How did the actor Brandon Lee die?

Question

I know he was shot on set of his movie the crowe, but what actually happened?

What went wrong?

Answer 1

On March 31, 1993, the 52nd day of a 60-day shooting schedule for The Crow, the scene being filmed was when Lee's character was to walk into his apartment and see his girlfriend being raped by thugs. This would subsequently lead to Eric being brutally killed, along with his girlfriend, by the thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the villains named Funboy in the movie, was supposed to fire a gun at Lee, as he walked into his apartment with groceries.

Because the movie's second unit team were running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges — bullets that outwardly appear to be functional, but contain no gunpowder — would be made from real cartridges, which had been brought to the set, earlier in production. Bruce Merlin, an effects technician, dismantled the live cartridges by removing the bullets, emptying out the gunpowder, detonating the primer, and reinserting the bullets. This rendered the cartridges inoperative, but realistic in appearance. Merlin and his propmaster, Daniel Kuttner, took initiative to create some blanks by removing live cartridges, and replacing the gunpowder with firework powder; the bullets were not reinserted.

Later, a cartridge with only a primer and a bullet, was fired in a pistol; this caused the bullet to lodge in the forcing cone of the revolver. When the first unit used this gun to shoot the death scene, the chamber was loaded with blanks which had no bullets. However, there was still the bullet in the barrel, which was propelled out by the blank cartridge's explosion. Consequently, Lee was shot and severely wounded, as cameras were rolling at the Carolco Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Seconds later, director Alex Proyas stopped the scene, but Lee remained on the floor. Stuntman (and Lee's friend) Jeff Imada ran over to him with a paramedic, and discovered a thin slit, an inch below to the right of his navel; by this time, Lee had slipped into unconsciousness, and was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered that a bullet was the cause of the damage. They fought for five hours in an attempt to save him, but at 1:04 PM he was pronounced dead.

Answer 2

"A few minutes before the fatal scene where Brandon Lee was shot, the actor Michael Massee (who played Funboy) pointed the actual .44 Magnum at Lee in order to save time. After these trial scenes, the man in charge of accessories (the 'propsmaster'), 'Mr. X', filled the Magnum with blanks, but forgot to check the barrel. (Apparently, the armsmaster whose job this was, was away from the set for the day).

Now, a few days earlier, not having any such blanks, a DIY guy had emptied out real bullets to use in their place. When fired, a light detonation, due to the remainder of powder, forced a piece of cartridge into the barrel, henceforth it blocked. As nobody took the trouble to check and clean the gun, it was in this state that the .44 Magnum came to be used in the scene.

The cameras started rolling: Michael Massee takes up his position a short distance away from Brandon; too short, as all the professionals will tell you, as a blank fired at a few metres can cause serious damage. Added to this, Michael Massee, off balance, fired right at Brandon instead of aiming just above his shoulders. When the shot was fired, the sound was deafening, the powder from the blanks violently thrust the cartridge in Brandon Lee's direction. As planned, the star pushed at that instant, the button on the detonator releasing the blood sacks he was wearing. Seriously injured as the scene dictated, Brandon Lee/Eric Draven drags himself along the floor whilst the actor David Patrick Kelly (T-Bird) hurls abuse at him. As a result of the tension created by the scene, nobody yet suspected the accident. There was a general feeling that if Brandon Lee wasn't following the plan precisely it was due to the fact that he was a great actor, that he improvised. Less than a minute later everyone became aware of the 'hitch' without realising, as yet, just how serious it was."

For the record, the actor Michael Massee was deemed not responsible for Brandon Lee's death and no criminal charges were ever brought against him.
( all info I got rightly from the sight thecrow.info )

Answer 3

As I understand it, the gun had a blank cartridge in it. But with a revolver, you can see the head of the bullets if the camera is facing the gun's muzzle. So the Special Effects crew put these fake bullet-looking caps in the 6 "holes" where bullets go (sorry, I don't know much about guns).

Freak accident: the blank was fired and the little cap was propelled by the blank's gas discharge and instead of flying off harmlessly like it usually does, it penetrated Brandon Lee's body and killed him. Never heard of that happening before or after. Weird.

Answer 4

On March 31, 1993, the 52nd day of a 60-day shooting schedule for The Crow, the scene being filmed was when Lee's character was to walk into his apartment and see his girlfriend being raped by thugs. This would subsequently lead to Eric being brutally killed, along with his girlfriend, by the thugs. Actor Michael Massee, who played one of the villains named Funboy in the movie, was supposed to fire a gun at Lee, as he walked into his apartment with groceries.

Wait....... I can NOT tell a lie!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, what had happend was...... Branden was part of a secret society that most action stars are a part of and to become a full member you HAVE to fake your own death. Brandon Lee joined this secret society on , uh th 15 of may 1988, and like his father before him and many other great action stars, such as Troy Mckloore, and Chuck norris (He hasnt joined all the way yet)
Brandon has reached the hieght of true enlightenment..... Thats the God honest truth.

Answer 5

On the make of the second movie, someone was suppose to shoot a blank gun at him on the scene of a set while film was rolling and when the gun fired, the tip came out like a real bullet striking Brandon killing him instantly. There were speculation that some one had planted a real bullet in the blank gun intentionally trying to kill him, but that was not true. It was a freak accident and extremely rare for a blank gun bullet to kill a person.

Answer 6

He was shot on the set of the movie Rapid Fire when a gun that was supposed to hold blanks fired real bullets. yes he was the son of Bruce Lee

Answer 7

During the scene in The Crow where he is walking on the table in the warehouse where all of the bad guys are having their meeting and everyone starts shooting, he was hit at close range from a blank in a prop gun.

Answer 8

From what I remember he was shot on screen. The gun was supposed to be filled with blanks, but it wasn't. The other theory was they used a live gun instead of the gun filled with blanks.

Answer 9

He was shot while filming the crow they where suppose to be blanks

Answer 10

He got shot. It was an on set acident.