*A memorable scene from the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do with It” turned unexpectedly authentic when a planned stunt went awry.
Actress Vanessa Bell Calloway has revealed that Laurence Fishburne genuinely slapped her during the production’s infamous cake confrontation sequence. Calloway portrayed Jackie, Tina Turner’s friend, who attempts to intervene when Ike Turner shoves Tina’s face into a cake while at a diner. The scene was inspired by an incident from Tina Turner’s 1986 memoir.
In a conversation with Cocoa Butter, the 68-year-old actress explained she rejected using a stunt double for the slapping moment. She told director Brian Gibson:
“You know what? This is not going to be right because I need to be in the moment, and when I get up, then I could tell him off, and I need to have that energy, that adrenaline.”
The stunt choreographer instructed her on the technique, explaining: “When this hand goes this way, you turn your head really aggressively, it looks like a slap, and they put the sound in later.”
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After several successful takes with proper timing, one attempt failed. “We didn’t have the eye connection, and he slapped the living s— out of me,” Calloway revealed.
She described her split-second reaction: “My face was pounding. I mean, it was like, ‘Thump!’ The one side of my brain was like, ‘Ow,’ and the other side was, ‘Oh, keep going, Vanessa. This is going to be good. This going to be good.”
Calloway continued performing without breaking character, stating: “I slap, and I roll, and I get up, and baby, I let him have it. And that’s the take they used.”
The biographical film, starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, earned critical acclaim and grossed $61 million, with both Bassett and Fishburne receiving Academy Award nominations.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Angela Bassett Says Laurence Fishburne Protected Her While Filming Sexual Assault Scene in ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’
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