20 times actors’ injuries were written into scripts

Nope, that cast on Tim Meadows' wrist in Mean Girls wasn’t just a prop. The actor actually injured himself shortly before filming began. Rather than recast the part, the filmmakers let Meadows be injured in the film. It made quite a funny accessory. 

While filming Das Boot, Jan Fedder fell and seriously injured himself. The moment was caught on camera, and director Wolfgang Peterson thought it was perfect for the movie. After learning that Fedder was genuinely hurt, Peterson adjusted the script a bit to include a scene of Fedder’s character recovering. 

While filming the Friends episode “The One Where No One’s Ready,” Matt LeBlanc dislocated his shoulder. Rather than have LeBlanc miss a few episodes to recover, they filmed him while still injured, having his character, Joey, explain the injury by saying he hurt himself by jumping off a bed.  

Sylvester Stallone was a tough guy back in his day, and he did most of the stunts in Rambo himself. However, one of them led to some serious injuries, and his genuine reaction to the pain was caught on film and left in the movie. 

Harrison Ford has had a scar on his face his entire career as he got in a car accident in his early 20s. Rather than ignore the facial feature, the Indiana Jones writers used it to his character’s advantage, explaining what caused the scar on his face. 

Leave it to Harrison Ford to have had two personal injuries written into scripts. While filming The Fugitive, Ford injured his leg. The fix required surgery, but surgery was going to delay filming. Instead, Ford forged on, writing a character limp into the script so as not to push back production. 

Brad Pitt also injured himself while filming SE7EN. He ended up needing a cast for his arm, and the filmmakers left the cast in the film. As it turns out, lots of roles that require stunts still make sense if the actor is injured while performing them. 

Jamie Kennedy got a black eye just before he was set to film Romeo + Juliet. He feared he’d lose his role because of the injury, but director Baz Luhrmann said he could work it into the script, figuring it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities for Kennedy’s character to have a black eye anyway. 

Sometimes, showrunners will film actors with injuries and hide their temporary disability through various tactics, and the Fuller House showrunners did that with Jodie Sweetin for a bit after she broke her leg. That strategy couldn’t be used forever, though. Eventually, her broken leg had to be written into the script. 

Mark Hamill’s injury wasn’t purposefully written into the script in The Empire Strikes Back , but a scene inadvertently ended up explaining it. Hamill had gotten into a bad car accident before filming, and it changed his face a bit. At the beginning of the film, there’s a scene where Hamill's character’s face gets ruined. George Lucas later shared that that scene wasn’t written for the express purpose of explaining Hamill's injuries, but it did help. 

Rather than writing James Franco’s injury into the script of Pineapple Express, the filmmakers made a distinct costume choice. Franco hit his head on set, and he needed stitches to heal the wound. The costume department gave him a headband to cover the injury, and he wore it in the film. 

While filming A League of Their Own, Renée Coleman got a crazy bruise from sliding into a base. The bruise was significant, and it made sense that a ball player would get a bruise from sliding, so it made it into the movie. 

Leonardo DiCaprio will do anything for his craft. While filming a scene in Django Unchained, aiming for a table DiCaprio slammed his hand on glass and ended up with a nasty, blood-spewing cut. DiCaprio thought it was best to keep acting, so he stayed in character and his injury stayed in the film. 

Amid filming Babylon 5, Claudia Christian hurt her ankle. The injury was so significant that Christian wasn’t able to perform physically, and the plot of the series had to be altered a bit to accommodate the actor's abilities.

Cary Elwes had to be hit on the head in The Princess Bride, and as he later shared, no prop worked for the scene, so Elwes' injury had to be real. The incident knocked him out and sent him to the hospital. No one can say Elwes wasn't willing to do whatever it took to get the shot.

Scott Caan had to have multiple injuries written into his part on Hawaii Five-0. The actor had a knee injury and an arm injury at separate times throughout filming, and both made their way into the script. Caan had to use a cane and wear an arm brace. 

Just before filming The Sting, Robert Shaw injured his leg and had a limp. Because Shaw was a last-minute casting choice after Richard Boone fell through, the limp had to be written into the script. There was no time to cast someone else. 

Lucille Ball injured herself while skiing at the time of filming Here’s Lucy. Rather than halt production, the injury was written into the script, and Ball filmed almost an entire season while recovering. Ball was nothing if not professional. 

Viggo Mortensen filmed multiple takes of the scene in the second installment of the Lord of the Rings series where his character kicks a helmet. On the final take, Mortensen broke two of his toes. His genuine reaction — a painful scream — made it in the film. 

Unsurprisingly, filming A Clockwork Orange was an unpleasant experience for many involved, particularly Malcolm McDowell. While filming a particularly memorable scene, McDowell's cornea was really scratched, and the man in the film giving him eye drops was a real doctor.