Movies That Absolutely Kicked Actors Asses
Film sets are surprisingly dangerous places. Between stunt work, the elements and the ever-present threat of a kiss from Francis Ford Coppola, on-set injuries have ranged from minor scrapes to serious tragedy. Some movies, though, can’t help but relentlessly punish the people bringing them to life.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ Broke Viggo Mortensen’s Toes and Teeth
We’ve all heard the story about Mortensen breaking his toes when he grief-kicked a helmet in The Two Towers, but that’s not all he broke. While shooting the Battle of Helm’s Deep, “his front tooth snapped off at the root,” according to director Peter Jackson, broken by an Orc’s sword. He also nearly drowned floating down the Anduin after a current pulled him under and narrowly missed getting stabbed in the face twice due to prop malfunction in the first movie. It’s a wonder the king returned at all.
James Bond Definitely Tried to Kill Daniel Craig
Some sort of malevolent entity is apparently more of a Pierce Brosnan guy, because Craig has gotten seriously injured just about every time he’s played James Bond. He knocked out his two front teeth during a fight scene in Casino Royale, lost the tip of his finger and injured his shoulder to the point of needing surgery while filming Quantum of Solace, sprained his knee during Spectre and injured his ankle during No Time to Die. Here’s hoping they carefully scrutinize whoever ends up playing Bond next. This reeks of sabotage.
Not One But Two Cars Betrayed Dylan O’Brien on ‘Maze Runner: Death Cure’
While filming a stunt on top of a moving vehicle for Maze Runner: The Death Cure, O’Brien was unexpectedly pulled to the ground. As if that weren’t bad enough, he was then hit by another car. It took him six months, but he miraculously recovered from the resulting broken bones, concussion and brain trauma. Apparently, he really did have the death cure.
‘Titanic’ Gave Kate Winslet Hypothermia and Almost Drowned Her
There were really only two ways to get hurt on the set of Titanic: hypothermia and drowning. (Maybe bludgeoned by an ostentatious necklace, too, but all you had to do was not piss off the old lady.) Winslet was unlucky enough to run into both, getting stuck underwater in a room that really was filling up as the ship pretend-sank and nearly freezing to death on that stupid door. At least she was off set the day of the PCP clam chowder incident.
‘The Passion of the Christ’ Nearly Killed Jim Caviezel So Many Times
The Bible doesn’t seem like a very dangerous story to tell once you’ve made it past all the plagues and whatnot, but while filming The Passion of the Christ, Caviezel went extreme method against his will when it came to living out the sufferings of Jesus. He got hypothermia and pneumonia, dislocated his shoulder when the cross fell on him, and got struck by lightning. Yeah, during the Sermon on the Mount. At that point, it really does seem like they should have just packed it in. God did not want this movie made.
