Elisabeth Moss, 41, an Emmy-winning actress, suffered a serious spinal injury while shooting a stunt for the FX on Hulu miniseries “The Veil.”
The injury involved a fractured vertebra and occurred during a scene filmed on a rooftop above Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar in Turkey. Despite the severity of the injury, filming resumed shortly after the incident, underscoring the risks and challenges of filming action-packed scenes.
Moss discussed the incident and its aftermath in an interview with Variety.
Famous for her role in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Moss was performing a demanding stunt sequence in which her character, Imogen Salter, an undercover MI6 agent, fights an attacker. In the first take of the scene, Moss hit a wall, which caused the injury. She recalled being stuck on the rooftop for around two hours while she was examined by doctors before she could be brought down.
“The [scene] you see in the show is actually the second time we shot it, about six weeks later,” Moss shared 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 intense pain, Moss returned to the set the following day, demonstrating her dedication to her role. The scenes filmed the next day took place at a supposed Paris airport, as depicted in the series. Moss jokingly suggested to the production team to cover her with a green blanket for later editing, underlying her initial concerns about continuing in her physical condition.
Denise Di Novi, the producer of “The Veil,” praised Moss’s resilience and pointed out the intensity of the stunt she performed. “Elisabeth is underselling how hard a lot of the stunt was that she did,” Di Novi said, emphasizing the physical hurdles Moss faced.
This incident highlights the physical demands and potential dangers actors confront while performing their own stunts. The production team, aware of the risks, backed Moss’s decision to continue filming and later returned to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to reshoot the scene, making sure it met the series’ creative standards without jeopardizing Moss’s health.
“The Veil” stars Moss as Imogen, who gets embroiled in a plot to stop an ISIS terrorist attack on the United States. The series is a mix of spy craft and high-stakes action, with gripping storylines 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.
