10 Movie Scenes More Real Than You Think

William Friedkin's masterful horror classic The Exorcist is jam-packed with scenes sure to burn themselves deep into your psyche, though generally its most horrific moments were intensely rehearsed down to the finest detail.

But one sequence left actress Ellen Burstyn, who plays Regan's (Linda Blair) mother Chris MacNeil, with a permanent lower-back injury, ensuring the final shot scene was a good deal more brutal than anyone ever expected.

After Regan forces Chris' head into her crotch, she hurls Chris across the room, causing her to land hard on the floor.

Audiences would understandably put Chris' pained response down to Burstyn simply being a magnificent actress, but in actuality the wire used to pull Burstyn back was yanked too hard, causing her back to be genuinely smashed hard into the floor.

In a more recent interview, Burstyn at least seems pretty pragmatic about the whole thing, even if today such behaviour could absolutely end a filmmaker's career:

"Billy is one of those directors that is so dedicated to getting the shot right that I think some other considerations sort of fall by the wayside sometimes. He's a brilliant director and I don't want to knock him, however, I did injure my lower back and had to work with it ever since. But it's okay."