stranger to action movies, but when he appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it almost cost him his life. Reprising his role as Han Solo, the actor was knocked to the ground and crushed under the door of the Millennium Falcon while filming a scene. The spaceship in question had a gnarly hydraulic door.
Ford didn’t know the prop was working until it suddenly started moving! As Ford fell under the door, it kept pushing down on him, pinning him to the floor, and leading him to sustain several injuries from the accident including a broken leg. Ford was airlifted to a hospital in Oxford and an inquest was later launched.
The Mummy
Hollywood star Brendan Fraser was almost hanged to death during the filming of the 1999 hit movie, The Mummy. The actor revealed that during a scene in which he had to be hanged with a rope, the director Stephen Sommers ran over to tell him that it didn’t really look believable and asked if he could sell it better.
As they went for another take, the crew member pulling the rope pulled it slightly higher. Fraser just kept going downwards which almost choked him out! He said, “The next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways and there was gravel in my teeth.” Thankfully he walked away from the accident without any serious injuries.
Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die was the eighth James Bond movie, and one of the most popular. Sir Roger Moore took on the role of Bond, but his stunt double Ross Kananga was the one who experienced some terrifying scenes during filming. In the movie, Bond escapes the villains by running across the backs of 3 crocodiles in a swamp. The scene was so dangerous that Kananga received $60,000 for it.
He explained “Something like that is almost impossible to do. So, I had to do it six times before I got it right. I fell five times. The film company kept sending to London for more clothes. The crocs were chewing off everything when I hit the water, including shoes. I received one hundred ninety-three stitches on my leg and face.”
The African Queen
Filming the 1951 movie The African Queen was said to be so brutal as director John Huston took production to one of the most ghastly filming locations. Much of the film was shot in Uganda and Congo. The living conditions for the cast and crew were so treacherous that many of them became infected with dysentery after drinking contaminated water. Funnily enough, the only two people unaffected were Humphrey Bogart and John Huston.
They strictly drank only whiskey during filming. The entire shoot was so terrible that Katharine Hepburn wrote a book about production, titled: The Making of The African Queen: or, How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is a historic Western film. Similarly to many other films in the same category, the action-packed production had its fair share of hiccups on set. One of the most dramatic stories from the set was when Eli Wallach, who played Tuco, had a near-death experience in the first scene of the film.
In the scene where Clint Eastwood shoots him down from a hanging, Eli’s hands were tied behind his back, As Eastwood fired his rifle, the shooting noise spooked the horse and it took off galloping for almost a mile. With his hands still tied behind his back, Wallach had to hold onto the horse for dear life with his knees.
The Expendables 3
The Expendables 3 almost proved to be fatal for actor Jason Statham. In the 2014 action movie, the titular crew heads to Somalia on a mission. After numerous things go wrong, the group finds themselves in an intense chase with Stonebanks’ henchmen. During a rehearsal for the getaway scene, Statham’s brakes on the truck failed to work.
The truck dove headfirst off a pier into the sea! As a former diver, Statham managed to escape out of the truck’s window! He later revealed that he began to panic after his gun holster got snagged, but thankfully he made it to safety. He continued with the filming straight after this terrifying accident.
The Twilight Zone: The Movie
In 1982, the filming for the movie adaptation of the American science fiction anthology series, The Twilight Zone was well underway. Fans highly anticipated the revival of the legendary show. The movie didn’t fail to impress with a captivating storyline and stellar cast! However, the release of the film was completely overshadowed by the tragedy that happened on set.
On the last day of filming, Vic Morrow and two child actors aged six and seven were killed immediately when a helicopter crashed into them. The heartbreaking crash led to years of civil and criminal action and the director faced prosecution. It was said that the sequence was ‘poorly planned’ and ‘barely rehearsed’ and the accident was inevitable.
Titanic
To this day, the 1997 hit movie Titanic remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The chilling story of the sinking ship remains one of the most heartbreaking tragedies, and director James Cameron conveyed the emotional impact of the disaster through the love story of Jack and Rose, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The film was predominantly filmed in a sound stage water tank, filled with 17 million gallons of water. Safe, right?
Kate Winslet’s most terrifying scene was when her dress became caught on a gate and she was pulled underwater. Speaking of the incident, she said “I had to sort of shimmy out of the coat to get free, I had no breath left. I thought I’d burst. And Jim just said, ‘OK, let’s go again.’ That was his attitude. I didn’t want to be a wimp so I didn’t complain.”
Grease
When production began on Grease in 1977, no one could have predicted it would become one of the most iconic musicals of all time. The tame film had barely any stunts, other than the drag race. An unfortunate accident while shooting the “Greased Lightning” song unexpectedly turned into something much more sinister.
