Sean Bean has widened his fandom circle with David Benioff; and D. B. Weiss’ one of the most popular shows in the 21st century, Game of Thrones. Beyond Game of Thrones, the actor has some remarkable credit to his name as well and that includes Peter Jackson’s celebrated The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Bean, however, did something eccentric during the filming of the Jackson movie. As the crew witnessed, the actor has climbed up a mountain every morning to measure it up due to his overwhelming phobia. Still, a good hike for his benefit.
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Sean Bean’s Extreme Fear of Flight
While filming Peter Jackson’s $898 million movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, British actor Sean Bean revealed his fear of flight. A pilot was flying the cast and crew over the mountain and the pilot added some special trick in the air as he got to know Bean’s fear. When Bean landed, he turned to the director to confront, “Sorry mate, no more helicopters, I’m done.” Jackson later revealed Bean’s fear in detail in One Zoom to Rule Them All.
“Sean just said, ‘Look, I can’t do it. I’ll come very, very early, I’ll get all my gear, all my Boromir gear, and I’ll start to climb, just on foot.’ So we’re flying up, and I look down and there’s this vast, vast cliff in the mountain, and I could see Sean like a human fly climbing up a nearly-vertical rock face,” Jackson said.
Bean’s fear was certainly one of the highlights of behind-the-scenes in the Elijah Wood-starrer 2001 adventure fantasy from The Lord of the Rings franchise. Also, the actor would definitely remember his helicopter ride even though he has reduced the fear to a great extent eventually.
Sean Bean Eventually Overcame His Fear
For Bean, the ride atop the mountain of New Zealand was nothing less than a hell ride, the cast and crew were having fun but Bean was, perhaps, counting his heartbeat. “I used to get on my costume and the hair and everything, and then I would walk about a half an hour up quite a steep hill,” Bean said appearing in The Jonathan Ross Show.
“And there was this ski lift, and so I’d sit on that, and they’d wire me up. Dressed as Boromir! And they’d drop me off there, and I’d hike another half a mile just because I didn’t want to get on the helicopter,” he added.
Of course, as Bean admitted, the fear of flight was crippling to the actor. To overcome this, the actor used to drink while getting ready for a flight, more alcohol during the flight. But as the tragedy of of 9/11 strike, the actor confronted his fear. “Suddenly, around 9/11, there was all this talk of possible attacks on planes and long-range missiles from terrorists,” Bean told The Guardian.
“I thought: ‘Why am I worrying about engine failure if there’s all this going off?’ And somehow I got over it. I still can’t stand turbulence, but I’m much better now, thank God.”
The 64-year-old actor has definitely endured a great deal as he preferred walking to get to work over a helicopter ride measuring the mountain in a thrill-infested hike.
Source: One Zoom to Rule Them All, The Jonathan Ross Show, The Guardian.
