The truth behind these movie scenes will mess with your mind. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at some of the most famous movie scenes that suffered some type of tragedy during production.
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00:00You can't get away!
00:06I'm right behind ya!
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at some of the most famous movie scenes that suffered some type of tragedy during production.
00:15It smelled like slow death in there. Malaria. Nightmares.
00:24Parasailing Behind the Boat, Triple X
00:26I wish I had a video camera!
00:28What you talking about?
00:30This is gonna be one hell of a trip.
00:32In the climactic sequence of this action flick, Xander Cage parasails behind a boat in Prague.
00:36Realizing that the string is about to hit a bridge, Cage lets go and zip-lines down to the boat, barely missing the bridge himself.
00:42It's a fantastic stunt, and it looks brilliant on film. Unfortunately, it cost stuntman Harry O'Connor his life.
00:47While filming the second take, O'Connor slammed into a pallaky bridge, breaking his neck and tragically passing away.
00:53Out of respect for his work, director Rob Cohen dedicated the final product to his memory.
00:58It shows you the lengths to which we'll go to bring this kind of intense experience to the viewer.
01:05The wide shot of Cage disappearing behind the bridge is the real shot of O'Connor, though there's conflicting information on whether it's from the first or second take.
01:12This film is dedicated to his memory. I miss him. He was a friend.
01:18The Skeleton Pool, Poltergeist
01:20You son of a bitch! You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn't you?
01:24Another climactic sequence, another bit of horrifying movie trivia. Diane Freeling slips into her swimming pool, and she's met by a number of skeletons that appear out of the water.
01:32Well, you can probably see where this is going.
01:34You only moved the headstones!
01:37Yeah, those are real. Makeup artist Craig Reardon reportedly purchased a number of surgical skeletons and made them up to appear more ghoulish.
01:44Actress JoBeth Williams had no idea that the skeletons were real, assuming quite understandably that they were props made by the special effects team.
01:51And at least one apparent reason for using real human bodies instead of making their own? You probably know the answer to that, too. It was cheaper.
01:58Those feelings are bad. They hurt.
02:02Falling into the Canal, Summertime
02:04I am now going to take a picture. Okie dokie.
02:09One of David Lean's more grounded films, Summertime tells of a budding relationship in Venice between Secretary Jane Hudson and antiques dealer Renato DeRosi.
02:17Catherine Hepburn plays Jane and received her sixth Oscar nomination for the performance.
02:21You know, all my life I've stayed at parties too long because I didn't know when to go. Now with you, I've grown up, I think I do know when to.
02:31She also received a permanent eye infection. In one scene, Jane is filming DeRosi's shop when she ends up in the canal.
02:37Despite having doubts about the safety of the water, Hepburn performed the fall herself after much prodding from Lean.
02:42You should have seen me in the Olympics!
02:45Shortly after executing the stunt, she began experiencing pain in her eyes and was diagnosed with pink eye.
02:49It was an uncommon form of the ailment and became a chronic issue that stayed with Hepburn.
02:57Man Overboard, Das Boot
03:05A very popular German war film, Das Boot follows submarine U-96 and its experiences during the Battle of the Atlantic.
03:12In one terrifying sequence, U-96 gets caught in a nasty storm and Pilgrim gets swept away by the water.
03:17According to movie lore, actor Jan Freder was actually swept off the prop boat.
03:21A co-star seeing the accident apparently yelled Man Overboard.
03:25Pilgrim!
03:29Freder was injured in the fall, with some sources claiming that he suffered a concussion and others that he broke ribs.
03:34As the movie was filmed chronologically, Pilgrim was reportedly rewritten in order to accommodate Fedder, who spent much of his time recovering in bed.
03:41Three rib fractures, one flat wound.
03:49Pretty much the whole movie, The Conqueror.
04:01This is one of the most legendary films in movie history for more reasons than one.
04:04First, it's terrible and problematic. Second, it was one giant health and safety disaster.
04:08Any time you see them in the desert, they're filming downwind from a nuclear test site.
04:12And when production moved back to Hollywood, Howard Hughes had tons of radioactive dirt shipped to the studio in order to keep continuity.
04:18About 40% of the crew eventually developed cancer, which many have attributed to the hazardous filming site.
04:24You have suffered much.
04:28But you will spare me further suffering.
04:30If it is in my power.
04:31However, these numbers also match the rates found in the general population, and tobacco use was extremely heavy at the time,
04:37leading some to question if the nuclear fallout was the true cause.
04:40Well, it certainly couldn't have helped.
04:50Attacked by real birds. The birds.
04:58Alfred Hitchcock had a murky relationship with actors, once even claiming that they should be treated like cattle.
