Working on a movie or TV show usually demands a ton of time, commitment, and the ability to juggle different challenges just to meet production deadlines. People from all sorts of professional and personal backgrounds are thrown together for weeks or even months, and that mix can lead to some truly awkward or uncomfortable situations—things most of us would try to avoid in real life. But on set, you just have to power through it.
Of course, the audience never sees that part. What we get is the smooth, edited version, not the messy reality. But every now and then, stories slip out. Whether it’s through interviews, bloopers, or behind-the-scenes videos, we catch a glimpse of the weird stuff that really happened. And honestly? Some of it is kind of gross—but also weirdly fascinating. So here’s a roundup of some of the wildest, cringiest, and most unexpected moments from behind the scenes of fan-favorite movies and TV shows.
1. The Paperboy
Believe it or not, there’s a scene in The Paperboy where Zac Efron actually gets peed on by Nicole Kidman. This happens during the infamous jellyfish moment.
Director Lee Daniels opened up about the behind-the-scenes decision during an interview with Vulture, saying “We just went for it and never thought twice about it, because it made sense for the film. It was what it was. I think that I became more nervous about it in the edit room, and I thought, I’m not actually going to show this, right? Is it vulgar? And I called Nicole and said, ‘I don’t know,’ and she said, ‘Lee, you made me pee on Zac Efron. If you don’t put it in the movie, you need to man up.’ And I was like, ‘All right, I ain’t gonna pu**y out! Okay.'”
2. The Office
Kissing scenes in The Office weren’t always romantic. Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin, shared that her co-star Rainn Wilson “was usually eating something disgusting right beforehand.
“ On her podcast Office Ladies, she recalled the awkwardness, saying “And I’d be like, ‘Rainn, dang it. Do you have to eat a tuna fish sandwich right before we’re supposed to kiss? Come on!'”
3. Chinatown
Faye Dunaway had a rough time filming Chinatown, especially because of director Roman Polanski’s strict set rules.
He didn’t even allow her to use the restroom between scenes. In a moment of frustration and desperation, Dunaway peed in a cup—and then threw it in Polanski’s face to make her point loud and clear.
4. Elf
That over-the-top breakfast spaghetti scene in Elf wasn’t easy to film for Will Ferrell. During the first take, he actually threw up from all the sugar.
According to Screen Rant, they had to shoot it twice, and the sugary overload even gave him a migraine by the end of the day.
5. Game Of Thrones
Charles Dance, who played Tywin Lannister on Game of Thrones, gave a pretty wild insight into the deer skinning scene his character performed.
In an interview with Esquire, he revealed just how real it all was, saying “I learned how to skin a deer. I skinned a deer quite well actually. They came to me one day and said ‘Charles, are you a vegetarian?’ I said, ‘No, of course not.’ So they got this butcher chap to show me how to skin a whole deer and then I did it, and I did it well… I think. I was hoping for a nice haunch of venison from it, but they didn’t even let me keep a hoof!”
6. Now You See Me
In the well-known water tank scene from Now You See Me, Isla Fisher found herself in a terrifying situation.
While performing the three-minute escape stunt, she got stuck underwater because her release chain was tangled in her outfit. What made it worse is that everyone thought she was just acting really well. She later told Chelsea Handler on Chelsea Lately, “I was actually drowning,” “Everyone thought I was acting fabulously. … no one realized I was actually struggling.”
7. Poltergeist
During the filming of Poltergeist, there’s a scene where the character Diane, played by JoBeth Williams, falls into an excavated swimming pool. At the time, she believed the skeletons floating around her were fake props.
But years later, she found out they were real human skeletons. She shared with Vanity Fair, “I always assumed that the skeletons were made by the prop department. A few years later, I ran into one of the special effects guys, and I said, ‘You guys making all those skeletons, that must have been really amazing.’ He said, ‘Oh, we didn’t make them, those were real.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Yeah, they were real skeletons…”
8. The Princess Bride
One of the wildest behind-the-scenes moments from The Princess Bride was a giant fart—literally. Cary Elwes remembers filming the castle storming scene when André the Giant let out an unforgettable 16-second fart.
The sound was so intense that the plywood set shook, and even the sound guy had to lift his headphones. Elwes told Live with Kelly and Ryan, “André goes, ‘I guess not very long’… and he lets out the most monumental fart. I mean, no, for real, like, insane, like, deafening. We all still have tinnitus in one ear. The whole plywood set was shaking, and the sound guy lifted his headphones off his ears and like was [shaking his head]. And it went on for—somebody timed it! It was 16 seconds!”
9. Candyman
In Candyman, there’s a chilling bee scene that was even scarier in real life. Actor Tony Todd had real bees placed in his mouth while filming. He ended up being stung at least 23 times.
Image source: TriStar Pictures, Kristen Harris
Todd told The Guardian, “I negotiated a bonus of $1,000 for every sting during the bee scene. And I got stung 23 times. Everything that’s worth making has to involve some sort of pain. Once I realized it was an important part of who Candyman was, I embraced it. It was like putting on a beautiful coat.”