5 Movies That Were Surprisingly Dangerous To Film

5

On The Total Recall Shoot, Everything Made People Sick

Filming in Mexico "weeds out the strong from the wimps," according to Schwarzenegger. He was speaking from his experience filming Total Recall on location in Mexico, where the air, water, and food on set were so bad that it was basically impossible not to get sick. Production designer William Sandell described breathing the air like, "Breathing 2 packs a day of cigarettes." That was one of the easier things to deal with. Just about everyone on the shoot fell ill, meaning one of the more important things on set was being consistently aware of how long it'd take you to run to the nearest restroom to, "Drop Quaid off at Mars."

Sometimes, people would get so worn down by the rampant disease that they'd have to be evacuated or take drastic measures to keep going. One producer -- with a reputation as one of Hollywood's toughest guys -- couldn't handle it and was flown out for treatment. Near the end, director Paul Verhoeven got so sick that he kept an ambulance on standby on the set to instantly give him fluids he needed to continue directing the movie. 

Only two people didn't share this hell: Schwarzenegger and co-screenwriter Ron Shusett. Shusett was so incredibly careful about not catching anything that he'd only brush his teeth with bottled water, and he insisted on getting a B12 shot every week. Everybody made fun of him, but their laughter soon turned into anguished cries muffled by the bathroom door. On the other hand, Schwarzenegger had food flown in from Los Angeles, cooked for him by a private chef in his own trailer. Eventually, Schwarzenegger's chef got ill, so he had to eat with everyone else, which is when judgment day came back for his bowels.

4

Return Of The King Was Shot On A Literal Minefield

One morning on the set of Return of the King, a New Zealand army officer showed up as everyone was digging into first breakfast. He carefully explained that they might find rockets and bombs during filming, and should definitely make sure not to touch or kick them or dig any holes. It's not clear how they responded, but it's a hell of a thing to have to take in before you've even had your coffee.

3

Safety Was A Foreign Concept On The Mortal Kombat Shoot

In the jewel of '90s cinema known as Mortal Kombat, there is no fake fighting. When you see people kicking the crap out of each other through elaborate martial arts moves, you're watching people actually do that (because fights were written around the skills of the martial artists playing the characters). One of the consequences of this approach to filmmaking was that one fight could take up to two weeks to shoot. The other was that the process chipped away at actors' bodies like a very enthusiastic woodpecker.

The actors just kept powering through it all. During training for her big fight scene, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (Sonya) dislocated her shoulder. Instead of, you know, going to a hospital, she just popped it back in and continued filming. Linden Ashby (Johnny Cage) had to take Advil like crazy and, after one fight, complained, "I've never been in so much pain in my life." For his fight with Scorpion, he initially wanted a stunt double, but Robin Shou (Liu Kang) convinced him he could totally do it himself, and totally should do it himself so that the scene looked more believable. "Yes, you're getting beat up. You're bruised, but at the end you are going to look fantastic," Shou told him, like a jackass, and Ashby believed him, like a dumbass. In that fight, Ashby ended up taking a hard kick to the kidneys that made him pee blood for a while.

2

Michelle Pfeiffer Had To Hold A Live Bird In Her Mouth In Batman Returns

That scene when Catwoman and the Penguin are talking, and she swallows a live bird is a pretty spectacular special effects feat for a 1992 movie, right? 

1

In Thunderball, Sean Connery Was Pursued By A Real Shark

For the Thunderball shark tank scene, Sean Connery was understandably not too eager to get into a pool with a real shark. The solution? A plexiglass corridor in the tank that would separate Connery from the shark without showing up on camera. To ease Connery's mind, he was assured that the only way sharks could actually get near him with that barrier in place was if they could leap up like dolphins. He responded with, "Well, how do I know sharks can't?" He was promised that they couldn't, and eventually, the barrier was put in.

There was just one problem: They didn't have enough plexiglass. An 8' by 4' panel was missing, leaving a four-foot gap in the barrier. Nobody told Connery, though, and he couldn't see a thing underwater (plus, well, it's hard to see plexiglass), so he had no idea a panel was missing. So when he dove underwater and tried to go past the shark, the shark somehow swam right where the gap was and then went after Connery.