During the filming of Poltergeist (1982), directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg , there was one such incident during filming.
While the young actor Oliver Robins, 10, was acting out the scene where his clown puppet strangles him when he is in bed, the doll’s arm, which was supposed to wrap around his neck, was tight too tight…
The boy began to suffocate and exclaimed, “I’m suffocating!” »
Spielberg and Hooper, who were present, spontaneously thought the kid was improvising a line and told him to face the camera.
A second later, the young actor’s face began to change color. Spielberg was the first to react and he rushed to loosen the prop’s grip…
This incident, as well as the deaths of two actors in the film after filming (including a 12-year-old child), helped create the cursed film legend that Poltergeist has endured ever since.