11 movie scenes during which actors were genuinely scared (11 photos)

I wonder if you'd be scared?

"Alien" - The Kitchen Moment





For most of the first act of "Alien," Ridley Scott spent all his time building suspense, which, as it turned out, also affected the actors. After Kane, contrary to the rules, ended up on the ship with the facehugger, the audience knew that something very bad was going to happen sooner or later. And this "bad thing" happened in the kitchen scene, when Kane, waking up, suddenly felt extremely unwell right during dinner, and a xenomorph crawled out of him. Remarkably, the actors weren't even aware of the details of this scene.

Before filming, Ridley Scott took John Hurt aside, attached a device to him that spurted pig's blood, and explained how it would actually go. The rest of the actors knew only the general outline of the scene, and they became seriously worried when they saw the entire crew dressed in raincoats. However, after the first take, they relaxed, as it was a disaster due to a malfunction in the mechanism, which only spurted out a small amount of blood. The actors thought the second take would be the same, but it turned out completely different, as the device literally doused them all like a hose.

The reactions of Sigourney Weaver and the others weren't even improvised, but real emotions. Yaphet Kotto was so nervous that he ran away and locked himself in his room for several hours.

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" - Flamethrower



Even though Leonardo DiCaprio has incalculable film experience, even he was scared while filming "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Not for himself, though, but for the stuntmen in the flamethrower scene. According to the plot of the film within the film, Rick Dalton's character was supposed to use a flamethrower on the bad guys.

However, Leo was afraid that someone would get hurt because of it. Then one of the stuntmen invited him to rehearse with him, showing by example that they had everything under control. Later, DiCaprio became so accustomed to the flamethrower that he began improvising in his own style, and at one point, while using it, he asked, "Why is it so hot?"

"The Exorcist" - A Nasty Pea Soup





In one scene in "The Exorcist," a possessed Regan splashes a horrific dark green liquid onto Father Damien Karras, leaving him in a state of shock. Director William Friedkin, rather than trying to trick Jason Miller into revealing real emotion, explained what would happen in the next few seconds, especially since he himself had practically figured it out, as Linda Blair was wearing special tubes.

However, the scene didn't go as planned and caught Miller off guard. The dark green pea-based mess was supposed to land on Jason's chest, but the mechanism accidentally aimed higher, and the entire contents spilled onto the actor's face. Damien Karras can be seen getting scared at this moment, and this is because the actor expected something completely different.

Interestingly, the director didn't get it. They filmed several more better takes, but Friedkin liked the one that got out of hand.

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - The Face of the Main Villain



Gunnar Hansen's Leatherface doesn't have much interaction with the other characters, but every scene was worth its weight in gold because the actors were genuinely terrified. Tobe Hooper, who directed the film, didn't reveal the main villain's appearance to the rest of the cast. Tobe wanted everyone to express genuine fear in their first encounters, not feign it. And Hooper succeeded, as Gunnar, in his makeup, was truly terrifying and frightened many of his co-stars.

"The Dark Knight" - Alfred Pennyworth's First Encounter with the Joker



When Michael Caine recalled Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, he noted that Heath far surpassed Jack Nicholson, whose Joker had long been considered the best. According to Caine, compared to Nicholson's Joker, Ledger's character instilled genuine fear. And these words are not empty words, because Michael truly experienced this emotion the first time he saw Heath in action. It happened in the scene in which the Joker and his men take over an entire building, along with many rich people.

In one shot, he passes Pennyworth for a couple of seconds, and his expression is one of terror. Michael Caine later admitted that he was impressed and genuinely frightened by Heath, as he had never seen him in makeup before, much less in action on a film set.

"Cake" - Fear of Water



In the film "Cake," Jennifer Aniston's character is terrified of water, and the actress understood this very well, having been terrified of it since childhood. Jennifer said that as a child, she was riding a bike and fell into a pool with it, but was so scared that she sank with it because she couldn't let go of the handlebars out of fear. Aniston then got out of the pool with the help of her brother, but for the filming of "Cake," she climbed in on her own to overcome her fear. She made 30 attempts before the director found the right take and finished filming.

