When actor Jimmy Smits plunged a prop knife into stuntman Jeff Chase on the set of Dexter, he probably thought the double deserved an Emmy for his performance. Unfortunately, Chase's reaction wasn't acting--Smits almost skewered the stuntman with a real knife, reports the UK's Daily Star.
Mess with Smits, get the shank.
Smits, the newest cast member of Showtime's drama, thought he was wielding a fake knife on set and proceeded with the script, deadly steel in hand. Fortunately Chase was wearing a small piece of plastic "the size of a Post-It note" over his heart, which Smits struck with the knife.
Chase was unable to warn Smits of his grievous error, as he was bound in Saran Wrap and had duct tape over his mouth for the scene.
"I heard fellow actor Michael C. Hall yelling at Jimmy to stop--but it was too late," said Chase. I felt the thud in my chest. I didn't have on a metal breastplate like a lot of actors do in a scene like that."
In the preshoot takes, Smits had missed the small piece of plastic protection "eight out of 10 times," but was fortunate enough to aim correctly when the cameras were rolling.
"I really thought I'd been stabbed in the heart, but I didn't have a scratch," said Chase. "Jimmy was devastated and couldn't stop apologizing. I told him, I felt more sorry for him than me."
OK, I'll ask: Why are there real knives near the fake knives?
Comments (58)
Just watched Jimmy do his first stabbing last night as a Dexter Season 3 download.Was googling Smits + Dexter and ended up here. Fun report.. tho' I'm a year behind posting on this.Bringing Smits on Dexter was a piece of genius on a genius and daring show. I love Smits so it was great to see his very fine acting again. And he got to be a REAL BAD DUDE, which is always a delight for an actor, even more so for one with a long list of credits playing Mr. Good Guy. Has anyone considered that this entire "incident" might have merely been a clever publicity gag by writers for a very clever show? That would explain an otherwise very odd prop department blunder. Hollywood has a pretty good handle on safety precautions after many years of experience, at least shows filmed under SAG or AFTRA unions.Wonder one last thing: I noticed that Jimmy's episodes were directed... and perhaps even written by a guy with a Hispanic name.. Wonder if he's a friend of Mr. Smits... Whatever. It's GOOD.moreless
Of course there are real knives, for when the bad guys get killed. Do you guys watch the same reality show i do?
thast actually kind of funny. WHY exactly was there a real knife there? That guy must have felt really stupid afterwards.
Freaky stuff. And that's def. the Stage Manager's fault. He or she should have made sure the real knives were far, far away from the props.
Looks like Jimmy Smits is really into his role. ;)
That is almost ironical. :)
Accidents can happen :P Just like this one.. throwing a spoiler out ^^
kind of lets us in on a spoiler?
A yeah, something tells me that prior to any actor doing these scenes that they should check and ensure that what they're wielding is in fact a prop and not the real thing. Also why would they have a real knife in the mix while doing a death scene, and that mistake should fall all the way back to the stunt/props department. Take care.
Peace To All
That sounds as him going to kill someone. And don't u feel the difference between a real knife and a fake one?
Human error, that's what it was...i mean common its not like the man did it on purpose and the knives are in the same place and they look the same right? So...human error, that's all.
Real knives are used in the shots where nobody is stabbed. Fake knives really don't look quite right, so they aren't switched until the actual stab is filmed. This is bad, bad coordination between stunts, props, and director. Doesn't happen often, but we're all human.
Did someone accidently leave a knife on the props table from the craft services table?
What? Jimmy Smits' character stabs someone? So, he's in cahoots with Dexter now?
this reminds me of the crow almost
why do they use real knifes anyway?
thats crazy
Why are there real knives at all except at the kraft tables.
Exactly! Who was the psycho responsible for there being a real knife besides de fake one?
Oh know that's horrible! This sounds like Psych and Monk when someone switched the knives on purpose. Hopefully that isn't what happened here though. Thank goodness everyone is okay.
