You never know what you might say or do that could save someone's life.
During her Actors on Actors interview with Variety opposite Half Man star Richard Gadd, Claire Danes reflected on her first big Hollywood role as Juliet in Romeo+Juliet and how her costar, Leonardo DiCaprio, potentially saved her life.
Romeo+Juliet was a contemporary, urban take on the Shakespeare play. It featured guns instead of swords and more gang-like conflict than feuding families.
While on set in-between takes, Danes and DiCaprio were preparing for Danes' tragic death scene, in which Juliet thinks Romeo is dead and takes her own life. Bored while waiting to film, Danes recalled fooling around with the prop gun and putting it up to her temple, pretending to shoot herself, but DiCaprio wasn't having it.
Danes recounted:
"I remember just blithely playing with the prop gun and putting it to my head, and Leo getting very serious and saying, 'Claire, we don't do that. Don't 'eff' around.'"
"He was right. I was just being a doofus and a girl."
You can watch the segment here:
Notably, Romeo+Juliet was in production just two years after Brandon Lee's death while filming the final scenes of The Crow. A prop gun was loaded improperly, so when it fired, it operated like a loaded gun, leaving Lee with fatal internal injuries.
Before Lee's death in 1993, Jon-Erik Hexum died in 1984 while filming the TV series Cover Up. He jokingly shot himself in the head with a prop gun, but because of the proximity to his head, it provided enough force to make his injuries fatal, chillingly similar to what could have happened to Danes if she'd pulled the trigger.
While DiCaprio's comments might have sounded a little harsh, what he said was important.
The segment was shared on the "Pop Culture Chat" subReddit, where Redditors were grateful that DiCaprio spoke up.
"He may have saved her life there." - Coriolanuscangetit
"It’s good advice. Most movies use real guns with fake ammo. Even ones loaded with blanks can kill people if they aren’t used properly." - Connoralpha
"Good on Leo for setting that boundary." - crackerfactorywheel
"God knows teenagers can be stupid. I am glad that Leo stepped up and was the responsible adult in that situation. When it came to his coworker's safety, he didn't f**k around. Respect to him for that." - HaliBornandRaise
"Since he had more extensive gun scenes, DiCaprio may have also had more safety training for the production than Danes was given and scheduled for."
"He also just may have had a different upbringing re: guns and gun culture. In the '90s, my parents never allowed my siblings and me to even play with water guns at home, because they did not want to normalize the idea of us shooting each other or being shot at as a game."
"I imagine a lot of people who have encountered gun violence or known people who were impacted by it feel the same." - DisastrousOwls
"Good for him. Leo is always professional when it comes to acting, at least it seems that way to me." - Illustrious-Pound266
"Christopher Walken has a quote about using guns in movies, and being like, 'As soon as the take is over, I want the gun out of my hand immediately.' If Walken says that, everyone should." - annakarina3
"Yeah, the thing is, this was around the time Brandon Lee was still on many people's minds, so it wasn’t fun or cool to mess around with them. I think everyone was definitely more self-aware; even if it was a toy gun, you triple-checked that b***h, and the bullets, the casings, everything to make sure it wasn’t loaded."
"You wanted it to look real, not be real, and even then, this s**t can get real, and accidents can happen."
"That ALL said, just as Danes said, she was seventeen and maybe not thinking of it that way. DiCaprio being 21 was enough of a difference to make a difference. I'm glad he spoke up." - Devil_Fruit9971
"Good on Leo, that's another anecdote I've heard of him being good to his fellow actors."
"Leo also told Chalamet, 'No hard drugs and no superhero movies.' He was around Hollywood when River Phoenix died, and I bet it scared him. Same for Brandon Lee's death with the prop gun." - hamletgoessafari
"Always treat every gun as if it were loaded. Only point it at something you're prepared to shoot." - shewy92
It's always better to speak up and ensure everyone is safe than to stay silent and look on as an accident happens.
@IrnaEnglish/X
