#1
You are NOT okay after that, if it was effective enough to save your life.
There's a reason stunt doubles exist. They're highly trained professionals who perform high-risk or physically demanding action sequences like car crashes, high falls, or complex fight scenes on behalf of a main actor. But even with stunt doubles stepping in, accidents and even fatalities still occur in the motion picture industry.
There were 152 catastrophic incidents (fatalities or serious injuries) reported on film sets between 2002 to 2024. That's according to data released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). 32 people passed away during this period due to accidents in the motion picture industry, 22 of them on film sets.
#2
TerminalVector:
Just land on some bags of trash, you'll be fine. We all know people don't throw away things that are solid or sharp.
#3
Analysis by Los Angeles-based personal injury lawyers Rose, Klein & Marias reveals that most movie set fatalities were as a result of falls from ladders, catwalks, balconies and the likes. Motor vehicle crashes during filming and stunt-related accidents are also claiming lives. Less frequent causes include toxic exposure, fire, shooting incidents, and heart attacks.
According to the law firm, those with job titles categorized as “Laborers, except construction” are most at risk, followed by “actors and directors” and “artists, performers and related workers.”
#4
#5
Laborers, also known set workers, are often responsible for things like setting up production equipment, installing and moving props, and rigging and dismantling heavy equipment such as scaffolding, platforms, and backdrops.
"Compared to other job duties, this puts them at a unique risk for serious film set accidents like slips, falls, and crushing injuries," warns the legal firm.
#7
CharleyNobody:
Had a patient years ago who got stabbed in the abdomen at a dance (a church dance, no less). It was a brawl over a woman. The guy was gobsmacked, “Man, I dint know like…when you get stabbe*d…you can’t run*!”
He watched too many tv shows.
#8
#9
The report notes that movie set injuries and fatalities have decreased since 2021, "perhaps due to increased scrutiny on the industry."
2021 was the year the world woke to the horrifying news that Alec Baldwin had fatally shot a cinematographer, and injured a director while rehearsing a scene on the film set of the movie Rust. According to media reports, Baldwin's prop gun fired a live round.
"The film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2024," reports the BBC. A criminal charges against the Baldwin was dismissed but he could now face a civil trial later this year.
#10
SwimmingBoot:
I literally fell on the ground from only around 4 feet high, right on my back and no head hitting the ground thankfully because I was wearing a backpack that put distance between my head and the ground, and I could not breathe from that little fall for what felt like forever. The next day my whole back was soo terribly angry at me. 4 weeks later my ribs in the front finally stopped hurting all the time!
#11
LGBT-Barbie-Cookout:
Concussions and losing conciousness are super bad for you!
Like months to years to never of recovery in some cases
#12
As someone who's had abdominal surgery, that scene almost completely took me out of the movie. I could barely stand up without assistance for days. Forget running, jumping, or getting punched in the abdomen.
I get that it’s a sci-fi movies, but it was absurd. The alien was believable compared to her recovery time.
Despite being highly trained in their line of work, even stunt doubles aren't immune to serious injuries and even fatalities.
David Holmes was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double throughout the entire Harry Potter series. But tragedy struck in 2009. Holmes was working on a flying scene for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 when he was knocked into a wall by a staged explosion.
The stunt double was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered he'd broken his neck and that the damage was irreversible. The incident left Holmes tetraplegic and in a wheelchair. He is paralyzed in both legs and arms.
#13
But the action hero who takes a bullet to the gut wraps it up and keeps fighting as if it’s a minor injury.
#14
Heretic_Red:
My partner and I were just joking about this the other day! We especially noticed that if the plot calls for a character to get a non-fatal GSW they’ll usually take a shot to the shoulder, then grit their teeth, wrap their arm in a sling or something and say “I’m fine” before carrying on with their mission.
Now maybe it wouldn’t be immediately fatal but that’s a section of the body with a major joint, tendons, muscles, blood vessels; all of which would be absolutely shredded. Bare minimum you’re passing out from pain (let alone blood loss).
Peptuck:
On of the more realistic depictions of surviving a gunshot wound comes in the Extraction movies. At the end of the first movie, the main character gets shot by a sniper and falls off a bridge into a river. In the second movie, he's shown being recovered from the river and barely stabilized and shipped off to a hospital.
He then spends months in the hospital in a coma and then rehab, relearning how to walk, and even after he gets done he has to basically retire to a cabin in the countryside to continue to recover, and then when he gets his next mission he has to spend months going through intense physical training to get back all of the muscle he'd lost over the previous months of recovery.
#15
I dislocated mine for the first time playing hockey in March. I’m still like barely more than functional, even after weekly PT and daily exercises.
I had NO idea. There’s no way you just pop that žback in and you’re ready to fight. You’re not an action figure. If your arm pops out of its socket, you’re seriously messed up.
Former stunt double Heidi Von Beltz suffered a similar fate in 1981 at the age of 24. She was working as Farrah Fawcett's stunt double in The Cannonball Run.
"The film relied on heavy stunt work, as it was about an illegal auto race from sea to shining sea," reports How Stuff Works. "During a driving scene in which Heidi was doubling for Farrah, the car she was riding in was involved in an accident. The vehicle was mangled, and Heidi was left inside fighting for her life."
Von Beltz was left paralyzed. She passed away in 2015, after more than three decades as a quadriplegic.
#16
#17
Falling of a 3 story building, landing on a car (probably shattering multiple bones in your body) and just getting up and walking away? Nah buddy, that car is your coffin now.
#18
Donnicton:
That one scene with the nail on the stairs - besides being deeply uncomfortable to watch - is also a "go straight to the emergency room" situation.
Some Hollywood actors choose to push themselves to their limits while filming. George Clooney, for example, won as Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a CIA operative in Syriana. But the role didn't come without pain and suffering.
"While filming the scene in which Clooney’s character is tied to a chair and tortured, the chair is thrown backwards to the ground," reports How Stuff Works. "The impact caused Clooney to hit his head and hurt his back, but it was thought to be only a minor injury at the time."
#19
