Since the dawn of cinema, actors have been placed into all kinds of awkward, unusual, and downright dangerous situations for the sake of our viewing entertainment. From actors being forced to slather on poisonous and toxic makeup to having to wear costumes that nearly killed them, there’s far less glitz and glamour in show business than most people realize.
In truth, the amount of suffering that often goes into creating a feature film can be quite excessive. You’ll see what we mean when you hear about some of the most dangerous wardrobe choices in cinema history. Some of these wardrobe and makeup incidents might even cause you to lose your lunch. From hospitalizations to allergic reactions to death, the actors that we’re about to discuss in this video were really put through the ringer. While a few of the horrifying situations we’re about to cover took place long before the days that rigorous safety measures and regulations were put into place, others are shockingly recent.
If you’re a film aficionado that likes to know all of the behind the scenes wardrobe secrets from some of Hollywood’s biggest hits, keep watching to learn about the numerous actors that were put into harm’s way just because of what they had to wear onset. Trust us, this is one video that you won’t soon forget. May this be a lesson to any of you that are thinking about pursuing a career in the film industry.
Facts Verse Presents: Movie Costumes That Almost Killed the Actors Who Wore Them.
Jennifer Lawrence – X-Men
Jennifer Lawrence was cast to play Mystique in the X-Men franchise of films years before appearing in the hit Hunger Games trilogy and Silver Linings Playbook. It took Lawrence more than seven hours every day to get into makeup for the filming of X-Men: First Class. And that uncomfortable process involved her being poked and prodded in the nude by a total of six women. Unfortunately, that proved to be only the beginning of her suffering.
Lawrence would later tell reporters that the paint used to transform her into Mystique resulted in her suffering from a series of weird boils, rashes, and nasty skin blisters.
For the filming of the second film in the X-Men trilogy, Days of Future Past, the process was somewhat amended so that Lawrence only had to painted from the neck up. Even so, it took three hours, and she hated the process every bit as much as the first time around. She even considered turning down the part.
In addition to her having a severe dislike for having to get into makeup every day that the film was in production, Lawrence was also concerned that she might sustain permanent damage from having to breathe in hazardous materials for multiple hours each day.
Kate Winslet – Titanic
1997’s Titanic was one of the highest-growing films of all time. While millions of people consider it to be one of their favorites, for actress Kate Winslet, filming Titanic was almost deadly. While filming a scene alongside her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio that saw the two running from a wave that was crashing against a closed gate, Winslet’s coat go caught, and she nearly got stuck underwater. Fortunately, she was able to free herself in just enough time to get to safety. If she had been held underwater any longer, then she might not have survived.
Buddy Ebsen – Wizard Of Oz
The iconic 1939 movie The Wizard Of Oz is infamous for the numerous deadly problems that happened on and off set. Several of the cast and crew members of that film ended up dying in rather horrific ways.
Actor Buddy Ebsen who originally played the Tin Man before being replaced by Jack Haley was one of the most famous victims. To obtain his character’s signature silvery appearance, MGM had Ebsen covered in white face paint that was then coated with aluminum dust. Nine days after filming had begun, Ebsen was rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath and intensely painful cramping. He was hospitalized for a total of two weeks but at one point, his lungs began to fail. Fortunately, he recovered and eventaully landed the role of Jed Clampett on The Beverely Hillbillies and the title role on Barnaby Jones.
Ebsen died of respiratory failure in Torrance, California in 2003 at the age of 95.
John Rhys-Davies – The Lord Of The Rings
John played Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The makeup and prosthetics that he had to wear to get into character caused him to suffer from a severe allergic reaction that left him in constant pain. It was so bad, that he was only capable of working one out of every three days. When he was asked if he wanted to reprise his role in The Hobbit trilogy, he declined because he didn’t think his skin was capable of taking that kind of abuse once again.
Tobey Maguire – Spider-Man
While the classic upside-down kiss with Mary Jane in Spider_man is one of the most iconic superhero film scenes of all time, in reality it wasn’t nearly as romantic as it appeared. As Tobey Maguire was suspended upside down, his mask forced water into his nose and mouth. The actor would later report that he nearly drowned during the making of the scene.
