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Elisabeth Moss reveals she broke her spine while filming new thriller The Veil

The ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ star recalls hitting a wall the wrong way during one of the series’ stunt scenes

Inga Parkel
Wednesday 24 April 2024 19:01 BST
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Elisabeth Moss confirms pregnancy during Jimmy Kimmel Live

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Elisabeth Moss has revealed she suffered a serious injury while filming a stunt for her new FX thriller, The Veil.

Starring the 41-year-old actor as international spy Imogen, the miniseries follows her journey across Istanbul, Paris and London as she gets caught up in a dangerous game of truth and lies.

In one scene from the second episode, according to Variety, Imogen is seen fighting off an assailant on a rooftop above Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar.

“The [scene] you see in the show is actually the second time we shot it, about six weeks later,” Moss told the publication in a new interview. “The first time we shot it I hit a wall the wrong way, let’s just say, and ended up lying on the roof for a couple hours.”

“I felt so bad for her,” Moss’s producing partner Denise Di Novi said, adding that the actor had “fractured a vertebra really badly”.

“She is underselling how hard a lot of the stunt was that she did,” Di Novi said.

Despite having fractured her spine, Moss said: “We actually shot the next day at the airport, those are the Paris airport scenes you see [in the episode], and I actually have, like, a broken back.

Elisabeth Moss attends 92NY “The Handmaid’s Tale” event on September 23, 2022
Elisabeth Moss attends 92NY “The Handmaid’s Tale” event on September 23, 2022 (Getty Images)

“I tried to get them to put a green blanket over me, and just VFX [visual effects] me out. I was like, ‘Look, just put the green blanket over me and you can scrub me out in post.’”

The series also features Josh Charles (The Good Wife, The Dead Poets Society) and Lebanese actors Yumna Marwan and Dali Benssalah.

The Veil premieres on 30 April on Hulu in the US. A UK release date has not yet been announced.

Earlier this year, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Moss confirmed that she was pregnant with her first child.

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“Are you pregnant or just an incredibly committed method actor?” host Kimmel asked Moss, as she walked out into the studio. “A little bit of both,” she replied.

Moss did not reveal her due date or the identity of her partner during the interview.

She was previously married to American comedian and Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen for a little over a year in 2009 before their divorce was finalised in 2011.

In September 2022, The Handmaid’s Tale was renewed for its sixth and final season, with an expected premiere date sometime in 2025.

Of the renewal news, Moss jokingly told host Kimmel that it felt like the fifth season was released “37 years ago”.

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