When it comes to filming a major motion picture, there are bound to be mistakes that happen on camera. Most of the time, a scene will just be shot again, and it would be like the mistake never even happened. However, some mistakes are so good, that they need to be left in the film.
Or, an actor could have sustained a serious injury thanks to a mistake, and the messed up footage has to make the cut while the injured actor is recovering. Regardless of the reasons, there are going to be some mistakes that a director just has to leave in. Here are 10 movie mistakes that were left in on purpose.
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10 Nightcrawler — Broken Mirror
Bold Films
In Nightcrawler, Jake Gyllenhaal plays as Lou Bloom, a cameraman that will go to just about any length to make sure that he gets the perfect shot. Jake Gyllenhaal is a bit similar as an actor, as he is willing to go to extreme lengths to get the best scene he can, albeit he is nowhere near as psychotic as the character that he is playing as. Regardless, Gyllenhaal got so wrapped up in a scene while shooting that he ended up slicing his hand on a broken mirror.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
In the intense scene, Gyllenhaal was supposed to hit the mirror he was looking into while going into a fit of rage, but he ended up hitting the mirror a little too hard. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, Gyllenhaal ended up needing multiple stitches and filmed the rest of the movie with his injured hand. Regardless of the repercussions of the injury, the scene was so intense that it ended up staying in the final cut of the film.
9 Zoolander — Ben Stiller’s Forgotten Lines
Paramount Pictures
While shooting a scene for 2001’s Zoolander, lead actor Ben Stiller famously forgot one of his lines, and it quickly became one of the most memorable moments of the whole film. In the film, it is being revealed that male models have been behind every major political assassination over the past 200 years, and Stiller innocently asks, “so why male models?” It is then explained that male models don’t think for themselves, and they are in peak physical condition, making them the perfect killers.
Stiller then forgot his next line and simply repeated, “but why male models?” The other actors were genuinely confused, but were able to finish the take. While the line was wrong, it fit Stiller’s character so perfectly that it stayed in the film, creating a hilarious moment.
8 The Wizard of Oz — Fire
Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
The Wizard of Oz is one of the most classic and groundbreaking films in cinema history, but as time has passed, it has been revealed that the actors in the film had to deal with incredible amounts of mental and physical pain. One example of an actor dealing with this was when Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, suffered third degree burns after a fire was lit before she was safely away from it.
In the scene that the injury happens, Hamilton was exiting the stage through a trap door that was meant to be hidden by a plume of red smoke and then by a burst of flames. The trap door can briefly be seen, but as Hamilton is descending through the trap door, crew members ignited the flames too early, as Hamilton’s hat and broom caught flame, leaving her with severe burns across her face. The burns were so bad that Hamilton had to stay in a hospital for quite some time, so the studio was forced to use the messed up scene.
7 Django Unchained — Shattered Glass
A Band Apart
One of the most famous examples of a movie mistake that made it into the final cut, we have Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained cutting his hand open during an intense monologue after accidentally slamming his fist down onto a glass, shattering it. Even though DiCaprio was seriously injured and was going to need stitches for his hand, he did not flinch and effortlessly finished his lines. You can even spot him picking pieces of broken glass out of his hand at one point.
The blood coming from DiCaprio’s hand added an extra layer to not only the film but to his character as well, showing him as the truly insane plantation owner that he really was. It was also so good, that after DiCaprio got stitched up, the rest of his scenes were filmed with fake blood while he was wearing a bandage around his hand.
6 Blade Runner — Chipped Elbow
Warner Bros.
There is a scene in Blade Runner where replicant Pris, played by Daryl Hannah, is trying to quickly run away from character J.F. Sebastian. As she is trying to make her escape, she slips on the wet ground and goes sliding into a van, shattering the window. The van window was not the only thing that got damaged during the scene however, as Hannah hit the van with her elbow, chipping the bone in eight places.
Despite sustaining the injury, Hannah finished out the scene before having to take some time off to recover. The scar on her elbow can even be seen in the behind the scenes documentary of the film, titled Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner. Hannah’s dedication to finishing the take helped enhance the scene, and it ended up in the final film.
