(crow cooing)
(man laughing)
- [Narrator] March 31st, 1993.
Actor Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee
died on the film set of "The Crow" in a bizarre accident.
In this episode, we're going back in time
to show you how and why it happened.
(playful music)
(fists thumping)
Early '90s, the golden era of blockbusters
and martial arts movies
when fight scenes, shootings, and explosions
were in high demand. (gun firing)
Living in the shadow of his father,
who was one of the godfathers of the genre,
Brandon Lee worked hard
to establish his own name in Hollywood,
and he was definitely on the right track.
In 1993, the career of a 28-year-old, Brandon Lee
was on the rise.
He had played a few good roles in several movies
before he landed the lead role in "The Crow".
Many believed it would finally cement Brandon's name
as one of Hollywood's finest young actors.
Sadly, just like his father Bruce Lee,
Brandon wouldn't live to see his own success in Hollywood.
He died right on the film set.
- All right, folks.
So in this scene, Eric returns home.
The bad guys are already there.
He sees his poor fiance,
so he gets shot.
Is the gun ready?
Yes, sir. Great. Let's make it happen
and we'll call it a night.
- [Narrator] Among the many scenes in the movie
there was one where a thug, played by Michael Massee
was supposed to shoot Brandon Lee's character with a gun.
It was just a routine shooting scene
nothing special Lee, Massee, and the crew
have done hundreds of similar scenes in their career.
Action!
- Someday, you'll pay for what you've done.
(laughing)
- Someday.
(gun firing)
- Cut. Great job, Mike, Brandon.
All right guys. Thank y'all. We're done for today.
- [Narrator] The scene played out nicely.
Great timing, solid acting.
The only thing,
for some reason Brandon was still lying on the floor.
- Hey, Brandon, you okay, buddy?
Guys he's unconscious.
Looks like he was shot.
What? We've got an emergency.
Call the ambulance, now.
Brandon! Hey Brandon, can you hear me?
- [Narrator] But Brandon would not hear anything.
He would be pronounced dead a few hours later.
- What the hell's going on here?
What's wrong with this gun?
- [Narrator] Oh, indeed.
Something was terribly wrong with that gun.
To be fair, a gun can cause zero damage by itself.
It serves merely as the launchpad for the bullet.
The launch happens when the trigger gets pulled.
That's when the hammer kicks the primer.
The primer ignites the powder,
the powder expels energy
that pushes the bullet out of the barrel.
This is all good.
But in the movies, they're not using real guns
or are they?
Buckle up, they are.
In Hollywood, they've been using real guns
on movie sets for decades.
Here's what happened to Brandon Lee.
The plan was to use a 44-Caliber Magnum Revolver
twice that night, once in a close-up scene
and once in the main shooting scene.
At first,
the notorious revolver was loaded with dummy rounds
which looked exactly like real ones.
For the close-up shot, it was particularly important.
A properly made dummy round has no powder and primer
to launch the bullet so it should be harmless,
but the crew made a terrible mistake
and only removed the powder and not the primer.
When one of the rounds was fired,
nobody noticed anything unusual,
but here's what they didn't know.
The energy from the ignited primer
separated the bullet from the casing
and pushed bullet into the gun barrel where it got stuck.
Next up was the shooting scene with Massee and Lee.
Had the crew checked the gun,
they would've discovered the stuck bullet
but they were short on time.
This was a fatal mistake.
For the shooting scene,
the dummy rounds were swapped with blank rounds.
Unlike the dummy rounds,
the blanks have the powder and primer, but no bullet.
This allows the gun to be fired
with sound and flash effects.
Obviously, the crew didn't have any idea
that there was a real bullet stuck inside the gun barrel.
Now, they've just loaded the gun with powder and primer.
Look now it's a live round.
(gun firing)
The ignited powder propelled the bullet forward,
striking Lee in the abdomen.
Brandon had no chance
as he was shot with a 44-Caliber gun
from a distance of less than 15 feet.
Was anyone charged with Brandon's death?
There was a lot of negligence on the part of a lot of people
and the official investigation concluded
that there was no basis for a criminal charge.
In 1973, in Seattle, an eight year old Brandon
was saying his last goodbyes to his father, Bruce Lee
who had just passed away.
20 years later,
Brandon's grave would be standing right next to Bruce's.
This is the story of Brandon Lee's death.
This is how it was.
(bright playful music)
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(bell dings)