Tragedy on Hollywood Sets

Movies are all about illusions. We believe that the actors on screen are never in any real danger, and that the narrative danger is crafted with trick photography and carefully regulated stunts. Unfortunately, while film producers, directors, and stunt coordinators do their best to keep everyone on set safe, accidents do happen. The recent conviction of "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed shows just how wrong a film shoot can go and how real the danger can be. Here are four of the worst movie accidents in history.

'The Conqueror' (1956)

The accident in this film involved the shooting location. For scenes set in the Gobi desert, the film used locations in Utah downwind of the Nevada Test Site, a location of nuclear weapon experimentation.

Despite assurances of safety by the U.S. government, 91 of the 220-member film crew eventually received cancer diagnoses, likely due to radiation exposure in that location. Of those diagnoses, 46 died from their cancers, including John Wayne, the leading actor portraying Genghis Khan. While it can't be proven that the filming location caused the cancers, there was enough evidence to send "The Conqueror" producer Howard Hughes into a self-destructive reclusion.

'The Crow' (1994)

The "Rust" mishap was not the first shooting death on a film set. On March 30, 1993, Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee, was filming an early scene in which his character is shot. No one checked the barrel of the prop gun used for the scene prior to filming; it had been incorrectly cleaned and thus a real bullet tip had been left behind.

When a gunpowder-loaded blank was added to the gun for the shooting scene, it ignited the piece of the live round, which struck Lee in the abdomen. He died in the hospital hours later.

The footage of the actual shooting was destroyed, and doubles and CGI were used to complete the film. Lee's mother sued the filmmakers and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

'The Twilight Zone: The Movie' (1982)

Adapting the classic sci-fi TV series, this film suffered one of the worst tragedies of any in movie history. Actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi were in a helicopter for a scene when a pyrotechnics miscalculation caused the pilot to become disoriented and lose control. The low-flying aircraft crashed, crushing one of the actors, decapitating two, and injuring six others.

The parents of the child actors were on set at the time.

In the aftermath, the families of the killed actors sued the producer, the studio, and director John Landis for damages, testifying they were not informed of the helicopter or the pyrotechnics before the shoot. They settled out of court. Landis and four others were charged with involuntary manslaughter but were later acquitted. The disaster changed safety standards on film sets involving aircraft and explosions.

'Resident Evil: The Final Chapter' (2016)

This film set was mired in accidents. Stuntwoman Olivia Jackson nearly died when a motorcycle stunt went wrong and resulted in permanent nerve pain and the loss of one of her arms. Two months later, one of the crew members, Ricardo Cornelius, was crushed when an unsecured car slid off a rotating platform and pinned him to a wall; he died of his injuries. A third crew member was hit by a plastic boulder and was unable to return to work.

Jackson sued the film's director, producer, and studio for failure to adhere to basic safety standards; they hadn't even provided her with a helmet. Even with a minor victory in court, she struggled due to jurisdictional issues between South Africa and the United States and could no longer perform stunt work.

Making movies can become a truly life-threatening occupation if safety standards are not followed and regularly enforced. Despite audience perception, the various dangers seen in film really can be more than just an illusion.

References: The John Wayne Movie That Likely Killed Dozens of People | The Failed Blockbuster That Killed Old Hollywood | The Conqueror: Trivia | Major accidents on movie and television sets | 10 Worst Disasters To Happen On Major Movie Sets | 10 Terrifying Accidents On Film Sets | Actor Brandon Lee was killed by a prop gun, years before the 'Rust' shooting death | Brandon Lee's death from a gunshot on the set of 'The Crow' | Actor and two children killed on "Twilight Zone" set | Twilight Zone movie accident which killed two child actors remains one of the worst tragedies in film | Death, Injuries and an Amputation: Is 'Resident Evil' Hollywood's Most Dangerous Franchise? | This stuntwoman lost her arm on a 'Resident Evil' movie. Then her ordeal began | Maximum Sentence for Rust Armorer Should Be a 'Wake-Up Call' for Alec Baldwin Ahead of Trial: Expert (Exclusive)