There are a small number of gutsy Hollywood stars who insist on doing their own stunt
work.
But because most A-listers are happy to hand the really dangerous stuff over to the professionals,
stunt doubles are always in demand in Tinseltown.
Unfortunately, not every stunt has a happy ending.
Brushes with death are an occupational hazard for Hollywood stunt doubles — and these
were some of the most hazardous.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Warner Bros. tried to use practical effects whenever possible in their Harry Potter series,
especially when it came to broomsticks.
That didn't mean the studio was happy to put its star witches and wizards on those broomsticks,
however.
Stuntman David Holmes doubled for Daniel Radcliffe in many scenes, all the way back to the first
film.
During Deathly Hallows Part 1, Holmes was filming a flying stunt when he was yanked
from his broom and slammed into a wall before falling to the ground.
The accident broke his neck and left him paralyzed at the age of 25.
Holmes told The Mirror,
"I remember slipping in and out of consciousness because of the pain levels."
"I knew I had really done some damage."
Radcliffe himself thinks of Holmes as a friend rather than a colleague, and hosted a charity
auction to help Holmes pay for his medical bills.
Back to the Future Part II
The hoverboard scene is one of the most memorable moments from Back to the Future Part II, though
for stunt performer Cheryl Wheeler, it brings back painful memories, since she was almost
killed shooting the sequence.
"arrrrrgh!"
One stuntwoman had already quit over the scene, and Wheeler became concerned after a handful
of last-minute changes were made to the rig.
After being accused of getting cold feet, the stunt coordinator threatened to put a
male stunt performer in her clothes for the scene.
Being new to the business and wanting to make an impression, she reluctantly agreed.
Instead of crashing through the sugar glass window, Wheeler collided with a stone pillar
and was dropped 30 feet onto the concrete below, missing the fall mats entirely.
Fellow stunt performer Gary Morgan recalled in the book We Don't Need Roads,
"I got up and Cheryl was laying on the concrete and the pool of blood by her head was getting
bigger.
I thought she was dead."
Fortunately, Cheryl was quickly back in action, and is still performing stunts as recently
as 2015.
The Expendables 2
Countless henchmen are maimed and killed during the many explosions that take place throughout
Sylvester Stallone's Expendables films, though one of them actually claimed a life for real.
Stuntman Kun Lieu was fatally injured during the filming of a scene in Bulgaria involving
an inflatable raft for The Expendables 2.
While Lieu's life could not be saved, his partner during the stunt, Nuo Sun, somehow
escaped with his.
According to court papers, Sun sustained damage to his "nervous system, neck, head, body [and]
arms," which left him in "great mental, physical and nervous pain and suffering."
The stunt performer sued Millennium Films for $25,000 as well as the cost of his lengthy
hospital treatment and recovery.
Today, Sun continues to work in the stunt department of films like Ant-Man and Logan.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Star Milla Jovovich said that it was a "miracle" her double survived an incident that took
place on the set of 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which left a British stuntwoman
in a coma.
According to a Facebook post by Jovovich,
"My incredibly talented stunt double, Olivia Jackson, collided with a camera crane while
performing a motorcycle stunt and it put her in the hospital with severe, multiple injuries."
After she regained consciousness, Jackson also took to Facebook to reveal the horrifying
extent of the damage, which included a degloved face, brain swelling, an amputated thumb,
and a missing piece of bone.
She called the incident, quote, "not her funnest day on set".
In the end, one of Jackson's arms had to be amputated.
The resilient Brit posted a picture of her "twisted upper body" to her Instagram feed
in January 2017, claiming that her off-centered neck is the most painful part, saying,
"I don't mean to moan, but sometimes I just want to crawl out of my own skin and all the
pains in it."
For what it's worth, she seems to be keeping in good spirits about her injuries.
The Hangover Part II
Australian stuntman Scott McLean was doubling for funnyman Ed Helms in The Hangover Part
2 when the stunt drivers involved in the film's car chase reportedly got their marks wrong,
and McLean's head was hit by a truck.
He suffered a critical head injury, forcing hospital staff to put him in a medically induced
coma.
McLean was feared dead by his colleagues after the impact, and while he ultimately escaped
with his life, his lawyers claim he suffered permanent brain injuries.
His wife commented,
"There was so much damage.
He was a mess.
He used to look after me, now it's my turn to look after him for a change."
McLean's life will never be the same despite extensive therapy, but today, he speaks openly
and positively about his recovery.
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