Some completely missed the mark
Martin Sheen's character in 'Apocalypse Now' is introduced in a scene where he is blackout drunk, smashing around his hotel room. It was later revealed that Sheen was genuinely wasted, so much so that he punched a mirror and cut his hand. He rolls around with his wounded hand, spreading blood all over the bed sheets and his face!
Towards the end of 'Inglourious Basterds,' Diane Kruger's character is confronted by the officer played by Christoph Waltz, who has discovered that she is working for the enemy. He lunges at her and starts choking her.
In the first movie of the trilogy, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli happen across a pile of burnt bodies on their search for their hobbit friends. Believing them to be dead, Aragorn kicks a helmet in anger and falls to the ground with a cry of despair.
Harrison Ford doesn't mess around. In the scene in 'The Fugitive' where he's running through the woods to escape, he tore several ligaments in his leg.
It's well known that Tom Cruise likes to perform his own daring stunts. Unfortunately, in the scene pictured here he doesn't quite hit his mark. He didn't make it onto the roof top and his front foot broke when it hit the wall of the building!
Mel Gibson's epic 'The Passion of the Christ' is notoriously gory and painful to watch. Apparently it was painful to film too. Lead actor Jim Caviezel had migraines from his swollen eye makeup, contracted a lung infection and pneumonia, and was accidentally whipped for real several times in the torture scenes.
Ben Affleck plays a bully in the coming-of-age classic 'Dazed and Confused.' He gets his comeuppance in one scene and flies into a rage, smashing his wooden paddle on the ground. If you look carefully, you'll notice that he twists his ankle nastily as he takes the swing!
In their final showdown in the movie, Stallone asked his co-star Dolph Lundgren to punch him for real to make it look more authentic. In one scene he took three serious body shots in a row.
In the first take of their dance in 'Follow the Fleet,' Ginger Rogers accidentally whipped Fred Astaire across the face with her heavily beaded sleeve! He was dazed and thought it must have affected his performance, but this take made the cut.
Source: (WatchMojo)
See also: The worst TV and film accidents.
When Pris, played by Daryl Hannah, is caught hiding in an alleyway, she gets scared and tries to run away. Hannah slipped on the wet pavement and smashed into a car window. Her arm went through, breaking the glass and fracturing her elbow in eight places! Amazingly, she finished the scene with that injury.
Unfortunately, the stuntman pulled Burstyn across the room on wires quite violently and injured her back, so her cry of pain is very real. She believes the director and stuntman secretly agreed to ignore her injury in order to get the best take.
Channing Tatum's character is angry and upset after losing a wrestling match, hitting himself in the head and berating himself. Tatum says he can't remember filming the scene, but he smashed his head into a mirror three times cutting his forehead!
The crew thought he was giving the best performance of his life, until he passed out. It turns out he mishandled the rope and was genuinely being strangled!
Instead of going through surgery and recovery, Ford refused to treat the injury and carried on filming the rest of the movie. This is why his character has a limp!
Viggo Mortensen insisted on trying this scene multiple times. On the final take, he kicked the helmet so hard that he broke two of his toes. His cry was authentic and that take made it into the movie!
In this famous scene from 'The 40 Year Old Virgin,' Steve Carell decided to let them wax his chest for real. His screams of pain and his bloody chest are real, and so are the laughs from Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen...
In one of the scenes in 'The Exorcist,' the possessed Reagan whacks her mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, who flies across the room due to the force. Burstyn had a pre-existing back injury and the stuntman and director agreed that they wouldn't pull her across the room too hard.
In the wild western setting of 'Back to the Future Part III,' Marty McFly gets captured by some outlaws who try to hang him. Michael J. Fox agreed to film a quick shot of himself struggling to breath while hanging from the noose.
Stallone began to experience chest pains and difficulty breathing and ended up in the ICU. Lundgren had hit him so hard that his heart slammed against his chest bone and was swelling up!
He also dislocated his shoulder carrying the 150 pound (68 kg) cross. To top it all off, he was struck by lightening while filming the Sermon on the Mount scene.
In 'First Blood,' Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo basically jumps off a cliff and falls through a canopy of trees. Stallone did his own stunt and it didn't go as planned... He got caught on a branch on the way down and cracked his rib.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a stressed out crime scene videographer who seems to be unravelling in 'Nightcrawler.' In one scene, his anger and frustration boils over and he screams at the bathroom mirror. Gyllenhaal accidentally smashed the mirror with his hands, leaving him with a serious gash that needed 40 stitches.
Kruger's acting seems very realistic at this point. That's because director Quentin Tarantino decided to strangle her himself, for real, to get an authentic take. It's his hands you see in the close-up shots of her struggling to breath.
In this scene, Westley and Buttercup, played by Robin Wright and Cary Elwes, are caught by the evil Count Rugen. Christopher Guest as Count Rugen has to bonk Elwes on the head with the butt of his sword, but there were no prop swords available. Elwes was really knocked out and woke up in the hospital!
Somehow, he managed to pull himself up onto the roof and hobble away to finish the scene, which ended up in the movie.
In the dinner party scene at Calvin Candie's home, Leonardo DiCaprio got so into his character that he smashed his hand down on the table in anger.
When he did this, he accidentally smashed a glass that cut his palm. His hand is covered in blood for the rest of the scene, which adds to the character's madness, but it was completely real and unplanned!
Even with all of the safety measures in the world, accidents still happen on set. Injuries are often a nightmare to deal with, delaying shooting when there's a very tight timeline and budget. Sometimes, however, they result in incredibly authentic performances!
In the following cases, the actors managed to give it their all despite sustaining serious injuries. The scenes where they hurt themselves are so convincing that they make it into the final cut. You may be surprised to learn how many real injuries you've seen happen without knowing it!
Click through the following gallery to see which hit movies show stars getting secretly annihilated.
Real actor injuries that appeared in the final cut
You'll wince next time you watch these movies
MOVIES Accidents
Even with all of the safety measures in the world, accidents still happen on set. Injuries are often a nightmare to deal with, delaying shooting when there's a very tight timeline and budget. Sometimes, however, they result in incredibly authentic performances!
In the following cases, the actors managed to give it their all despite sustaining serious injuries. The scenes where they hurt themselves are so convincing that they make it into the final cut. You may be surprised to learn how many real injuries you've seen happen without knowing it!
Click through the following gallery to see which hit movies show stars getting secretly annihilated.