Scarlett Johansson – The Avengers
Marvel historically has filmed several of the MCU film’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but shooting in the middle of the hot desert definitely presents a few problems. While filming The Avengers, Scarlett Johannson struggled to maintain a healthy body temperature while in her Black Widow costume. While shooting a particularly vigorous fight scene on top of a makeshift rooftop, Scarlett started hallucinating after suffering from the early signs of heatstroke.
Margaret Hamilton – Wizard of Oz
Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz. To achieve her iconic green complexion, she had to have layers of copper-based green makeup applied to her skin. The makeup could only be removed with alcohol, and it irritated her skin something fierce. Not only that, but it also left her with green stains that took weeks to fad.
Beyond just being uncomfortable and hard to remove, the makeup also presented a potentially deadly problem on set. During the scene where the Wicked Witch vanished out of Munkinland in a flash of smoke and flames, a trap door was supposed to open up beneath Hamilton so that she couuld get to safety. Unfortunately during filming, the door failed to open, and Hamilton’s makeup and costume caught fire. Her face and hands were burned so badly that she needed to spend several days in the hospital to recover.
Johnny Depp – Edward Scissorhands
In Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp played the shy, augmented humanoid with a penchant for shaping topiaries and wearing bondage gear. The costume that Depp had to wear was made of very tight-fitting leather. During the filming of one scene, the outfit proved to be too much for Depp.
While filming a running sequence, Depp passed out. At first, the cast and crew simply thought that he was improvising, but it soon became apparent that he had in fact, fainted. Despite the incident, Depp never once complained and immediately got back to work after regaining consciousness. If that doesn’t say something about Depp’s work ethic, then we don’t know what would.
Boris Karloff – Frankenstein
Boris Karloff became an overnight sensation after playing Dr. Frankenstein’s monster in 1931’s Frankenstein. During the filming of that iconic movie, however, he had to wear lead-based paint on his skin as well as a very heavy costume. For weeks, he and the rest of the film crew worked 19-hour days. According to Karloff’s daughter, the actor lost 25 pounds while filming and became dangerously thin.
Jim Carrey – The Grinch
Comedian and actor Jim Carrey had to wear special contact lenses when he was in costume playing the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The lenses were apparently quite uncomfortable. So much so that Carrey even said that it felt like he had knives sticking in his eyes.
The rest of the costume was also incredibly uncomfortable. Carrey was left feeling so claustrophobic that he enlisted the help of a former Navy Seal to help coach him through dealing with the panic attacks that he got from wearing it.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
When The Next Generation premiered on TV in 1985, showrunner and creator Gene Roddenberry decided that Spandex was going to be THE material of the 24th century. Depending on how it’s cut, Spandex only stretches from top to bottom or side to side. Because of this, the Enterprise’s uniforms dug into the cast members shoulders. Since they had to wear them from 12 to 15 hours a day, it didn’t take long before many of the show’s cast began complaining of painful back problems. Fortunately, the costumes received a much-appreciated upgrade during season 3 that solved this problem.
Tyler Mane – X-Men
Former pro-wrestler Tyler Mane was more than used to playing the tough guy. It was a role that he had no problem committing to. That’s what made him the perfect casting choice to play Sabretooth in the first X-Men movie.
He certainly looked the part and he did everything within his power to make his mutant character seem as believable as possible. In fact, he even wore specially colored contact lenses for the role even though a few of the other actors refused to.
Halle Barry refused to wear her contacts when playing Storm, and Rebecca Rojin only wore her colored lenses for one hour a day.
Mane’s dedication to his craft led him to develop serious eye problems., Whenever he took out the large black contacts, he was left temporarily blind for the remainder of the day.
Michelle Pfeiffer – Batman Returns
In Batman Returns, Michelle Pfeiffer did a really great job of bringing her character, Catwoman, to life. To prepare for the role, the actress had to submit herself to some grueling training. She had to practice learning how to use her character’s signature bullwhip for more than a month before she could show off her skills on camera.
While training, Michelle’s trainer sustained multiple injuries. During one practice session, Pfeiffer sliced open her own face with the 10-foot whip. She had to cover up the injury with makeup so Batman’s producers wouldn’t force her to use a stunt double.
With that, we’ll go ahead and wrap this video up. But before we sign off, we’d love to hear from you. Did you know that the makeup used to bring the Tin Man to life in The Wizard of Oz was incredibly toxic and that Jim Carrey’s costume in the Grinch gave him panic attacks? Let us know in the comments. And as always, thanks for watching!
