20 film sets that were so intense that actors became physically sick

Top Gun: Maverick brought out old Top Gun fans and made new ones. And it’s a good thing, because the actors suffered a bit on set. They had to film in zero gravity, and the sensation is known to make people vomit, which was the case for many of the Top Gun: Maverick cast members. 

For the film Buried, Ryan Reynolds didn’t actually have to be buried, but he may as well have been. The actor filmed in a tight, tight space to emulate the coffin his character was buried alive in, and he passed out multiple times on set due to poor blood flow. 

For the sequel to Halloween, actors Pamela Susan Shoop and Leo Rossi had to film a scene in a tub, and the conditions weren’t great. The water was freezing, and the tub was dirty, and because Shoop’s character drowned in the film, her head had to be repeatedly dunked in the cold, gross water. She ended up with an ear infection. 

Joaquin Phoenix is one dedicated actor. When he starred in Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, the Oscar winner experienced some emotional distress and physical distress from the script material and performing his own stunts, respectively. Phoenix became exhausted and fainted on set one day. 

Mark Ruffalo got sick on the set of Now You See Me 2. After filming an intense action scene where his character almost drowned, Ruffalo threw up on himself. He said that eating too much beforehand and swallowing too much water while filming didn’t help the situation. 

There’s a reason Alfred Hitchcock films are so terrifying. As for The Birds, the climax is so scary because the filmmakers used real birds. For days on end, star Tippi Hedren was attacked by actual birds, with one nearly pecking her eye out. Hedren suffered from exhaustion from the ordeal, which was entirely warranted. 

Japanese actor Miyavi starred in the Angelina Jolie-directed film Unbroken about a Japanese prisoner of war. Miyavi played a prison camp commander, and getting into character as such a terrible person was a lot for the actor to handle, ultimately making him physically ill. 

While filming Predator, the actors and crew members had to spend a significant amount of time in the jungle. Many of them ended up with traveler’s diarrhea from drinking contaminated water.  

One of the best movies of all time might’ve had the worst set experience of all time. There were problems after problem while filming The Wizard of Oz, with multiple actors either getting hurt or falling ill. Buddy Ebsen, the original Tin Man, got so sick from the makeup that he had to drop out of the film. His replacement, Jack Haley, got an eye infection from the makeup. 

The movie Adrift made actors and crew members intimately familiar with the symptoms of seasickness. The film, starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin, was filmed almost entirely on open waters, and there were multiple days when nearly everyone involved in filming experienced seasickness. 

Archie Madekwe had no prior experience driving racecars before filming Gran Turismo. While he did get the opportunity to practice before actual filming began, the requirements of the role were still too much for his stomach to handle. 

Some actors don’t find filming a horror movie difficult at all. Others, though, have a harder time, especially with gory films. Texas Chain Saw Massacre was one such film that did a number on its actors, causing them physical sickness from the heat, the dead animals on set, and other on-set horrors. 

For the film Black Swan , Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, both small women to begin with, had to lose weight. It took Kunis’ body years to recover from the weight loss, and Portman actually feared for her life on set. Portman got her Oscar for the role, though. 

Shelley Duvall did not have a good time filming The Shining . Director Stanley Kubrick essentially made her life a living nightmare, treating her so poorly that she lost hair and suffered anxiety attacks on set. But hey, The Shining’s a classic, right?

Another Stanley Kubrick film to put the health and well-being of his cast and crew in jeopardy, Full Metal Jacket’s set caused asbestos exposure. Kubrick called for the demolition of some buildings to create a more realistic set, releasing toxins into the air and making actors and crew members ill as a result.

Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining , made cast members sick on set, too. Though not for the same reasons. Jacob Tremblay gave such a realistic performance that his co-stars Rebecca Ferguson and Zahn McClarnon became physically upset. Tremblay was such a talented child actor. 

The Conqueror was filmed near the site of an atomic bombing. Nearly 100 members of the cast and crew developed cancer at some point in their lives, including John Wayne.  

For the Japanese film Audition, actress Eihi Shiina made herself sick. For one of the horrific scenes in the film, Shiina’s character had to vomit into a dog bowl, and Shiina wanted the take to be authentic, so she made herself sick. 

Anything for a good shot. The Terminator was filmed on the streets of Los Angeles without obtaining permits, leading to some precarious situations. For example, they filmed after the city sprayed pesticides, and the fog that resulted was toxic to the cast and crew. 

While filming The African Queen in the Congo and Uganda, Katharine Hepburn and other cast and crew members contracted dysentery after drinking contaminated water. Humphrey Bogart, meanwhile, didn’t get sick during filming because he only drank Scotch while in Africa.