J.J. Abrams Broke His Back Filming 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
Sure, Harrison Ford famously broke his leg on the set of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." But that's nothing compared to director J.J. Abrams, who actually broke his back in the same accident that injured Ford.
The Daily Show" on Thursday night, where he was promoting his production of "Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation." The director told host Jon Stewart that he's in awe of Ford, referring to him as "a real-life superhero" and a "miracle man" for the actor's ability to bounce back from injury, which also included Ford's recent plane crash in California.
Comparing himself to Ford, Abrams said that their differences were best exemplified by the incident that sidelined Ford for eight weeks during the filming of "Force Awakens." Abrams explained that they were shooting a scene when suddenly a hydraulic door fell on Ford, knocking him down and messing up his ankle. As Abrams rushed to help, and attempted to help the actor, he ended up injuring himself, too.
"[Ford] is literally lying there making jokes," Abrams told Stewart. " ... So I'm trying to lift up this door, and I feel this kind of pop in my back, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's weird.' So I go to the doctor a couple days later and he goes, 'Oh, you have a broken back.' I broke my L4 [vertebrae] trying to lift this door."
Abrams said he was in a back brace for months, but kept it a secret from everyone on set. Of course, Ford recovered swimmingly from his own injury, Abrams lamented, while he "felt like the most nebbishy, Jewish director ever doing this job."
We're impressed Abrams was able to keep that to himself for so long, and also don't blame him for feeling sheepish, especially in comparison to Ford. Check out the entire exchange below.
[via: The Daily Show]
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