"It" - the children's first encounter with Pennywise



Director Andres Muschietti decided to follow the same path as Tobe Hooper when creating "It." He was so impressed by Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise that he thought his young co-stars should definitely see him for the first time during filming, not somewhere on set between takes.

Andrés was determined to capture genuine emotion, so he made sure Bill Skarsgård didn't cross paths with Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Wyatt Oleff, and Sophia Lillis until their first filming together. And he ultimately achieved his goal. None of them even had to resort to their acting skills, because the first thing they did upon seeing Skarsgård in clown makeup in a dilapidated house was scream in fear.

It's noteworthy that Jackson Robert Scott, who played Georgie, experienced a completely different experience. He was too young, so Andres Muschietti staged his meeting with Bill so that Jackson wouldn't be frightened. And the young actor, interestingly, not only wasn't frightened, but even expressed admiration for the makeup artists' work.

"The Blair Witch Project" - a long psychological attack



During the production of "The Blair Witch Project," the filmmakers tried to market the film in a way that would make audiences think it wasn't based on real events, but rather showed real footage of real people. To do this, they cast novice actors, unknown to anyone, and never showed them in the hopes that viewers would believe the footage and the existence of Heather, Joshua, and the others.

But that wasn't enough. The directors and their assistants also worked intensively on the actors themselves. Given their lack of film experience, they weren't expected to act, but to live the film's plot. In fact, the actors didn't even see the script. They were given small excerpts each day, and the bulk of the script was hidden from them so they wouldn't know what was coming next. To top it all off, the actors were fed less and less each day, making them increasingly nervous. And at night, when they slept in tents, the filmmakers played them recordings of children's laughter, which sounds very eerie in the dark, and shook their tents.

As a result, the actors expressed their true emotions throughout the film, which was exactly what both directors and producers wanted.

"The Departed" - Jack Nicholson's Gun



When making "The Departed," Martin Scorsese really wanted to cast Jack Nicholson, and he ultimately succeeded. But he made two major concessions: Martin expanded Frank Costello's role in the plot and allowed Nicholson to improvise whatever he wanted. Jack ended up improvising most of his scenes, and in one of them, he even scared Leonardo DiCaprio.

Before the interrogation scene, Leo was warned by the prop master that Jack would be carrying a gun. DiCaprio thought it was a prop, but when Nicholson showed Leo his gun right during the take, he realized it was real and probably loaded. Considering Nicholson was almost 70 years old and always known for his slight insanity, DiCaprio wasn't sure what to expect from him, so he spent a full minute seriously worried about his life.

"The Godfather" - orange peel



During his time in film, Marlon Brando angered many people and nearly became persona non grata. By the time filming began on The Godfather, he had acquired a bad reputation and continued acting only because he was fortunate enough to star in the cult film that kept his career afloat.

However, Marlon completely changed when it came to children, and he demonstrated this in The Godfather, in a scene in which Vito plays with his grandson, picks up an orange peel, puts it in his mouth, and begins to smile. Although the film depicts the entire scene as going well, behind the scenes things were a bit different, as during the first take, the three-year-old actor became frightened and burst into tears.

Many might have thought that the well-known Brando would stay in character and complete the scene. However, he immediately dropped the peel and began to comfort his on-screen grandson.

"Uncharted: Not in the Cards" - Too Much Height



In the Spider-Man films, Tom Holland performed many of his own stunts, and with the same attitude, he approached filming "Uncharted: Not in the Cards." For this film, he also had to work hard and overcome his fears, one of which was heights. In one scene, Nate finds himself at a great height, and only luck prevented him from falling.

For this shoot, Holland climbed 30 meters into the air, and he says it was "really scary" because the stunt was bigger and more dangerous than anything he'd ever done. However, Holland still has a long way to go compared to Tom Cruise, who literally clung to a cargo plane and took off with it.