Saturday, March 30, 2019

"‘Romancing the Stone’ at 35: How Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner Survived Gators, Rain, and Studio Expectations"



Variety:
Douglas recalled that the gator, whose jaw was wired shut by trainers, dove into the bay after attacking him.

“We were looking for him,” said Douglas. “Finally, we heard some people yelling a little further down. It was a night sequence and we moved the lights over to where it was. What we didn’t know was the wire had gotten loose and gotten off.”

The two trainers took a boat over to where the gator was and got into the water. “The worst thing happened,” said Douglas. “The alligator took the guy’s hand and spun and took him down and under.”

The other trainer, who was also the man’s brother, went down and wedged the gator’s mouth open to rescue his brother.

“We got him to the hospital in time. His hand was pretty mauled, and he lost a lot of blood. I went to see him. He wanted to whisper something to me, and I leaned over, and he said, ‘My Rolex.’ It turned out he saved losing his hand because the alligator bit down on his watch. We went back to the location, dove in the water
*Previously: Painting the Carmen miniature from Starship troopers.