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An actor is playing a character who is in danger. He is screaming at the top of his lungs: "Help me! Help me! I'm in danger!"

Then, for whatever reason, the actor gets in actual danger, like he is in pain and needs actual helps.

How does the actor signal that he is not playing anymore, so that the crew stops filming and comes helping him?

Of course this could be done in many ways, but I'm interested in:

  • Standard protocols to handle this situation, if there are.

  • Documented examples.

user38141
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    "The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades." -Demetri Martin – GendoIkari Dec 07 '20 at 22:00
  • Something similar happened to the female lead in Now You See Me. It is the responsibility of the stunt coordinator or safety officer to pay close attention to situations which might pose a danger to the actor. But, it is not fool-proof. – Dean F. Dec 07 '20 at 22:09
  • "Documented examples" is a list question and thus off-topic. – BCdotWEB Dec 08 '20 at 08:26
  • @Paulie_D Thanks but that question is about the specific case of "Now you see me" tank scene – user38141 Dec 08 '20 at 12:36
  • I'd probably yell "Cut!" – ruffdove Dec 09 '20 at 03:00
  • I recall a story about how Jimmy Smitts very nearly got stabbed to death on set for Dexter. Per the script, his character was tied down and gagged and about to be murdered, and he (alone) noticed that Michael C Hall (aka Dexter) had accidentally picked up a real kinfe instead of the prop kinfe he was supposed to use for the stabbing shot. Thankfully, there was a metal strike plate under his shirt, intended to soften the blow as profesiional grade prop knives can still hurt, which ended up deflecting the real blade. But he was powerless to alert the rest of the crew directly. – Steve-O Dec 09 '20 at 15:46
  • When Brandon Lee was shot on the set of The Crow (the gun in the scene was loaded with blanks, but a bullet had lodged in the barrel when used in a previous scene, so the blank + bullet effectively worked as live ammunition), it was some time before anyone else on the set realized he'd been actually shot. IIRC he was trying to say "cut" but couldn't be heard over the scripted action in the scene. – Russell Borogove Dec 19 '20 at 02:53

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