Hollywood A-Listers Who Got Their Big Break in Horror Films

Viggo Mortensen

Over a decade before the first installment of The Lord of the Rings ever hit theaters, Viggo Mortensen played Edward "Tex" Sawyer, the central antagonist of Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. The film was considered a critical failure, but entertained audiences nonetheless. Mortensen made a number of appearances in supporting roles throughout the 1990s until a breakthrough in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast the actor as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

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The More You Know

  • The bridge blown up by Eli Wallach and Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was prematurely detonated by a Spanish Army Captain. Upon learning of his mistake the Captain ordered his troops to rebuild the bridge, only for it to suffer another explosion once complete.
  • Jim Caviezel was struck by lightening while he was on the cross in, Passion of the Christ.
  • Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who played the character of ‘Fogell/McLovin’ in the coming-of-age indie flick ‘Superbad,’ was only 17 when filming took place. Being a minor at the time, his mother was required to be on the set during the filming of his sex scene.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio did not do the drawing in ‘Titanic’
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