Movies might be safe spaces for audiences to experience a few harm-free thrills, but making those stunning visual dynamics happen can be risky business for everyone involved. These movies in particular had some of the most horrifically fatal set accidents in Hollywood history.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Movies might be safe spaces for audiences to experience a few harm-free thrills, but
00:05making those stunning visual dynamics happen can be risky business for everyone involved.
00:10These movies in particular had some of the most horrifically fatal set accidents in Hollywood
00:14history.
00:15Before the 2000 reboot of Gone in 60 Seconds crashed its way into the box office, the first
00:20film's director, Toby Hallecky, endeavored to make his own follow-up to the 1974 original,
00:26with what would have been called Gone in 60 Seconds 2.
00:29Hallecky already had a history of on-set scares with the first film, as he suffered a nasty
00:34spinal injury while performing a big jump scene in the third act.
00:38Nevertheless, Hallecky returned to the story in 1989 and decided to ramp up the stunt surprises
00:43even further by having a tractor-trailer collide with a water tower.
00:47Unfortunately, the cable supports for the structure snapped, knocking over a telephone
00:52pole, which crushed Hallecky under its weight.
00:55John Landis' original segment in 1983's Twilight Zone the movie, titled Time Out, starred actor
01:01Vic Morrow as a bigoted man named Bill Connor, who's made to experience his own hatred through
01:06the eyes of others as he time hops through some of the 20th century's most heinous race-based
01:11conflicts.
01:12The segment was originally supposed to end with Bill rescuing two Vietnamese children
01:16from jungle warfare to redeem himself, but filming that scene took a horrific turn.
01:21Morrow carried the children, aged six and seven, across a river as a helicopter flew
01:25overhead to simulate the danger of the scene.
01:28The craft was helmed by an experienced pilot, but a mortar effect exploded too closely to
01:32the vessel after the director demanded that the pilot fly the craft lower than he'd been.
01:37The helicopter careened out of control due to the blast, and the impact cost the lives
01:41of all three actors.
01:43According to co-star Dick Peabody, Vic's last words in life while holding two children and
01:48waiting for the director to say action were,
01:50"'I've gotta be crazy to do this shot.
01:52I should have asked for a double.'"
01:54The Jessup, Georgia set of Midnight Rider became a crime scene once director Randall
01:58Miller was charged with manslaughter after one of his crew members perished in a very
02:02preventable accident.
02:03The cast and crew was sent out to a local train trestle to film a scene with William
02:08Hurt laying in a bed on the tracks, and they were told they'd have a 60-second window to
02:13escape if a train came along.
02:15Fortunately, it wasn't nearly enough time to get everyone to safety, and 27-year-old
02:19camera assistant Sarah Jones was fatally struck by the vehicle, while several others were
02:24injured.
02:25The grisly incident was captured on film by the crew's cameras, and the film's director
02:29pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter as a result of the accident.
02:33He was released early from his sentence in 2016, but is still legally forbidden to be
02:37involved in a film in any capacity involving safety responsibilities.
02:42Director Brandon Lee, son of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, was all set to step
02:46off of his father's famous coattails with a starring role in The Crow, but his life
02:50was tragically cut short during what should have been a routine stunt gone horribly wrong
02:55in March 1993.
02:56A Magnum .44 pistol used in a scene was supposed to be loaded with a single harmless blank,
03:02but had a piece of a bullet still lodged in the chamber from earlier.
03:05When it was fired off by Lee's co-star Michael Massey as planned, the bullet pierced Lee's
03:09abdominal aorta.
03:11He could not be saved despite several hours of surgical effort.
03:14The studio and filmmakers had the option to table the pick altogether, with insurance
03:18covering the production expenses.
03:20However, they decided to forge on and finish with subs coming in to round out Lee's remaining
03:25pieces so that his life's last work could be shared.
03:28The actor who pulled the trigger later said,
03:30"...I wasn't even supposed to be handling the gun until we started shooting the scene,
03:34but they changed it.
03:35I don't think you ever get over something like that."
03:38The film was eventually released to resounding praise in 1994, and, contrary to urban myth,
03:43did not include the actual footage of Lee's fatal wound.
03:47All those aerial trick maneuvers that made Top Gun such a maverick movie came at a devastating
03:51cost for one of the pilots who helped make them happen.
03:54The life of Art Scholl, an experienced airman, was lost during the production of the 1986
04:00action-adventure classic, after he lost control of his plane during an inverted flat spin
04:04and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
04:06Clearly enough, the circumstances of the accident were strikingly similar to what happened
04:11in the events of the movie itself, in which the character Goose also perished after failing
04:15to recover from a flat spin.
04:17The move was considered relatively low-risk for a pilot of his caliber, and it's impossible
04:22to know what exactly went so wrong that day, as his vessel and body were never found.
04:27And it wouldn't be the last Tom Cruise movie to cost an experienced airman his life.
04:32The Colombian production of American Made became the site of a tragedy when two pilots
04:36lost their lives in a plane crash on the set.
04:39The film, which gives cinematic life to the true story of Barry Seal, a pilot who ran
04:43covert operations in Central America for the CIA, required a lot of aerial shots and acrobatics
04:49in dangerous conditions.
04:51And in September 2015, one effort to return for more sky shots became catastrophic when
04:56the plane crashed near a small village.
04:58Local villagers reportedly discovered the wreckage shortly after witnessing the crash
05:02and found that all three pilots inside were alive, albeit burned.
05:06By the time medical assistance arrived, however, only one was alive, while the other two had
05:10passed away.
05:11The families of the deceased brought legal action against the studios, alleging that
05:15actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman demanded lavish shots during long days, which
05:21may have contributed to the cause of the plane's crash.
05:24Cruise himself had reportedly been on a helicopter flight through the same terrain just
05:28minutes before the fatal crash.