10 Movie Stunts That Went Very Wrong (But Are Still In The Film)
6. Bradley Cooper Almost Suffocates Himself With A Plastic Bag - Burnt
On paper this stunt seems decidedly more low-stakes than most of the others on this list, and yet, it very nearly killed the actor involved all the same.
Bradley Cooper's mostly forgotten 2015 drama Burnt stars the actor as self-destructive celebrity chef Adam Jones who, near the end of the movie, gets blind drunk and turns up at the restaurant of his rival, Montgomery Reece (Matthew Rhys).
Adam then grabs a plastic bag used for sous vide cooking and places it over his head in an attempt to suffocate himself, prompting an exasperated Reece to subdue him and rip the bag off.
This stunt wasn't actually in the original script, though, and was improvised by Cooper on set. However, he evidently didn't appreciate the very real risk that forcing a tight plastic bag over his head presented and began to suffocate for real.
Thankfully co-star Rhys acted quickly and helped tear the bag off his head, with the entire take being kept in the final film by director John Wells. In interviews, Cooper mentioned that this act of life-saving created a bond between him and Rhys.