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Dylan O’Brien is returning to the big screen via one of this weekend’s new 2024 movies, Saturday Night. In it, he portrays Dan Aykroyd amid the drama surrounding the first SNL taping. While promoting the movie, the actor recently reflected on a dangerous moment on the set of a film that was completely “life-changing.” Back in 2016, when he was making the last Maze Runner movie, he was rushed to the hospital after facing multiple head injuries while filming a car chase scene. O’Brien specifically discussed the lessons he learned from all of that.
Now that it’s been nearly a decade since the incident, Dylan O’Brien spoke about how the on-set situation has changed the way he works on productions today. Based on his sentiments, it sounds like he’s a lot more conscientious in the way that he handles himself:
It was a life-changing incident. I’ve approached everything differently, you could say, particularly with regards to standing my ground on set. It’s very commonplace in the culture for young actors to be controlled, and the way they strive to do that is by always being like, ‘Oh, don’t become difficult. Don’t be a pain in the ass’. Or ‘Are you complaining, are you being difficult?’ Things like that.
While shooting his third and final Maze Runner movie in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dylan O’Brien was reportedly struck by a vehicle in a car stunt gone wrong. That ultimately led to the actor suffering multiple head injuries including a concussion, facial fracture and brain trauma. As a result of the situation, the production was forced to halt filming while the leading man spent six months in physical recovery.
The Teen Wolf alum previously said the injury took him to a “dark place” that even had him contemplating quitting acting altogether. Ultimately, he’s returned to many sets since then, sharing in 2020 that he finds himself “vetting every piece much more” even though he still loves stunts. O’Brien also said this during his recent interview with Men’s Health:
I learned after the accident to not conflate taking care of yourself and looking after yourself. Don’t let them manipulate you into thinking that is being difficult, because I can look at that day and know I was a 24-year-old kid who was raising concerns about how we were approaching things, and they were not listened to, they were not respected. And then what happened happened. And by all accounts, it was all pretty gotten away with, I would say, as well.
Dylan O’Brien has learned a lot about how to look after himself on sets but, as he shared as well, he allegedly had noted “concerns” about how the production was approaching the stunts and they were ignored. The actor also shared that he makes it a priority to have his own back and feel comfortable with “asking questions” and “raising concerns.” It helped him realize that filmmaking is a collaborative process while also recognizing that movies can just involve “big dangerous shit sometimes, too.”
There haven’t been more Maze Runner movies since Dylan O’Brien filmed The Death Cure, but a reboot is in the works since May at 20th Century Studios, per The Hollywood Reporter. We don’t expect to see O’Brien back in those films after completing his arc in his trilogy, but the actor has definitely kept busy in the years following his accident. And, after what he went through years ago, I’m glad to be able to say he’s still around and thriving professionally.
Anyone who’s eager to see the Love and Monsters star tear it up as Dan Aykroyd in Saturday Night . You can catch it in theaters on October 11.