05:03And few got it worse than Tippi Hedren.
05:05Hitchcock was reportedly obsessed with Hedren and often acted in a problematic manner towards her.
05:09I see. Good luck, Miss Daniels.
05:12Thank you.
05:14This extended to her physical safety, which he threatened during the climactic sequence of The Birds.
05:18To film the attack in the attic, Hitchcock had live birds thrown at Hedren.
05:22Live birds that were physically attached to her at a point to prevent them from flying away.
05:26Eventually, one of the birds scratched Hedren's face, and a doctor ordered that filming be stopped.
05:30Nice innocent little day.
05:32Oh, yes.
05:36The Horsehead. The Godfather.
05:38My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
05:41What was that?
05:42It's one of the most famous scenes in cinema.
05:44Jack Waltz wakes up and finds blood in his bed.
05:47Peeling away the blankets, he finds more and more blood until finally coming to the source,
05:50the decapitated head of his prized horse, courtesy of Vito Corleone.
05:53Francis Ford Coppola is known for his extreme style of directing,
05:56not to mention his penchant for showing real animal violence on screen.
06:00There you are, $600,000 on four hooks.
06:03I'll bet Russian John never paid that kind of dough for a single horse.
06:06Turns out this was a real horse head, which was acquired from a company that manufactured dog food.
06:10The studio asked Coppola to use a prop head.
06:13However, he didn't like the way it looked, so he acquired a real one.
06:15They put it in the bed, added a little prop blood, and made movie history.
06:19That's a true story.
06:21The Long Takes. The Shining.
06:23Yeah, this whole place is such an enormous maze.
06:25I feel like I'll have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs every time I come in.
06:28This classic film contains a number of complicated long shots,
06:31like the one where Wendy backs up the stairs
06:33and when she and Jack walk through the hotel with Stuart Ullman.
06:36The former scene is particularly infamous,
06:38with the Guinness Book of World Records claiming it was shot 127 times.
06:41According to Lee Unkrich, who wrote a massive book on The Shining, this is not true.
06:45However, the dolly shot of Wendy and Jack walking through the hotel
06:48apparently took 66 takes to complete, the most in the film, per Unkrich.
06:52My God, this place is fantastic, isn't it, hon?
06:56Sure is.
06:57Regardless, Kubrick's methodical style slowly eroded at Shelley Duvall,
07:01who reportedly started losing her hair from the constant stress.
07:04She later told Roger Ebert that making the movie was almost unbearable.
07:07If it hadn't been for that, you know, volley of ideas,
07:14and sometimes butting of heads together,
07:17it wouldn't have come out as good as it did.
07:19Willard's Breakdown. Apocalypse Now.
07:21Coppola dragged a performance out of you in Apocalypse Now,
07:25or at least urged it out of you as Captain Willard,
07:28that a lot of people who observed it, this is what I've read, found almost frightening.
07:33We return to Francis Ford Coppola for Apocalypse Now,
07:36which might as well describe the making of the film.
07:38Its production is as famous and notorious as the movie itself,
07:41and that includes the near-death and mental health struggles of star Martin Sheen.
07:44Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle.
07:48By the late 1970s, Sheen was dealing with alcohol use disorder and was in poor health,
07:52even suffering a heart attack on the set of the film, despite being just 36.
07:56The scene depicting Willard's Breakdown was real,
07:58with Sheen claiming that he was wrestling with some demons.
08:00He said he couldn't do it, and they had a nurse standing by,
08:03and I said, please, I must do this for myself.
08:05Coppola tried stopping him, but he was adamant that they continue filming.
08:08So Coppola kept the cameras rolling, capturing an actor at a difficult point in his life.
08:12And today I don't recognize that man as a pretty sad guy.
08:15Pretty sad man.
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08:33The Murder Flashback, The Crow
08:35The devil stood and felt how awful goodness is.
08:39One of the most notorious movie accidents occurred on March 31, 1993.
08:43Brandon Lee was filming the scene where Eric is shot and thrown from his apartment window.
08:48Unfortunately, this moment, and the entire film for that matter,
08:51have forever been tarnished by Lee's tragic death.
08:53I love you.
08:55Say that again.
08:56I love you.
08:57The scene required him to be shot at with blank rounds,
09:00but thanks to some grossly negligent actions by the production,
09:03Lee was accidentally killed when the firing of said blank propelled a lodged dummy bullet out of the barrel.
09:08The remaining scenes were reworked to accommodate Lee's death,
09:11and his face was notably superimposed onto the body of his stunt double.
09:14Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever.
09:19Can you think of any more scenes with disturbing backstories?
09:22Let us know in the comments below.
09:23This actually smells like real blood.
09:26Did you enjoy this video?
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