Movie magic is, well, magic . It can transform a totally safe, controlled environment into one full of danger and high stakes. You can always rest easy knowing that injuries are simulated.
…Except for when they aren’t. Even with safety precautions, accidents happen . Stunts go wrong. And in some cases, like the ones in this list, the camera keeps rolling, and the footage ends up in the final cut .
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Sean Bean has a scar on his face – thanks to Harrison Ford.
No, the two actors didn’t end up in a brawl or anything. While filming a (totally fake) fight scene for Patriot Games , Ford accidentally clipped Bean with a boat hook.
Somehow, Bean isn’t really that mad over it.
In fact, the scar was actually useful for later roles. It ended up helping to give him a rough, rugged look f or the TV series, Sharpe , of which he was the star.
Leonardo DiCaprio actually injured himself during ‘Django Unchained.’
In probably one of the most famous instances of an accident on set making the final cut, Leonardo DiCaprio actually cut himself when slamming his hand on a table during a scene in Django Unchained .
Not long after he slams his hand down, DiCaprio holds it up, showing the visible blood.
Since he stayed in character throughout the entire take, it ended up being the one that made it into the final version of the film . And yes, DiCaprio got medical attention after filming.
Margaret Hamilton suffered first and second degree burns during ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
The Wizard of Oz is pretty infamous for its less-than-ideal working conditions (especially surrounding the film’s lead, Judy Garland). But Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, was also dealt a bad hand.
During the scene where the Wicked Witch leaves in a blaze of fire, she actually gets burned.
She ended up with first degree burns on her face , as well as second degree burns on her hand, and had to stop filming for several weeks.
Daryl Hannah seriously injured her elbow in ‘Blade Runner.’
In one scene, when her character runs past a man and into a truck window, you can hear the sound of glass shattering when her elbow makes contact.
The actress actually hit the window in that take.
What’s more, despite chipping her elbow in eight places , Hannah didn’t want to let on that she was injured until after the take was filmed. It ended up being in the final cut.
Jackie Chan filmed ‘Rumble in the Bronx’ with a cast on his ankle.
During one of the scenes for the film, Chan broke his ankle after jumping from one platform to another. But as an actor who does his own stunts, he wanted to keep going.
So he got his ankle checked out and continued filming with a cast.
In a hilarious interview with Conan O’Brien , Jackie Chan describes how he managed to continue filming scenes despite the fact that his ankle was in a cast.
Despite cutting his hand during ‘Apocalypse Now,’ Martin Sheen wanted to keep filming.
During a scene where Sheen’s character is slowly breaking down as a result of the horrors he’s seen, Sheen punches a mirror, smashing it and cutting his hand.
Director Francis Ford Coppola wanted to stop filming.
Coppola wanted Sheen to seek attention from the on-set nurse, but Sheen disagreed: “And I said, ‘ Please. I must do this for myself. ‘ And he did. And he allowed me, in a sense, to wrestle with some demons that I had been wrestling with for quite a while.”
Ellen Burstyn was permanently injured after filming ‘The Exorcist.’
For Burstyn, Chris McNeil is one of the most challenging roles she’s ever had to play. Much of this had to do with the fact that takes were physically demanding, and included the actress being repeatedly thrown to the floor .
The force at which she was thrown down affected her back.
In an interview, Burstyn said, “[William Friedkin’s] a brilliant director and I don’t want to knock him, however, I did injure my lower back and had to work with it ever since. But it’s okay.”
Jim Caviezel endured a lot of injuries while filming ‘The Passion of the Christ.’
In the biblical epic, Caviezel portrays Jesus during his final moments. While filming, he had to endure multiple hardships, like dislocating his shoulder while carrying the cross.
He was even struck by lightning during a take.
He also suffered several cuts and scrapes, including one inflicted by another actor by accident . He also came down with pneumonia while on set. In fact, the entire filming experience sounds brutal.
In ‘Mission Impossible: Fallout,’ one stunt went very wrong for Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise, who very adamantly does his own stunts, had a pretty bad mishap during one of the scenes of the film. As he’s jumping from one rooftop to the next, he breaks his ankle.
But he kept filming, and that take made the final cut.
He said in an interview, ” I knew instantly my ankle was broken and I really didn’t want to do it again so just got up and carried on with the take. I said, ‘It’s broken. That’s a wrap. Take me to hospital’ and then everyone got on the phone and made their vacation arrangement.”
While filming ‘Syriana,’ George Clooney suffered a pretty serious injury.
In one scene, while taped to a chair, Clooney fell and split his skull. No one knew what was wrong with him, and he continued filming despite the fact that he was injured.
He even had spinal fluid leaking from his nose.
He’d actually suffered from multiple tears to his spinal cord , and after weeks of procedures and surgery, he was able to recover. Though, for Clooney, the entire ordeal was incredibly painful.
