The Neon Demon's Gruesome Opening Scene Nearly Blinded Elle Fanning
"The Neon Demon," the 2016 arthouse shocker directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, is pretty easy on the eyes, visually speaking. But in a recent discussion between "Neon Demon" star Elle Fanning and Jenna Ortega for Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, Fanning revealed that wasn't the case for her, and that she very nearly lost her eyesight during a particularly grueling sequence.
"There's an opening shot in the movie and I'm playing dead," Fanning recalled. "I have contacts so I've never lost a staring contest ever. Something about the contacts holds the moisture in my eye." What happened next, though, was a gruesome mishap that almost sounds like something Refn himself would put in one of his movies, but thankfully Fanning escaped the ordeal without any lasting damage.
The "Neon Demon" star shared that during filming on the opening sequence she kept her eyes open for 11 minutes, and the bright lights caused her contact lenses to melt on her eyes.
Fanning refers to the incident now as 'an anecdote'
"[Nicolas Winding Refn] is the director of 'The Neon Demon' and he takes really long takes," Elle Fanning went on to recall. "I think it was like 11 minutes or something, and my eyes were open the entire time. The lights were so bright and they melted my contacts all over my eyes."
Fanning said that when the incident happened she thought at first she had gone blind, and it was fear over that possibility rather than any physical pain that makes up her impression of the event now. Thankfully, a rigorous eyewash allowed the melted contacts to be retrieved. "It was all melted and crazy," Fanning remembered. "Just an anecdote," she added.
Fortunately for Fanning, that's all it was, and she was apparently able to retain her staring contest crown even after the close call on the set of "The Neon Demon."
Speaking of "The Neon Demon," here's a Hollywood horror movie that fans should watch if they want more of its sinister vibe.