Danny DeVito Nearly Died on Set of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ New Book Claims
Danny DeVito didn’t have to do much acting while portraying Frank Reynolds’ near-death experience in the Season 11 finale of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
In her new book recounting the FX(X) staple’s 20-year run, author Kimberly Potts recalled how an incident while filming the underwater sequence in “The Gang Goes to Hell: Part Two” nearly took out the storied actor, leaving him staring down a similar fate to Philly’s resident Trash Man.
“At one point, Danny got accidentally kicked, I think, in the shoulder –- close to his head,” Potts told the New York Post of the now-iconic scene. “It certainly had everyone afraid he was in trouble.”
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Like Frank, DeVito made it out of the flooded room alive, but Potts said he was left “very frustrated” by the accident, prompting him to call it a wrap on his underwater shoot day. “He just quietly left, and the day was over for him,” she remembered. “Even he has a threshold for how far he’s willing to go.”
But before you dub DeVito a diva, Potts, whose book It’s (Almost) Always Sunny in Philadelphia: How Three Friends Spent $200 to Create the Longest-Running Live-Action Sitcom in History and Help Build a Network, hits shelves on July 1st, clarified that the beloved actor is far from a prima donna.
“For the overwhelming majority, their experience with him is great,” Potts added, citing a superlative from his on-screen daughter. “Kaitlin Olson has called him the happiest person she’s ever known.”
Given DeVito’s willingness to crawl naked out of a couch and slither across the floor of Paddy’s Pub drenched in hand sanitizer, among other Always Sunny stunts, I’d say this tracks.
