Make Believe is a Hard Way to Find Out That Trouble's For Real

Sometimes show people get so involved in image that they loose a sense of reality for the situations they create. This can come home with deadly consequences on the set. For instance prop handlers sometimes have shown a dangerous tendency to treat guns as props, rather than as deadly weapons.

Probably the most famous case involved the late Brandon Lee on the set of the Crow. Brandon was doing a shooting scene. The prop handler got the gun to be used, a 45 caliber, out of the trunk of his car, where he'd been storing it for safe keeping and brought it to the set. He checked to make sure that the magazine was out, and handed it over. He forgot to check the chamber. It's a quirk of automatic pistols that a live round can be in the chamber, even after the ammunition magazine is removed. Unfortunately there was still a live round in the gun, and the scene was shot with fatal consequences. The son of marshal arts legend Bruce Lee wa with a .45 round square in the chest at point blank range. It's believed that a similar misfortune befell actor George Reeve.

Another case concerned early 80's heart throb Jon Erik Hexum. Jon Erik was a big, handsome Kevin Sorbo type who starred in the series Cover Up as a spy covering as a male model. Jon Erik was by all accounts a bright, friendly, and well liked fellow. How ever he made the cardinal mistake when it comes to make believe: playing with fire.

As was reported, Jon Erik was in his dressing room goofing around. The lad was a bit of a cut up. At one point, to add dramatic effect to a joke, he picked up a prop gun loaded with blanks, and placed it against his temple. Then he pulled the trigger. Well a blank cartridge still has an explosive charge. Since the end of the barrel was placed snugly against the side of his head, the explosive force of the charge had no where to go. So it drove a small, dime sized chunk of bone into the actor's brain. Some people hint that this was a virtual repeat performance of the circumstances of George Reeves' death.

Screen legend Kirk Douglas writes in his autobiography The Rag man's Son, that when he heard the news about Hexum, he immediately thought of a close call that he had while filming a Western with Walter Brennan. They were doing a scene where Kirk is supposed to be lying on the ground unconscious, with his rifle at his side. Brennan is supposed to bend down and pick the weapon up.

Kirk immediately starts expressing concerns about whether the guns is loaded, and if there was a better way to set up the scene. "Don't worry kid," Brennan barks, "I've done this plenty of times". So Kirk decides to be a good sport, and let's himself get reassured into something against his gut instinct and better judgment. Brennan bends forward, reaches gun, it discharges. A slug misses Kirk's head by about an inch. Kirk wrote in his book that he couldn't help reflecting on how close he came to being a show business fatality. Needless to say he never again allowed him self to be pressured into doing anything that he felt was a bad idea.

The latest case of dangerous mishaps in the land of make believe has occurred on the set of Trailer Park Boy's rip off My Name is Earl. The cast and crew were just back from the writer's strike hiatus, and ready to shake the dust off. They had set up a hilarious 'runaway gurney scene'. Now the runaway gurney scene is a slapstick classic where some poor schmuck is strapped down, and then the gurney gets loose. Since this one ended with Earl on the grill of an 18 wheeler, it would be dynamite.

Now runaway gurney scenes have to be set up carefully. They can't actually be runaway, since that could endanger both life and limb. A harness is often used to keep the gurney under control, and a stunt co ordinator manages the speed.

This time however something went a little wrong. The gurney was launched at a much faster speed than intended. This left Jason Lee lying blithely unsuspecting on his gurney, as it careened out of control to wards the on coming semi. As Jason lay there watching the world speed past, he suddenly noticed that it was speeding past at a much faster rate than it had in the rehearsals. Sensing that something was amiss, he jumped from the runaway gurney at the last moment, and so avoided a potentially lethal dose of reality.

However blaming air headed show folk for not having their together may be too harsh. It could've been one of those days. For instance only a short time later, on the same set, Jamie Pressly came with in inches of her life, or death. the stretch of highway that they were taping on had been closed down and cordoned off. They were detour signs in place. However one elderly driver decided that those signs didn't apply to her. She by passed the detour sign, and barreled down the emergency lane at top speed. She only missed Pressly by inches, and that's because the agile Jamie jumped out of the speeding car's path before getting hit. Given the string of bad luck, the director decided not to push 'the 3 strikes' rules and closed down shooting for the day. 3 strikes and someone might have ended up with a starring role in their own funeral - and fame at last!