10 Movie Stunts That Went Very Wrong (But Are Still In The Film)
1. Stone Cold Steve Austin Broke Sylvester Stallone's Neck During A Fight Scene - The Expendables
One of the more memorable moments in The Expendables involves Sylvester Stallone and wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin coming to blows in a climactic fight.
Rather than let stunt performers do the hard work, the duo decided to throw down themselves, shooting the entire sequence without outside assistance.
Yet things turned "vicious," in Sly's words, during an action beat where Austin picked up Stallone and hurled him to the ground.
Stallone hit the floor with such force that he received a hairline neck fracture, later requiring him to have "a very serious operation" where a metal plate was inserted into his neck.
Impressively, Stallone didn't realise the full extent of his injuries until a routine doctor's visit a week later, where he was informed that fluid building up around the fracture could've killed him had he waited much longer.
Austin was reportedly horrified when he later heard the extent of his co-star's injuries, until Sly called to assure him there were no hard feelings.
Stallone, who also directed the film, unsurprisingly included the injurious moment, which frankly looks great, even if most audiences surely assumed that Stallone had been safely tossed onto a crash mat.