10 Film Scenes That Broke The Camera
5. Alexander's House Burns - The Sacrifice
In the case of Andrei Tarkovsky's classic 1986 drama The Sacrifice, it wasn't so much a calamitous accident which busted the camera as pure, unfortunate happenstance.
While shooting the iconic scene where Alexander (Erland Josephson) burns his house down, which unfolds in a single unbroken six-minute take, the camera suddenly jammed, causing the footage to be ruined and left entirely unusable.
And because a house was razed for real, the production had to spend two weeks rebuilding it at great cost for a reshoot.
This time Tarkovsky shot the sequence with two cameras running parallel to one another in order to account for any camera issues.
This approach was suggested by cinematographer Sven Nykvist the first time they shot the scene, but ill-advisedly vetoed by Tarkovsky.
Completing the sequence was arduous enough for the cast and crew that many reportedly broke down in tears after it was successfully captured.