Suicide scene goes wrong: Actor was given a real knife?

[웃 910]

An actor almost died on stage after slashing his throat in a bizarre mix-up with a knife.

The character played by Daniel Hoevels was supposed to commit suicide in the drama with a blunt stage weapon but had instead been provided with a real blade. He collapsed on stage with blood pouring from his neck and the audience started to applaud the spectacular special effects. It was only when Hoevels, 30, failed to get up to take a bow at Vienna's Burgtheater in Austria that they realised something was wrong. Now police are investigating their own murder mystery drama – after refusing to rule out the possibility that the stunt may have been an attempt to bump off the actor by a jealous rival. Police have been told that the knife had been bought at a local store and are asking if props staff forgot to blunt the blade for the performance of Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart, about Mary Queen of Scots. "The knife even still had the price tag on it," said one shocked police investigator. The theatre's props manager is understood to have been quizzed by police about the knife, reported Austrian daily Osterreich. The actor recovered after emergency treatment to his wound at a local hospital and appeared on stage the next night with a bandage around his neck. "If Hoevels had hit an artery or cut only slightly deeper, he would have died on stage," a doctor said. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...ife-mix-up.html

[William33 110]

Please justify why this should not be in the polls topic...I voted no, always look before the leap.

[웃 910]

Please justify why this should not be in the polls topic

It was an off topic story, at the last second I added the poll.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Confucian

[jundp 191]

that's really sad...glad he's ok

[William33 110]

Please justify why this should not be in the polls topic

It was an off topic story, at the last second I added the poll.

I am good with that. Thanks.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Hell no, if somebody needs to put something to my throat it will be checked out first.

[Marina-Del 10]

I voted Yes, who would look because why would he have assumed it was a real knife?

I don't think this was the opening night of the show, but even if it was, they would have practiced this scene a hundred times with a fake knife, presumably. He's done the scene a million times and every time the knife was dulled (as it should be) why would he have assumed that the knife they gave him was any different. I'm sure NOW he'll check...but originally you wouldn't think there would have been a need to.

[_Simpson_ 250]

I voted Yes, who would look because why would he have assumed it was a real knife?

I don't think this was the opening night of the show, but even if it was, they would have practiced this scene a hundred times with a fake knife, presumably. He's done the scene a million times and every time the knife was dulled (as it should be) why would he have assumed that the knife they gave him was any different. I'm sure NOW he'll check...but originally you wouldn't think there would have been a need to.

Good point, I could see how it would be overlooked. I voted no though, just the thought of having a knife to my throat is unsettling but....

[DeadPoolX 9]

Didn't something like this happen to Brandon Lee?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Didn't something like this happen to Brandon Lee?

Brandon Lee wasn't shot with a real bullet. It was that the guns they used weren't cleaned properly and a metal fragment built up in the barrel of one of them and basically acted like a bullet.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Pretty hard not to notice how sharp the knife is, especially dragging the blade across your throat. I know my thrumb would be resting on or near the blade edge, over the hilt, to keep it from slipping.

[Marina-Del 10]

Pretty hard not to notice how sharp the knife is, especially dragging the blade across your throat. I know my thrumb would be resting on or near the blade edge, over the hilt, to keep it from slipping.

Yeah, but at the same time, he might have run the blade over his neck really quickly and then maybe by the time his mind recognized the pain, it was already done. I don't know what actual happened, just a theory.

But it is true that a sharp blade and a dull blade do look differently close up. But I still rest on my earlier defense that there was no reason for him to think it was a real knife, so why would he look?

[Ban Hammer 14,148]

darwin award honorable mention?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Hell no, if somebody needs to put something to my throat it will be checked out first.

Mmmmmmmmm, never mind.