10 Cursed Movie Productions
Dark forces? Plain bad luck? Either way, something funny was going on.
In the movie biz, there are a whole lot of things that can go wrong. Egos, money troubles, creative differences, studio interference, even real world troubles can muck up the best laid plans. Sometimes, though, things go so pear shaped that one can’t help but wonder whether there’s a higher power at work.
The notion of a cursed film has been around for a long time, and for skeptics, it’s easy to dismiss. Assuming there are forces beyond our understanding in this crazy universe, surely they’d have something better to do than to act the pest on a film set?
Look at some of the stories, though, and it becomes a little less difficult to believe. There’s bad luck, and then there’s sequences of events so bizarre that it simply seems unfair, film sets experiencing more misfortune than most people will suffer in a lifetime.
What’s more, a curse can strike at any time - before shooting stars, during production, even in the aftermath. You may think you’ve got to the end of your film, and are now safe - but some of these sneaky curses bide their time, ready to strike when you expect it the least.
10. The Passion Of The Christ
As a staunch man of God, you’d think Mel Gibson might have taken some of the on set incidents as a sign that The Passion Of The Christ wasn’t such a good idea. Perhaps it was the Lord testing him, or career pursuits took precedence over religious concerns - either way, Gibson was certainly tested during this production.
The startlingly violent depiction of Jesus’ final hours primarily sees actor Jim Caviezel getting knocked about brutally. Caviezel really lived the role here, suffering from respiratory illnesses due to the shirtless winter shooting schedule, and receiving the odd accidental thrash of a Roman’s whip, which is going to happen when your film is 90% whipping scenes.
The real peril came from up above, though, in the form of lightning. Caviezel and assistant director Jan Michelini were struck by a bolt from the sky while filming the Sermon on the Mound - you can chalk that one down to bad luck, but, proving the old adage wrong, it was the second tile Micheline had been zapped on set.
Gibson persevered, though, and was rewarded with a notable if frankly unwatchable film. Truly, the Lord works in mysterious ways.