5 The Princess Bride — Knocked Out for Real
20th Century Fox
For a film that includes a lot of real sword work, you would think a mistake that happened during the final cut of The Princess Bride would have something to do with that right? Well, while this specific mistake did involve a real sword, it was not from any specific fight scene. In the scene where Westley, played by Cary Elwes, is being taken hostage, he was supposed to be hit on the head with a prop sword and act as if he was knocked out to be captured.
According to Elwes’s 2014 book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride, however, Christopher Guest, the actor that was meant to capture Elwes, had a real sword and did not want to injure anyone. Elwes then suggested that Guest give him just a light tap on the head with the butt of the sword, so he could properly react. This turned out to be a bad suggestion, as when Guest did hit Elwes, he really was knocked out and ended up in the hospital getting stitches in his head. Since Elwes actually got knocked out, it looked believeable enough to make it into the film.
4 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers — Broken Toes
New Line Cinema
Viggo Mortensen was very involved in the stunt work for the Lord of the Rings films, and ended up doing many of his own stunts throughout his work on the films. In one particular scene, Mortensen was told by director Peter Jackson to kick an Uruk-Hai helmet, trying to get the helmet to fly past the camera for a good shot. In a behind the scenes interview, Jackson reveals that Mortensen kicked the helmet on five different takes, but on the fifth take, Mortensen let out an agonizing scream, leaving Jackson thinking that he was just giving a great performance.
As it turns out, Mortensen had actually broken two of his toes on the last take, but it ended up being the best take of them all. So, Jackson left the painful moment in the final cut.
3 Foxcatcher — Head Through a Wall
Sony Pictures Classics
Channing Tatum might have let his emotions get the best of him in a scene he was shooting for Foxcatcher, but it resulted in a powerful yet scary moment. In the scene, Tatum was supposed to smash his head against a mirror, while it was also covered with a plastic sheath to protect him. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tatum became so consumed in the scene that he smashed his head against the mirror numerous times, and he hit his head so hard that he not only went through the protective sheath, he also went completely through the mirror, the frame of the mirror, and even into the drywall that was behind it.
Tatum even cut his head open during the scene, but with him sustaining such an injury, along with the raw emotions that the viewers can see on screen, the mistake was left in the film. The scene was so powerful that it even made it into one of the promotional trailers for the film before it was released.
2 The Hateful Eight — Precious Antique Destroyed
The Weinstein Company
This mistake didn’t cause any physical damage to any of the actors in The Hateful Eight, but it certainly left Jennifer Jason Leigh heartbroken. Because director Quentin Tarantino is big on historical accuracy in his films, he had acquired a one-of-a-kind Martin guitar from the 1860s, that was loaned to him by the Martin Museum. The guitar was given to Leigh, as she was meant to play a song on it in one of her scenes.
The movie then called for her fellow actor Kurt Russell to take the guitar from her hands and smash it against a post. And that’s exactly what Russell did, except he did it with the priceless guitar. Leigh was under the impression that a dummy guitar would be swapped out for the scene, but she could only watch in horror as Russell unknowingly destroyed the antique. Considering that the destroyed guitar turned into a very, very expensive mistake, it remained in the final cut of the film.
1 Star Wars — Clumsy Stormtrooper
Lucasfilm
One of the most famous movie mistakes of all time, we have the scene in Star Wars when a stormtrooper hits his head on the top of a doorframe while entering into a room. Because Star Wars became such a cultural phenomenon, and the fact that a silly mistake such as this made the final cut, made the short scene all the more popular. The scene became so popular in fact, that The Hollywood Reporter interviewed the actor that was in the suit when it happened, 40 years later.
Laurie Goode explained that he had an upset stomach that day, and felt his stomach rumbling when he suddenly hit his head as he was entering the scene. Goode even explained that they had shot multiple other takes, but was shocked to see his clumsy moment in the final cut of the film. George Lucas liked the mistake so much, that not only did he leave it in the original cut, but he added a sound effect in the 2004 DVD re-release of the film.
