15 Movie Moments From The Last 10 Years That Actors Were Actually Terrified To Film

While filming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Bryce Dallas Howard was "so scared" while filming a scene where Claire falls over a cliff that she passed out.

There are obviously some MAJOR spoilers ahead!

1. First, in It Chapter Two (2019), Jessica Chastain admitted she had "a little fear" to film the scene when Pennywise tortures Beverly in a bathroom stall that is rapidly filling with blood. A record-breaking 4,500 gallons of fake blood were used to film the scene, which couldn't be rehearsed prior to filming.

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In an interview with BuzzFeed, Jessica said, "When we were rehearsing it, we couldn't really rehearse it. And so we would talk about what would happen." 

She added that the moment that scared her the most was when Beverly slipped off the toilet and then submerged in blood. Jessica recalled, "If I got stuck, or if something happens, no one would know where I was."

2. Also in It Chapter Two (2019), Bill Hader said he was "terrified" of Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård, namely during the scene when Pennywise confronts Richie. "The minute they say 'action,' he's so terrifying," Bill recalled when talking about the viral photos of the duo on set.

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It Chapter Two was Bill's first horror movie, and he added that he's "terrible at acting scared apparently" because when he's scared, he starts smiling. "When I get nervous, I kind of smile," he joked.

3. In Uncharted (2022), while filming the moment when Nathan is falling out of the back of a cargo plane, Tom Holland admitted it was "really scary" to shoot. He explained that they filmed this one sequence for five weeks, and it involved him being "like 100 feet in the air" at times.

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"And it was really scary. But I think that level of fear just makes that scene that much more authentic. It's the hardest action sequence I've ever made," Tom added. He also said the stunts in Uncharted were "far bigger" than anything he'd done before.

4. In Top Gun: Maverick (2023), the movie ends with Maverick taking Penny flying, which is a scene that scared Jennifer Connelly. Jennifer said prior to filming the movie, she had a "crippling fear of flying that [she] suffered from for years."

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"Originally, when I signed on to do the movie, there was NO flying for my character. My character was on land. She was on the water. She was never in the air," she recalled. Jennifer credits Tom Cruise with helping her overcome her fear and called the experience "unbelievable" in the end.

5. In Nope (2022), after a "bad accident" involving a horse years prior, Daniel Kaluuya explained he had "like a week to get over [his] PTSD" before filming began on this movie where his character, OJ, rides horses.

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Daniel said he used his character in Nope to get more comfortable around horses, saying that OJ is "very still," so he had to be very still around the horses, too. "As I was getting better at riding, I was getting closer to OJ as a character," he added. Aside from riding, he also went to the stables and cleaned the horses' stalls so he would be comfortable.

6. In Dune (2021), Rebecca Ferguson was terrified to film the scenes when Lady Jessica and Paul fly in an ornithopter because she is claustrophobic. She explained, "There was a moment when I panicked, and I literally took my foot and just kicked the door out. I needed to know I could get out."

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She continued, saying, "I can't be locked in. On every set, I always have to make sure that if they lock me into something, there needs to be an out."

7. And in Mission Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015), Rebecca Ferguson said she was "petrified" filming the scene when Ilsa and Ethan jump off the roof of the opera house. This scene was actually Rebecca's first day of filming, and she recalled "swearing and shouting the naughtiest words ever" in Tom Cruise's ear during the scene.

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The stunt team worked extensively with Rebecca, who did her own stunts so she would feel safe and comfortable falling from that height. She explained they would take her up a few feet and drop her, and then slowly she would get higher until she felt comfortable falling from 15 feet. 

8. In Anyone But You (2023), during a scene when Bea finds a spider in Ben's pants and starts screaming, the spider really bit Sydney Sweeney while filming. She explained she was a little hesitant to film with the spider but was assured it was trained; then, in the middle of the take, it actually started biting her.

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"[The crew] thought I was making really serious dramatic choices in a rom-com," Sydney said while telling the story about how it took a little while before the crew stopped the scene and realized she was actually in pain. Glen Powell was the first one to notice that Sydney's screams weren't fake anymore.

9. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), Bryce Dallas Howard said she was "so scared" while filming the moment when Claire and Franklin fell off a cliff in a gyrosphere. Director J.A. Bayone wanted their reactions to be very realistic, so the scene was accomplished by building a rollercoaster and having the actors experience zero gravity. Bryce recalled passing out from so much fear while filming.

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"I was so scared," Bryce began. "Justice Smith actually just reminded me of this a couple of days ago. Normally, with stunts, with each take, you get more and more confident. With each take, my panic increased substantially. And by the fifth or sixth take, you know, there's so much fear, and I just blacked out. Then it stopped, and I came to. It was crazy; I passed out."

10. In Barbie (2023), Margot Robbie was actually "mortified" while filming the scene when Barbie sings "Closer to Fine." Margot said she was also scared to sing in Amsterdam (2022) because she's not a good singer. Speaking about the Barbie scene, Margot said she was "embarrassed" while shooting it.

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Director and writer Greta Gerwig talked about including a scene where Margot sings in Barbie despite knowing she can't sing, saying, "My favorite thing about her is that she can't sing that well. And I made her belt out in Barbie, Indigo Girls 'Closer to Fine,' and she was like, 'No, don't make me do it,' and I was like, 'I love this. I love it so much.'"

11. In Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), Leonardo DiCaprio was nervous about filming the scene where his character, Rick, uses a flamethrower to set fire to Nazis in a movie. Stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo recalled Leo being afraid he would hurt one of the stunt performers, so Robert let himself be set on fire during a rehearsal so Leo could see it was safe.

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Robert added, "Leo was not very gung-ho with all the flamethrower stuff. Literally, he doesn't want to hurt anyone. And I completely understood it. [Leo] is actually lighting them up and holding a flame to them for about seven to eight seconds as the flamethrower is traversing back and forth around eight guys that he’s never met."

The first day he used the flamethrower on set, Leo described it as "a really hard day."

12. In Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), several important scenes, like the ending as Neytiri and her family escape from being trapped beneath the ship, take place underwater, which "scared" Zoe Saldaña. She explained, "The first step is you fake it till you make it: You tell your boss, 'Yeah, absolutely, I'm so excited,' and then it's complete horror, like, 'What am I going to do?'"

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Avatar: The Way of Water required the actors to actually film scenes underwater and train to hold their breaths for several minutes while shooting certain sequences. Zoe said out of the cast, Kate Winslet was able to hold her breath the longest for "seven minutes." She added, "I got almost up to five minutes. That's a big accomplishment, you guys."

13. In Underwater (2020), Kristen Stewart recalled having to get over her fear of water while filming the movie, which focuses on her character, Norah, and others being trapped 11,000 meters below sea level. "It was really hard. I was scared the whole time," she explained.

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She continued, saying, "It was not fun. I hated it. I would usually not be allowed to say that. Cause you're like, 'Oh no, highlight the good parts at least.' It's a horror movie. It was awful."

14. In The 355 (2022), Lupita Nyong'o explained she had to "face [her] fear of heights" while performing numerous stunts in the movie. "At some point, I had to jump down from one floor to another, and I was really scared," she recalled.

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In order to feel comfortable filming the moment when her character, Khadijah, jumps from one floor to another, the stunt team put her in the harness a few days prior so she could get a feel for what it would be like. "I let them know early that I was afraid of heights," she added. "The first few times, I was squealing all the way down, and, man, it was not a cute sight. I did not look like a badass doing it."

15. And finally, in Cake (2014), Jennifer Aniston's character, Claire, has several scenes where she partakes in water therapy while dealing with chronic pain and addiction. In real life, Jennifer has "a real fear of going underwater" and found filming these scenes challenging.

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She explained where her fear of water came from, saying, "I was a kid, and I was riding this tricycle around a swimming pool, and I drove my tricycle into the swimming pool, and I didn't let go, and my brother tried to [help me]. So, I can't go underwater, and no one will believe me. I honestly can't."