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I’ve got a doozy, because if it had ended a little bit differently, it would’ve changed movie history.
I was the C Camera Operator on the movie Silverado. More often than not, the C camera was not involved in the last set up, so it was fairly often for me to jump in the back of the first van off the set, when they called wrap.
I will never forget the date: it was New Year’s Eve, and we had all of the lead Actors ensemble in the van with us.
The movie was shot outside of Santa Fe, NM, and we were on our way back to the hotel in town, driving on the freeway at night, going easily 80 miles an hour. Everyone was happily chatting about the upcoming New Years celebration to happen in the bar, followed by a day off.
All of a sudden the teamster driver has an epileptic fit. I kid you not! He goes stiff, locks his head looking over his left shoulder, locks his arms with a grip on the steering wheel, and stands on the throttle!
The van accelerated through 90 miles an hour, and headed left into the center dirt-covered median between the two freeway directions, heading towards oncoming traffic, bouncing wildly over the rough terrain, still accelerating.
The unit still photographer John, was sitting in the passenger seat up front, and did the smartest thing, he immediately realized what was happening, reached over and knocked the transmission into neutral. That stopped the acceleration, but the van was still traveling well over 90 mph, and heading into oncoming traffic.
Then, I believe it was the Script Supervisor, a small woman who was sitting in the first passenger row in the middle, who luckily was not wearing her seatbelt, was able to kneel down in the space next to the driver, and with John’s help, wrestle the steering wheel out of the drivers hands and steer the vehicle back to the right. That happened so violently, the van went up on two wheels and almost rolled over.
Luckily the highway at that point was gently uphill, so with the engine screaming, the van went across across all the lanes to the right-hand shoulder, where it rolled to a stop. John then pushed the transmission into park and turned off the ignition.
We all sat there in stunned silence. Someone found a walkie, and told Transpo what had happened, and they sent another van to pick us up. It was a slow silent ride to the hotel.
If the van had flipped or had a head-on collision with oncoming traffic, the movie would’ve been canceled, as we would’ve lost all of the lead actors.
The driver had no prior history of epilepsy. The incident ended his professional driving career. After a trip in an ambulance into town, he was eventually sent back to Los Angeles.
We were very lucky. Happy New Year’s.