Sylvester Stallone Almost Drowned on the Set of 1993 Film: ‘That Was Crazy’

Sylvester Stallone is no stranger to taking on his own stunts — but he admits it’s led to a few scary moments and close calls throughout his career.

The iconic actor, 79, recently reflected on some of his most infamous on screen characters and revealed that out of a decades-long run in Hollywood, it was his 1993 film Demolition Man that ended up being his most risky role.

During an interview with GQ, Stallone explained that the film contained “the two most dangerous stunts” he’d ever done — partially due to the fact that it was a “practical set” meaning that many of the props actually functioned.

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At one point while he was fighting Wesley Snipes in a scene, he almost got caught up in a “giant claw” that could have caused real injury.

“Those things really worked,” he said of the moving pieces of the set. “The hydraulics would go sideways, and the strength of those metal claws would tear you up.”

At another point in the filming process when Stallone’s character was cryogenically frozen, he was placed in a round tub made of “thick plexiglass” which was then filled up with “warm oil” while the actor was bolted inside. If it was filled up too far, Stallone could easily drown.

While there were crew on standby to smash the tub if anything went wrong, it was only after filming wrapped that they realized it was physically impossible to open the container with the tools they had handy.

“They started pouring in warm oil and it’s filling up, filling up to here and it’s supposed to cut. If it goes longer than 30 seconds, it’s gonna go [over my head] and you can’t get out because the lid was bolted on,” Stallone explained.

He continued, “I had a couple of fellas that were sitting there with sledgehammers and hatchets. And I go, now that the scene was over, ‘Why don’t you try to open it?’ Of course, they hit it 20 times and couldn’t crack it. So that was crazy.”

Thankfully, nothing had gone awry while they were filming but Stallone admits it could have been a very close call.

You can hear all that Sylvester Stallone had to say below.

This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.