Emmy-winning actress Elisabeth Moss, 41, sustained a serious spinal injury while performing a stunt for the FX on Hulu miniseries “The Veil.”
The incident, which involved Moss fracturing a vertebra, occurred during a scene shot on a rooftop above Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar. Despite the severity of the injury, production was resumed shortly after the incident, demonstrating the challenges and risks involved in filming action-packed scenes.
The actress spoke about the serious injury during an interview with Variety.
Elisabeth Moss, best known for her role in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” was engaged in a demanding stunt sequence where her character, Imogen Salter, an undercover MI6 agent, combats an assailant. During the first take of this scene, Moss collided with a wall, resulting in the injury. She described the painful aftermath where she was immobile on the rooftop for approximately two hours before she could make her way down to receive medical attention.
“The [scene] you see in the show is actually the second time we shot it, about six weeks later,” Moss says in the interview. “The first time we shot it I hit a wall the wrong way, let’s just say, and ended up lying on the roof for a couple hours.”
Despite the excruciating pain, Moss returned to the set the following day to continue filming, a testament to her commitment to her role. The scenes shot the next day were at a supposed Paris airport, featured in the series. Moss humorously recounted her suggestion to the production team to use a green blanket to cover her and edit her out later in post-production, highlighting her initial concerns about continuing in her physical state.
Denise Di Novi, the producer of “The Veil,” highlighted the intensity of the stunt Moss performed and commended her resilience. “Elisabeth is underselling how hard a lot of the stunt was that she did,” Di Novi stated, emphasizing the physical challenges Moss overcame.
The incident sheds light on the physical demands and potential hazards actors face while performing their own stunts. The production team, acknowledging the risks, supported Moss’s decision to resume filming and later returned to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to reshoot the scene, ensuring that it met the creative standards of the series without compromising Moss’s health.
“The Veil” features Moss as Imogen, who is embroiled in a plot to thwart an ISIS terrorist attack on the United States. The series is a blend of espionage and high-stakes action, with gripping narratives along with intense physical performances.
Moss is filming the sixth and final season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” this summer. The show, which first aired in 2017, is set in a dystopian world where low fertility rates result in women being assigned to men to bear children.
Moss announced she was pregnant with her first child during a January appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! When host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly asked, “Are you pregnant or just an incredibly committed method actor?” Moss responded, “A little bit of both.”
She didn’t reveal her due date (or the father of her child), and there’s been no media update about when or if she has given birth. Nonetheless, she informed Kimmel that the much-anticipated final season of The Handmaid’s Tale was set to begin filming in the summer, suggesting her due date is well ahead of that timeframe. She also said that she looked forward to bringing her infant to the set during filming.
Moss was previously married to Fred Armisen for about a year. Their divorce was finalized in 2011.