Brendan Fraser was almost choked to death while filming The Mummy - and his experience sounds absolutely terrifying.
The actor famously starred alongside Rachel Weisz in the 1999 flick, but an on-set error meant the blockbuster may well have been his last.
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Basically, Fraser almost hanged himself during shooting, but we’ll let him explain exactly what went down.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly to mark the film’s 20th anniversary in 2019, Fraser explained the incident took place in one of the film’s early scenes.
In short: Fraser’s character Rick O’Connell was hanged (but not killed) while in a prison, but the rope ended up being too tight and ‘choked Fraser out’.
He shared: “I did get fully choked-out. It was scary. Rick is dangling at the end of the rope, and he’s such a tough guy that his neck didn’t snap. We did the wide shot, which was the stuntman going down, and he had a harness on, and it looked great. Then they’ve got to go in [for a close-up].
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“There was a hangman’s gallows, and there was a hemp rope tied into a noose that was placed around my neck.”
Fraser continued: “The first take, I’m doing my best choking acting. Steve [the director] says, ‘Can we go for another one and take up the tension on the rope?’ I said, ‘All right, one more take.’
“Because a noose around your neck’s going to choke you in the arteries, no matter what. So, the stuntman took up the tension on the rope, and I went up on the balls of my feet, then I guess he took the tension up again, and I’m not a ballerina, I can’t stand on my tip-toes.”
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The A-lister explained it wasn’t long before he fell totally unconscious, adding: “I remember seeing the camera start to pan around, and then it was like a black iris at the end of a silent film. It was like turning down the volume switch on your home stereo, like the Death Star powering down.
“I regained consciousness and one of the EMTs was saying my name. There was gravel in my ear and s**t really hurt.”
However, The Mummy’s director Stephen Sommers insisted to EW that the blame lay solely with Fraser.
“[Brendan] is totally to blame,” Sommers said. “He tightens the noose, and then, as we’re about to get the shot, he’s trying to make it look like it’s really strangling him. I guess it cut off his carotid artery, or whatever, and knocked him out. He did it to himself.”
Featured Image Credit: ScreenProd/Photononstop/CD/Prod.DB/Alamy Stock PhotoTopics: Brendan Fraser