Also there was the thing druing The Mummy, when Brendon's character hangs in the jail scene, he almost died. The harnis on his back wasn't connected correctly, and he almost strangled to death.
> It actually makes me think of when Jon-Erik Hexum was killed on the set. That time blanks killed, thankfully this time a real knife didn't.That was a much bigger error on the part of the prop master, who a) didn't train the people about proper handlingb) did not take away the weapons between takes.Hexum, when told that a retake or something was needed, put the prop gun to his head. The blanks, not all that different from a real "bullet" excepting it doesn't have the slug, but instead a wad of paper, still pushed a substantial explosive gas pressure out the muzzle. That pressure plus the wad, placed directly against Hexum's skull, drove the wad plus a chunk of his skull into his brain, killing him.> Reminds me of Brandon Lee's accidental death during filming of "The Crow". Didn't they mistake the real bullets for blank ones? That was almost identical to the Hexum case in a lot of ways, except there was somehow a larger wad or something in the barrel of the gun, which the blank explosion blew directly into his chest, despite the greater range.moreless
Good thing the guy is okay. I think they need to fire that Prop Master, for not ensureing the safety of the actors and stunt-men. You would think that the person in charge of that sort of thing would ensure if they had a real knife on set that it would be marked so they wouln'd make mistakes like that.
So I guess Dexters ADA buddy kills one of Dexters victums...Interesting!
Lucky Jimmy's aim was good that time. Someone needs to get fired.
It actually makes me think of when Jon-Erik Hexum was killed on the set. That time blanks killed, thankfully this time a real knife didn't.
Hm..... wonder if was an accident??..... ;)
Better yet, why do they even HAVE real knives on the set?
Reminds me of Brandon Lee's accidental death during filming of "The Crow". Didn't they mistake the real bullets for blank ones?
idiots
LOL now thats what you call an initiation prank, if you wanted to call it that
Yeah, huge spoiler for me. Tv.com is usually good at keeping everything spoiler free, or at least a spoiler warning, but slipped with this one. Would've liked to find this one out on my own. Guessing the character Jimmy Smits plays is gonna off Freebo. Hope it happens next episode cause I dont want to watch constantly knowing he is gonna kill someone.
So this is a spoiler then, huh? That whole student becomes the master stuff, it is apparent who becomes the new student.
thats crazy and terrible!
Wow, theres no excuse for him not being able to tell the difference between the two, but as for why there would be a real knife on set, it's because they probably had him holding the real one in a scene before he stabbed him and didn't want it to look like a retractable plastic knife.
What a blunder.
yeah, why did they have a real knife??
Holy crap
Wow, that's scary. Why did they have a real knife? Yikes - thank goodness everyone was ok.
Is this the first time that Jimmy Smits has used knives while acting? I always had the impression that the fake versions they create of the real knives "feel" different weight-wise, etc. Anyway, you know someone in the props department has already been reamed over this ...
Memories of Brandon Lee come to my head...why the hell were real knives on the set in the first place?...
eater11 "stabbing" usually involves a knife actually STABBING! drawing blood, cutting through skin etc. not hitting a piece of plastic and causing no damage whatsoever. it is so blatently misleading. it says a stuntman was stabbed, shanked and had a knife "plunged into" him. go get yourself imprisoned and you'll soon discover what it's really like to be shanked i'm sure. oh and i'm sure you would walk away without a scratch like most who get shanked do! you and this story are too stupid for words.
How scary, why in the world would there be real knives on a set like Dexter? It's a good thing that it wasn't anything more dangerous like shooting the stuntman in the heart. As long as everybody's alright I guess, but how dumb, what kind of props are they using? o_0
The property master should be fired for a blunder like that.
wow crazy
Yikes!
The headline isn't misleading he did stab him after all. Also have any of you actually seen a fake knife that they use on TV.
that is the most stupid headline for a story yet on this website. Talk about misleading. No one even got hurt let alone stabbed! Tim Surette, your terrible dribble you call reporting never ceases to dissapoint me.
"Mr. Monk goes to the theater" anyone?