Filming A Fake TBBT Blooper Left Kaley Cuoco With A Very Real Injury
Filming The Big Bang Theory proved to be more hazardous than one might imagine, and it wasn't because Sheldon was trying to telepathically wreak havoc on his adversary's brain.
Injuries on set are frequent in film and television production, with actors and stunt doubles often bearing the brunt while performing dangerous feats. However, it appears these incidents are not confined to action-packed productions.
Remarkably, The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom centred around geeky scientists whose conflicts are mostly limited to biting quips and failed psychic attacks (like Sheldon's attempts to explode Leonard's brain), also experienced its share of mishaps.
Kaley Cuoco, the actress portraying Penny, was unexpectedly caught up in one such incident.
It involved Cuoco and Johnny Galecki, who portrayed Leonard Hofstadter, as revealed by the show's co-executive producer and co-writer, Steve Holland, during an interview with the audience at WonderCon Anaheim 2019.
'They had tried to stage a fake blooper once, Johnny and Kaley, which they were very excited about, where they were going to get into a fight, and he was going to tackle her out of frame or punch her,' Holland shared.
Both actors were so engrossed in their roles that Cuoco failed to notice a heavy object (Holland suggested it could have been 'a chair or something similar') flying perilously close to her face, resulting in a sliced eyelid. Holland further noted that the unfortunate incident transpired just a day before the principal shoot for an upcoming episode. Truly a dreadful scenario!
However, this wasn't the only distressing incident Cuoco experienced while filming The Big Bang Theory. In 2010, the actress, an avid horseback rider, found herself in a dangerous situation when her horse was startled and fell onto Kaley's leg, causing severe bone fractures.
Doctors refused to predict if she was going to fully recover, and even a potential amputation was discussed at one point.
'Kaley could have lost her leg. It was a series of miracles that allowed us to get through that and for her to come out the other end of that healthy,' Chuck Lorre, the show's creator, later said.
Thankfully, Kaley eventually made a full recovery, but her character had to be temporarily written out of two episodes while she was recuperating. Once she got back on set with her leg still in a cast, the writers ingeniously incorporated a storyline involving Penny working as a bartender, a role that conveniently masked her injury.
What lessons can we learn from this? Avoid staging fake bloopers, refrain from hurling heavy objects at one another, and exercise caution while horse riding!
Source: Comic-Con International, People.