As Jeff Conway was performing the catchy number, he fell off the car, injuring his back. He began taking opioids to help with the pain but ended up developing an addiction. As his substance intake started increasing, his life and health began to spiral in a downward director. Sadly, this event led him to die at the age of 60 in 2011.
Tag
Actor Jeremy Renner is no stranger to movie stunts, but in 2018, he suffered multiple injuries in the movie Tag. The action comedy followed a group of friends who have carried on a game of tag for 30 years. In one scene, Jeremy had to run up a stack of around 30 chairs to escape. Scaringly, the rigging holding the chairs in place came loose, leading Jeremy to fall down the chairs and break both of his arms!
Initially, he did not realize the extent of his injury and did another take, before going to the hospital on lunch break. After his hospital visit, he returned with casts on his arms which had to be CGI’d out in the following scenes.
The Conqueror
The 1956 movie The Conqueror, turned out to be one of the most disastrous Hollywood movie productions. However, it wasn’t a stunt that jeopardized the health and safety of the cast and crew, it was the filming location. After choosing to film in Utah and surrounding areas, the crew was put at serious risk due to The Nevada Test Site being 137 miles downwind.
The site was a prime location for testing nuclear weapons and the radiation had severe effects on the cast and crew. Of the 220 crew members, 91 developed cancer in their lifetime, while 46 died from the evil disease. The filmmakers knew about the nuclear tests, with 11 of them happening 1 year before the film shoot. Why didn’t they do anything?
Carrie
The 1976 horror movie Carrie, has been regarded as one of the greatest horror movies ever made and has significantly influenced pop culture. The film had several climatic scenes, and production had to ensure that they were all executed without any problems or accidents. However, accidents often do happen, especially on sets as terrifying as this one!
It was PJ Soles, who ended up having one of the worst injuries on set. In the end, scene her character is blasted with a fire hose. The sheer force of it made PJ turn her head after getting hit in the cheek, and the blast of the fire hose ended up going in her eardrum and broke it. She had a ruptured eardrum for months and in the film, the pain you see her in is all real.
There Will Be Blood
The 2007 American period drama film starred Daniel Day-Lewis, a highly-respected method actor, and in true character, he didn’t hold back in There Will Be Blood. When he was playing the violent and angry Daniel Plainview, the actor wanted to create the same intense atmosphere during his scenes.
While everyone remembers the famous “I drink your milkshake” line, they might not know that Daniel insisted on throwing real bowling bowls at Paul Dano. Thankfully, his co-star jumped out of the way of the bowling bowl, but it certainly added a great sense of realism to the scene. Daniel’s portrayal of Plainview was later hailed as one of his most iconic movie roles.
Now You See Me
When Isla Fisher was filming the 2013 movie, Now You See Me, she had a near-death experience. Fisher took on the role of Henley Reeves in the heist-thriller film. When she was shooting a stunt scene for her escape artist character, things got scary very quickly. As Fisher was submerged in a water tank, her handcuffs had a quick-release magnetic chain to free her in case of an accident.
However, the chain that went through her legs would not release and she became stuck. The crew mistook her panic for acting and thought she was doing a great job, only to realize soon after that she genuinely couldn’t get out.
Foxcatcher
The 2014 true crime drama Foxcatcher had an all-star cast with the likes of Steve Carrell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum. Despite Tatum being no stranger to grueling stunts on set, he was lucky that he didn’t end up with a serious injury during filming. While he sustained many injuries, the most pivotal moment came when Ruffalo lost his cool and slammed Tatum’s head into a mirror.
Tatum admitted that he went too hard on the prop and slammed his head into it multiple times. In fact, it was so hard that he went through the wall on the other side of the prop. He said of the incident “I missed the stud by about 4 inches. I was lucky. But the cut on my head was real.” Did someone say concussion risk?
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The Kill Bill movies are gruesome enough in themselves, but one unfortunate day of filming saw Uma Thurman have a terrible accident. When they were wrapping up the second movie, Tarantino wanted Uma to drive a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. But the actress had her reservations about the faulty nature of the car. After giving in and doing the stunt herself, the actress lost control of the vehicle, spun out, and crashed into a tree.
This resulted in a concussion and permanent knee damage. Tarantino went on to describe the incident as the “biggest regret” of his life. While Quentin didn’t force Uma into the car, she placed her trust in him and he believed she could complete the stunt without any problems.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
It’s common knowledge that Tom Cruise insists on doing all of his own stunts, but when he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Fallout in 2018, one stunt proved to be too much for the actor. In one scene, Cruise had to jump from one rooftop to another. While it seemed to be a simple stunt for him, it turned out to be quite the disaster.
As Cruise leaped off the first rooftop, he smacked his ankle into the side of the second building, breaking it immediately. The accident caused a nine-week delay in production, and despite doctors saying he needed nine months to recover, Cruise pushed through the pain to get the movie finished and into theaters.