"Some Of Us Were Stupid Enough To Swallow It" – 10 Scenes That Were Actually Nasty For The Actors To Film

"When you bite into it, it bursts in your mouth.”

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Sometimes we have to do things we're not so fond of at work, and that's no different for actors. Whether it's eating something disgusting, or being in a grim situation, there are plenty of scenes that are horrible for actors to shoot.

NBC

Here are 10 scenes that were pretty disgusting to film:

1. Elf

New Line Cinema

The iconic Christmas movie was a lot of fun to watch, but for Will Ferrell, it wasn't so joyous to film, largely because of the amount of sugary foods he had to eat. The one scene in particular that he described as being "tough" was the pasta scene, where his character, Buddy, eats pasta laden with sugary sweets. He was happy to do whatever it took to get the movie done though: 

“I ingested a lot of sugar in this movie and I didn’t get a lot of sleep. I constantly stayed up. But anything for the movie, I’m there. If it takes eating a lot of maple syrup, then I will — if that’s what the job calls for.”

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Have a look here:

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2. Harry Potter

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Great Hall scenes in Harry Potter made kids across the world drool with envy, but they were actually not so fun to shoot, mainly due to the food itself. Because the scenes took multiple days to film, the actors were only allowed to eat the food for the first day; they had to just pretend to eat if after that.

This was because it was the same food that had been there on the first day and lying out all night and all day. According to actor Warwick Davis, who played Flitwick, by "the fourth day, you could smell the Great Hall before you got in it. The food was the same food and it had quite an 'amazing' smell."

Have a look here:

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3. Game of Thrones

HBO

The scene where Daenerys eats the horse's heart was shocking for viewers, but also for Emilia Clarke herself, whose disgusted face was very real. This was because, while she wasn't eating a real heart, she was eating a gummy bear-like, pasta, and fake blood concoction that tasted like bleach. 

The actor reportedly ate 28 hearts' worth of the mixture, and would throw up at points between takes...

Look here:

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4. Star Wars

20th Century Studios

Star Wars fans will recognise the blue milky drink that Mark Hamil was drinking during the movies, but the actual stuff was not pleasant to gulp down. According to the actor, the prop liquid would make him gag when he drank it: 

“Honestly though: the warm, oily, sickly-sweet milk dyed blue from the movie was gag-inducing." 

Mark continued, referencing the drink they serve at Disneyland, saying that the one for fans tasted like a "yummy fruit smoothie." It begs the question, why did they make him drink a disgusting one then? 

Have a look:

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5. Poltergeist

MGM/UA Entertainment Co.

This scene was disgusting and disturbing, but the actor, JoBeth Williams, only found out the extent of the horror years later. In the scene, in the pouring rain, she falls into an excavated pool that is filling up with water, and skeletons begin to rise up out of the murky waters. 

While that's pretty grim to film anyway, the actor found out that the ones in the water were actually real, human skeletons... Apparently, these were cheaper to get than prop ones. 

She did say that she was glad she didn't know at the time, but that's still a pretty shocking discovery to make. 

Have a look:

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6. The Sandlot

20th Century Studios

The carnival scene in The Sandlot was apparently not much fun to film at all. Actor Tom Guiry revealed that it was actually a very unpleasant experience. Firstly there was the ride that they had to go on, and do multiple takes of:

"We had to go on that ride about 15 times and I think me, Ham, and Chauncey all threw up a few times. At first, it was like, ‘This isn’t so bad.’ But by the fifteenth go-round, it was like, ‘This is getting a little uhhhhh…'”

And then there was the fake chewing tobacco the actors had to chew to replicate the real thing:

And the fake dip the kids put in their mouths was just as nasty as the real thing. Tom explained what they were made of: "Licorice and bacon bits — I think some of us were stupid enough to swallow it."

Here's the scene:

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7. Set it Up

Netflix

The scene itself wasn't disgusting to film, it's more what happened to Zoey Deutch during the shoot. It was the scene where her and Glen Powell's character were eating pizza and cuddling up together. During the shoot though, Zoey ate four full large pizzas, which led the actor to vomit between the takes... 

On the experience, she said: "I threw up violently halfway through the scene. And then I had to proceed to be very close to Glen Powell, who now, I think, looks at me in a very different light."

Thankfully for her, the scene didn't put her off pizzas though! 

Watch it here:

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8. Game of Thrones (again)

HBO

The scene where Sam peels off Jorah Mormont's greyscale was sickening to watch. All of the scabby pus was definitely gag-worthy viewing, and, while it was obviously prosthetics, it was still pretty grim to film.

John Bradley, who played Sam, talked about shooting that scene, and how nasty it was: 

"It looks disgusting even when you know it’s latex and that there’s a man nearby with a bucket filled with creamy gunk. It looks so disgusting. You look down, and you genuinely believe in what it is… you can imagine that it’s pretty grim."

Take a look:

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9. Suicide Squad

Warner Bros. Pictures

Margot described the scene where Harley Quin goes into the big vat of gooey liquid as one of the "most unpleasant things" she's ever done in her entire life. That may be because what she was jumping into was a viscous liquid that was disgusting to be in:  

"It was like this gluggy paint stuff that was so far in my ears and up my nose, and I was choking on it underwater, and I couldn't breathe, and I tried to open my eyes, and it would glaze over my eyeballs, and I could only see white. It was horrible."

It does actually look quite grim tbf. 

Have a look here:

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10. The Revenant

20th Century Studios

Okay, this whole film sounded pretty grim to film for Leonardo DiCaprio, although much of it was of his own accord. Portraying Hugh Glass, Leo did a variety of kinda disgusting and gruelling things which included wading in frozen rivers and sleeping in animal carcasses. 

He also ate raw bison liver, which can actually be seen in the film because it was kept in. Describing the 'meal,' he said: “The bad part is the membrane around it... It’s like a balloon. When you bite into it, it bursts in your mouth.”

Leo had the option to eat a gelatine version of it, but he saw it on the day and said it "didn't look real," so he went for the real thing. 

Unsurprisingly the director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, had some concerns about this because he was worried that his lead would get sick. While Leo did get sick throughout production, it wasn't from the raw bison.

Here's Leo talking about it:

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Which of these would you least like to do? Let us know in the comments below!

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