Helena Bonham Carter Ended Up In The Hospital After Filming This Iconic Movie
Surprisingly enough, no fighting was involved.
Most of the stories you hear about actors who end up in the hospital after filming are somehow related to the stunts they're asked to do.
There are many extremely talented doubles who can handle all the hazards of the job, but not everyone is willing to accept their help.
Whether it is out of curiosity or determination to give the best performance possible and push themselves forward, many actors find themselves in need of medical help after something goes wrong on set.
Helena Bonham Carter, however, was never against the idea of working with a stunt double for those scenes that required special training.
For example, she was perfectly happy for Lucy Allen, who was cast as her stand-in for the role of Bellatrix Lestrange in the Harry Potter films, to take over some tricky scenes.
But even that could not save the actress from a health scare after filming.
The actress was cast in Fight Club by David Fincher himself, much to the surprise of the book's author, Chuck Palahniuk.
At the time of filming, Edward Norton, who plays The Narrator in the movie, was romantically involved with Courtney Love, and it was almost a given that Marla Singer would be played by her.
However, Fincher was determined to cast against type, and that is how Bonham Carter came into the picture.
As much as Fincher lobbied for the actress to take the part, he wasn't all that kind on set, obsessing over cigarette smoke and making the actress do a crazy amount of takes to get it right.
She didn't object at the time, trusting the director's creative vision, but was unpleasantly surprised when she went to the hospital afterwards.
"I had to have an x-ray because I got bronchitis – surprise, surprise – during the six months of filming. And Fincher does so many takes and lots of smoke shots. He got obsessed with the smoke. It had to float in a particular way. So I was just always sitting there in a cemetery of cigarette butts," the actress shared with Total Film.
Even though it was a serious health scare for the actress, you can't deny that David Fincher's particularity allowed him to get some beautiful shots that were perfect for the final cut.
If you want to re-watch Fight Club and enjoy it one more time, you can stream the movie on Hulu Plus, fuboTV, and Paramount Plus.
Source: Total Film