The actor who accidentally fired the fatal shot on a film set which killed Brandon Lee admitted that he 'never got over' the 1993 tragedy.
Michael Massee spoke out about the 'very slow and thoughtful process' the death of his The Crow co-star took him on in a poignant interview in 2005.
The Missouri-born actor - who passed away in October 2016 after a stomach cancer diagnosis- was starring in Alex Proyas' gothic superhero film alongside the son of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee when horror struck.
In a chilling case of life imitating art, Lee was filming a scene where his character was supposed to be shot and killed when he suffered the deadly wound due to an improperly prepared prop gun which Massee fired.
Advert
Lee, who was just 28 at the time of his death, had eerily told his pal Brad Pitt that he 'was going to die young like his dad' just a year before the incident, which went on to haunt Massee throughout the rest of his life.
On that fateful day in March 1993, shortly before production on the movie was due to wrap up, the martial arts star was filming a scene which depicted his death in The Crow - which has since been controversially remade.
Lee was supposed to walk through a doorway carrying a bag of groceries, before Massee would then fire blanks at him from a distance of 15ft away.
The actor was then asked to flip a switch fitted to the bag which would activate 'squibs', which are essentially small fireworks that then simulate bloody bullet wounds - however, it ended up being his own blood which was spilled.
Advert
The gun used in the scene was a real revolver which had been loaded with dummy rounds made from converted live ammunition, and the special effects crew had removed the powder from the bullet.
But the weapon was not properly checked and cleared before cameras started rolling, which proved to be a deadly mistake - as a bullet fragment lodged in the gun barrel from a previous cut of the scene was still inside.
So when Massee pulled the trigger, it fired the bullet out of the weapon with almost as much forced as it would have if it was loaded with a live round.
Advert
Lee was struck in the abdomen and fell backwards instead of forwards, as he was supposed to in the scene, and did not get up when the director yelled 'cut' - but the crew initially thought he was joking or possibly still acting.
Despite being rushed to hospital and undergoing six hours of emergency surgery, Lee could not be saved.
His death was ruled as an accident due to negligence, while his mother, Linda Lee Cadwell, filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers which was later settled under undisclosed terms.
Massee, meanwhile, was left traumatised by playing a part in the death of his co-star.
Advert
He took a year off from acting and couldn't bring himself to watch The Crow upon its release in May 1994 - but the grief continued to follow him throughout his life.
The actor sat down for a rare interview in 2005, 12 years after the incident, where he opened up about the lasting effects that Lee's death had on him - while admitting he was plagued by 'nightmares' of that ill-fated day on set, adding that he didn't think 'you ever get over something like that'.
Speaking to Extra TV, the late 64-year-old explained that he had become 'very conscious of the dangers of making a movie' as well as 'the possibilities of things going awry on a set' after Lee's death.
Advert
Massee said: "I've never talked about this on camera. What happened to Brandon was a tragic accident and it's something that I'm going to live with. It's taken me the time it has took - not so much to put it in perspective, but to be able to move on with my life.
"I never felt the need or the obligation to talk to anybody about it, other than his fiancée at the time and his mother, who I called. It's very personal and it's something that I want to make sure when I work, that it's that it's never repeated."
The Seven star continued: "It's not that I've been avoiding talking about it, it's just it doesn't seem to me to be relevant or to do with anybody else except the people that were involved.
"And to me, for my journey through life, how I was able to get to the other side of it," he explained. "It was a very slow and thoughtful process. I took a year off and I went back to New York and didn't do anything. I didn't work."
Massee explained that he'd sought solace from close friends and family 'to get through it'.
The Lost Highway star added that Lee's death 'absolutely wasn't supposed to happen', adding: "I wasn't even supposed to be handling the gun in the scene until we started shooting the scene and the director changed it.
"It wasn't supposed to happen for a myriad of reasons - he was so far off it that had it been a real gun, we wouldn't have been able to hit the side of a barn with it.
"The bottom line is, it did happen."
Topics: TV and Film, Mental Health, Health, Celebrity
Olivia Burke