Lights, Camera, Mayhem: 25 Crazy Stories from Movie Sets

While filming Pirates of the Caribbean in London, Johnny Depp received a letter from a local 9-year-old girl, who asked for help with "mutiny" against her teachers. Depp turned up with no warning at the school in full Jack Sparrow outfit but advised against mutiny.

2. While filming “X-Men: Origins Wolverine,” Hugh Jackman had to run down a hallway naked with prop claws attached to his fists. As he turned the corner he faced every woman on the production staff waving dollar bills. He instinctively shielded his groin and cut himself with Wolverine’s claws.

3. While filming 'Batman Begins' a drunk driver crashed into the Batmobile because he thought it was an alien spacecraft. "This poor drunken guy who didn’t have a license. [He] said he got so panicked when he saw the car that he thought aliens were landing," explained Christian Bale.

4. When Sean Connery was filming a love scene for the movie Another Time, Another Place, his co-star's gangster boyfriend got jealous and pulled a gun on him. Connery grabbed the gun from his hand and twisted the guy's wrist until he ran off the set.

5. Whilst filming the movie Entebbe, about a plane being hijacked, a plane was hijacked and landed at the airport on the day of the filming. They then filmed the real hostages being released and edited it into the movie. The producer called it a "blessing from the sky on a day of bad acting."

While filming The Hateful Eight, Kurt Russel mistakenly smashed a priceless 1870s Martin Guitar on loan from the museum when the prop department forgot he was holding the original. The Martin Museum says "the company will no longer loan guitars to movies under any circumstances."

7. Heather Donahue brought a knife with her when filming the "Blair Witch Project" because she was afraid it was a snuff film. All of her friends and family urged her not to work on it.

8. During the filming of Poltergeist (1982), the clown doll nearly really killed Robbie Freeling due to an animatronic error when the clown's arm constricted too tightly around his neck. When the actor started protesting he couldn't breathe, Spielberg thought he was improv acting.

9. While filming the 2000 hit movie Castaway, Tom Hanks received a cut and got a staph infection that nearly killed the Academy Award-winning actor. The cut gave him blood poisoning. Hanks was in the hospital for 3 days and the production of the movie was shut down for 3 weeks.

10. Porgs were included in Star Wars because they had no way of getting rid of all the puffins when they were filming in Ireland.

During the filming of 'The Longest Day' a tank from the actual invasion of Normandy was found buried in the sand since D-Day. The tank was cleaned up and used in the film.

12. Daniel Radcliffe broke over 60 wands and went through over 160 pairs of glasses during the filming of Harry Potter.

13. During the filming of Quigley, actor Gary Busey demanded that Heaven be changed to reflect what he saw when he was there during his near-death experience. He then came to blows with another actor who had also had a near-death experience, over what Heaven actually looks like.

14. Actor Justin Long was drugged with PCP-laced weed and kidnapped while filming Youth In Revolt. His kidnappers threatened to film him and release it to TMZ. To escape, Justin Long jumped from a moving vehicle, suffering nerve damage to his leg.

15. The filming of Hardcore Henry was so intense that it caused severe neck pain, and tooth loss for 2 actors who played the protagonist. It is also the first full POV action movie as 96 minutes of Hardcore Henry are all in the first person.

Stuntman Mark Joseph Connolly sued for damages when he was permanently injured being hit by a flying motorbike while filming Mission Impossible II in 1999. In 2007, he died at age 45 of unrelated pancreatic cancer a few hours after learning he had won about a $1 million settlement.

17. While filming Live and Let Die in New York, the producers of James Bond were reportedly required to pay protection money to a local Harlem gang to ensure the crew's safety. When the money ran out, they were forced to leave.

18. When they were filming the 1967 Dr. Dolittle, production was delayed after a giraffe stepped on its own penis.

19. While filming "Barry Lyndon" in Ireland, Director Stanley Kubrick received word that his name was on an I.R.A. hit list for directing a movie featuring English soldiers. Star Ryan O Neil said “He was given 24 hours. He was gone in 12.”

20. During the filming of the title song of “Singin' in the Rain”, where Gene Kelly dances and sings the title song while spinning an umbrella, splashing through puddles and getting soaked with rain, he was actually sick with a 103 °F (39 °C) fever. The water used in the scene caused Kelly's wool suit to shrink during filming.

Jeremy Renner broke both his arms during the filming of the movie "Tag". CGI was used to replace Renner's arm casts in the final film.

22. Christopher Plummer hated The Sound of Music. He called it The Sound of Mucus or S&M. During the filming, he would get drunk in taverns and ate so much schnapps and pastries, that he got very fat. His costumes had to be let out. He was also “dead drunk” during the music festival scene.

23. While waiting for filming to resume on Cover Up (1985), actor Jon-Erik Hexum played Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum revolver loaded with a blank. The blast fractured his skull and caused massive cerebral hemorrhaging when bone fragments were forced through his brain.

24. During the filming of Escape to Victory (1981), Sylvester Stallone broke a finger trying to save a penalty kick from Pelé.

25. During the filming of the "The Lord of the Rings" movies, a total of 1828 km of the film (six million feet) were produced.