4 Actors Who Almost Died On Set (Even Tom Cruise's Among Them)
Hardly anyone would think that acting is the most dangerous profession in the world. Well...
Sometimes filming doesn't go according to plan, to the point where actors find themselves in grave danger.
Jason Statham in The Expendables 3
Jason Statham mainly starred in action films, so he knows firsthand what it's like to shoot risky scenes. It was one of these scenes that almost cost him his life.
When the actor was driving a truck, the brakes failed, so he had to jump out, and the truck rolled right into the Black Sea.
"I ended up almost dead at the bottom of the Black Sea — the brakes failed on a truck I was driving. […] I barely f****** made it to the surface. I've been scuba diving and freediving before, but this was touch and go whether I was going to make it," the actor once shared with The Mirror.
Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai
The adrenaline addiction of Tom Cruise, who always prefers to do his own stunts, is legendary. But even for him, some tricks are too dangerous – and we're not talking about Mission: Impossible.
On the set of The Last Samurai, the creators used mechanical horses for the battle scene.
And when the heroes of Cruise and Hiroyuki Sanada crossed swords, the horses were supposed to stop, but they turned out to be faulty and crashed into each other.
It happened just inches from Cruise's neck, but luckily Sanada's fighting reflexes prevented the tragedy.
Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings
In the universe of The Lord of the Rings, there could be one less Númenórean. Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn, did all his own stunts, and being a bold and reckless man, insisted on using real knives and swords whenever possible.
As the result, the actors mixed up the props, and a real sword was thrown at Viggo, who managed to block it. This incident was included in the final cut of the movie.
Isla Fisher in Now You See Me
The moment when Isla Fisher's character, Henley, tries to free herself from her shackles in a large water tank wasn't a part of acting.
The actress actually started to drown because of the tangled chains.
The people around her couldn't understand that she was really drowning, since according to the plot she also had to behave like a drowning person. Fortunately, she was able to get out with the help of extras.