Movies are the world where we see an imaginary story. The film crew tries their best to deliver the scene so that it appears realistic and that practices have sometimes led them to some big mishappenings on the sets of the movies, which can never be left behind. Although not intentionally, some real losses have been caused by crew members’ negligence, and it cost the lives of a few actors. However, many actors survive the ordeal.
Here’s a list of accidents that happened on movie sets:
Rust
Rust is an American movie directed and written by Joel Souza, starring Travis Fimmel, Alec Baldwin, Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles, and Brady Noon. The film was made into the talks when the lead actor and the Golden Globe winner Alec Baldwin fired a gun which was supposed to be used as a prop for the shooting of the movie and killed Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer. It also seriously injured Joel Souza.
Alec Baldwin is also the producer of Rust and was questioned by the police. The location where this accident took place was New Mexico.
Twilight Zone: The Movie
“Twilight Zone: The Movie” was released in the year 1983. It is an American science fiction horror movie starring Albert Brooks, Dan Aykroyd, John Lithgow, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Quinlan, and Vic Morrow. Twilight Zone: The Movie, was produced by John Landis and Steven Spielberg. The movie was based on the television series by Rod Serling of the same name in the year 1959 to 1964. The film was a hit and grossed $45 million with a movie budget of $10 million.
One of the lead actors, Vic Morrow, died along with two child artists during the shoot. They were shooting at Indian Dunes in California where the scene included a low flying helicopter chasing Vic Morrow and the two child actors but all of a sudden the pilot lost control over the helicopter, and the vehicle landed on the three actors, and three of them died on spot due to serious injuries. After the accident, the filmmakers had to face litigation for a decade, and new safety guidelines were introduced for the sets and shooting locations.
Rocky IV
The American movie Rocky IV was released in 1985 starring Sylvester Stallone along with Carl Weathers, Dolph Lundgren, Talia Shire, Tony Burton, Michael Pataki, Burt Young, and Brigitte Nielsen. Rocky IV was a sports drama directed and written by Sylvester Stallone. For the next 24 years, the movie remained the highest-grossing sports movie of all time and it was a sequel of the movie Rocky III from the year 1982.
During the shoot of a fighting scene between Rocky Balboa, which was played by Sylvester Stallone, and Ivan Drago, which was played by Dolph Lundgren, Dolph punched Sylvester so hard that he ended up being in the ICU for straight nine days. Sylvester himself asked Dolph to connect the scene properly and asked him to go out and try to clock him in an attempt to make it real. Dolph used an uppercut punch that targeted Sylvester’s heart and his ribcage, but he was fortunate enough to survive through this.
Top Gun
Top Gun is an American action drama movie released in 1986 starring Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, and Anthony Edwards. The movie was directed by Tony Scott and was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. It was inspired by one of the articles published in a magazine in California named “Top Guns”.
During the shooting of the movie, one of the known and ace stunt pilots, Art Scholl, died. The accident happened when he was flying a Pitts S-2 camera for a scene and he failed to control and maintain the altitude and ended up crashing into the Pacific Ocean. The aircraft has not been recovered yet from the ocean.
Art Scholl was one of the best stunt pilots and some of his works can be seen in the Iron Eagle, The Right Stuff, and The Great Waldo. Top Gun ended with the line, “The film is dedicated to the memory of Art Scholl”.
The Dark Knight
The movie “Dark Knight” is a superhero film released in the year 2008 starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Aron Eckhart, and Maggie Gyllenhaal in supporting roles.
During the shooting of a scene in the movie, one of the stunt men, Conway Wickliffe, died. He was also previously seen in movies like “Casino Royale, “Batman Begins”, and “Die Another Day”. In the scene, Conway Wickliffe was leaning out of the car, holding a camera for an action sequence rehearsal, where the Joker was supposed to blast the Batmobile with the help of a rocket launcher; the car Wickliffe was in crashed into a tree, and the driver managed to survive but Wickliffe could not. Later, the movie was dedicated to him.
Coolie
Coolie is a Hindi action comedy movie released in the year 1983 starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, Kader Khan, Shoma Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Suresh Oberoi, Puneet Issar, and Rati Agnihotri.
During the shooting of the movie, the lead actor Amitabh Bachchan was involved in an accident where he seriously injured while giving a shot of a fighting sequence with Puneet Issar. The actor injured his abdomen as he jumped at the wrong time. The movie resulted in a blockbuster film.
The Crow
The Crow is an American superhero movie released in the year 1994 starring Brandon Lee. David J. Schow and John Shirley wrote the script for the film and was directed by Alex Proyas. This movie is the last movie of the actor Brandon Lee. Brandon Lee was the son of Bruce Lee.
Brandon died during the shooting of the movie, due to the negligence of the film crew. There was a scene in which Brandon was supposed to enter a room and there he was supposed to be shot with dummy rounds, but due to negligence, the dummy rounds were not prepared adequately. Brandon Lee was hit by a caliber 44 in his abdomen, and that lodged in his spine. After a six-hour-long surgery, he died in the hospital.
Edited by Anupama Roy
