Burt Reynolds Actually Went Over the Waterfall in the Canoe
Burt Reynolds was one tough guy. So tough, that for the scene in which his character, Lewis, goes over a waterfall in a canoe, he told John Boorman that there was no need for a dummy. He said he could do it himself… which ended up being a terrible, terrible mistake.
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He told The Hollywood Reporter, “I went over the falls, and the first thing that happened, I hit a rock and cracked my tailbone, and to this day, it hurts.” As if cracking his tailbone wasn’t enough, the second Reynolds hit the water below, he got caught in a whirlpool. Unable to get out, he had to swim all the way down to the bottom until he was forcefully shot back up. He emerged from the river butt naked and flustered.