10 Times Movies Went To Extreme Lengths For Scenes That Didn’t Make The Cut

3. Trading Lives - A Rare Truck Is Destroyed For An Eventually Deleted Scene

Steve Carrell
Warner Bros.

Though next to nobody would ever turn down the chance to see a stunt supremely executed on the big screen, the cost of committing these often explosive or destructive moments to a feature can often be quite high. Which must make the decision to actually pull an expensive sequence from a finished cut that bit more difficult to swallow.

Now, factor in the act of thoroughly pulverising a ridiculously rare set of items for the sake of a scene not fit for purpose and you find yourself in the unenviable position that director D. J. Caruso was in in whilst shooting the Angelina Jolie-starring Taking Lives in the early 2000's.

Jolie's character of FBI Agent Illeana Scott was captured driving an old truck back to her home in the fateful scene, with a tree branch then tumbling from up high and smashing through her windshield. Because drama! As the scene took a good few takes to get in the can, the production managed to destroy all of the available versions of this type of windshield in North America for the shot.

And the reward for ridding The States of this particular windscreen? Nothing, but a place on this lovely list.

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Contributor

Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...