While filming a stunt for her new FX spy series “The Veil,” Elisabeth Moss fractured a vertebrae in her back, hurting herself seriously enough that it left her lying on a roof in Istanbul for two hours.
The Emmy-winning actor spoke about the serious injury during an interview with PvNew promoting the new series from creator Steven Knight, which premieres on Hulu on April 30. In the ticking-clock series, Moss plays Imogen, an undercover MI6 agent trying to stop an ISIS terrorist attack planned for the United States. In Episode 2, Imogen and a rumored ISIS commander named Adilah (Yumna Marwan) are passing through Istanbul when Imogen must fend off an attack from an assailant on a rooftop above the Grand Bazaar.
“The [scene] you see in the show is actually the second time we shot it, about six weeks later,” Moss says. “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.”
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At Moss’ side while she lay on the roof was her producing partner Denise Di Novi, who waited with her while she was examined. “I felt so bad for her,” Di Novi says. But Moss was adamant filming continued and even appeared in a scene the following day but with limited mobility. Given that Moss had “fractured a vertebra really badly,” Di Novi says, she can’t believe that she continued working: “She is underselling how hard a lot of the stunt was that she did.”
“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,” Moss says. “I tried to get them to put a green blanket over me, and just VFX me out. I was like, ‘Look, just put the green blanket over me and you can scrub me out in post.’”
That scene ended up going forward with Moss, but her mind was still on the fight scene the day before — she was concerned that the injury would mean it couldn’t be finished properly.
“Well, I didn’t know if we were going to be able to come back and shoot on this rooftop in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul,” she says. “It’s not like that is an easy thing to accomplish. But luckily, we, as a production, and then FX, thank God, let us go back and shoot it again. Which was incredible, an incredible opportunity.”
The series, which also stars Josh Charles, is a globe-trotting thriller that follows Imogen as she travels across Europe with Adilah, trying to earn her trust to get information about the potential ISIS attack. Despite the injury that briefly sidelined her, Di Novi commends Moss’ dedication to performing her own significant stunts in the role.
“I think the discipline and coordination of being a dancer made a huge difference for her,” Di Novi says. “I think it was great for the show that Lizzie was able to stay in character and retained the character in the action scenes. She just did so much work and preparation and rehearsal.”
