Dark Side of Movie Making: 50 Disturbing Set Mishaps

Jackie Chan is almost deaf in his right ear because of the injury he suffered while filming "Armour of God."

27. While filming a fight scene for "Sherlock Holmes," Robert Maillet (Dredger) accidentally knocked out Robert Downey Jr.

28. Dick Jones nearly drowned while reading his "underwater" lines in the film "Pinocchio," as he was "lying on his back while a director poured water into his mouth."

29. While filming 'Seven,' Brad Pitt slipped and drove his arm through a windshield. The resulting injury was so bad that he had to wear a cast, which was written into the script. For scenes that took place before the chase, he had to conceal his arm.

30. On the set of "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter," the stunt double for Milla Jovovich was so badly injured that her arm was amputated. Olivia Jackson had performed stunts in several hit films, including Star Wars, Mad Max, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

During the filming of "The Exorcist," many actors were injured, the set burned down, a priest was brought in many times to bless the set, and the actor who played Burke, Jack MacGowran, died from influenza.

32. A remote-control lawnmower went haywire and seriously injured someone on the set during the filming of "Maximum Overdrive," a movie about machines coming to life and killing people.

33. During the filming of "Lethal Weapon" in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," Kaitlin Olson injured herself on set and was brought to the ER. Rob McElhenney went with her while he was still in blackface.

34. There is a 1981 film called "Roar," starring Tippi Hedren, Noel Marshall, Hedren's real-life daughter Melanie Griffith, and Marshall's real-life sons. Many cast and crew members were severely injured during filming by the wild animals on set, including the cinematographer, who was scalped by a lion.

35. When filming the 40-minute chase sequence for the 1974 film "Gone in 60 Seconds," H.B. Halicky was seriously injured after a 100-mph crash. After recovery, he returned to the set and jumped a 1973 Mustang 30-foot high for one of the final scenes. The rough landing cost him 10 compacted vertebrae.

On August 21st, 1989, film producer H.B. Halicki was killed in an accident on the set of "Gone in 60 Seconds 2" in Buffalo, N.Y. He died when a cable that was attached to a water tower snapped and severed a telephone pole, which fell on him.

37. Blanks can injure or kill a person if used at close range. A known case is actor Jon Erik-Hexum, who was on the set of CBS's "Cover-Up." Bored by delays while filming, he pointed a gun loaded with blanks to his head and reportedly said, "Can you believe this crap?" before pulling the trigger. He died as a result of his injuries.

38. When a flying motorbike struck stuntman Mark Joseph Connolly in 1999 while he was filming "Mission Impossible II," he sustained permanent injuries. In 2007, he died at the age of 45 from unrelated pancreatic cancer, a few hours after learning he had won about a $1 million settlement.

39. In 2014, actor William Hurt and a film crew shot a scene on a railroad trestle. The production team lied about getting permission to film on the tracks, and a train came mid-scene, giving the cast and crew less than a minute to evacuate. One crew member (assistant camerawoman Sarah Jones) died, and many were injured.

40. During the filming of the climactic flood scene in "Noah's Ark" (1928), the great volume of water used was so overwhelming (600,000 gallons) that three extras drowned, one was so badly injured that his leg needed to be amputated, and a few more people suffered broken limbs and other serious injuries.

While filming "The Dukes of Hazzard," one person died, and eight others were injured while rehearsing a chase scene when their camera truck flipped.

42. While filming "Ip Man 3," crew members were concerned that Mike Tyson, who was a former professional boxer, might forget the choreography and throw real punches to injure Donnie Yen. However, it was ultimately Yen who fractured Tyson's finger while using his elbow to block Tyson's punches.

43. Harmony Korine, the director of "Spring Breakers" and "Gummo," attempted to make a movie called "Fight Harm," in which he provoked strangers into fighting him. His only rules were that the person had to be bigger than him and he couldn't throw the first punch. He was too badly injured to finish the film.

44. Jennifer Jason Leigh's father, Vic Morrow, was killed, along with two child actors, in a horrific helicopter accident while filming a "Twilight Zone" episode.

45. During the filming of the Super Mario Bros. movie in 1992, Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo were so frustrated with the film's lack of direction that they drank scotch in between takes, leading to an on-set accident in which Leguizamo drunkenly crashed a truck and Hoskins broke his hand.

The earliest recorded film accident occurred in 1914, during the filming of "Across the Border." The lead actress, Grace McHugh, fell into a river while filming. The lead cinematographer, Owen Carter, went after her and helped her onto a nearby sandbar, which turned out to be quicksand. Sadly, they drowned in it.

47. Channing Tatum suffered severe burns on his penis while filming a scene in "The Eagle of the Ninth" when a crew member accidentally spilled a pot of boiling water on his crotch.

48. Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot while filming. The crew was supposed to use dummy cartridges, but a real bullet was found to have been used.

49. The lost 1920 film "The Skywayman" included the gruesome accidental deaths of two pilots caused by the ground crew not shutting off the floodlights and accidentally blinding the two men. This incident made it a very popular film, although no copies exist today.

50. In "Wayne's World," Mike Myers and Dana Carvey injured their necks while "head-banging" to "Bohemian Rhapsody."