Dylan O’Brien has said it was emotional seeing his latest Maze Runner film finally make it to the big screen, after it was delayed when he had an accident on-set.
The actor, 26, was injured when a stunt went wrong while he was filming Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2016, and production shut down for almost a year to allow him to recover. Full details of the accident were not released but O’Brien has previously said he was left in a “fragile personal state” and that it was a hard road back.
The dystopian sci-fi movie arrives in UK cinemas this month, and O’Brien said it gives him a real sense of pride.
“When I saw the movie, it was an emotional thing, it was,” he said.
“But it felt good, you know? I just felt really happy and peaceful. It is kind of a trip for me to watch though.
“It does give me a whirlwind of emotions, but at the end of the day, they’re happy.”
The actor said his accident has made him think seriously about safety on sets.
“It will change forever how I approach those things, it’s changed it drastically, and I think it should spark more of conversation, to be honest,” he said.
“People have lost their lives on set even since, so safety should be absolutely paramount on a set.
“It needs to be a constant reminder that you’re not in a completely safe place, and things can happen, you’re dealing with major, major set pieces and pieces of machinery and sometimes you go in at high speeds and things can go wrong, and it just gets easy to fall into a negligent, make-believe kind of fun vibe that the set is, and that’s great about it, but you have to be taking these things incredibly seriously and that can and should never happen.
“So, yeah, I wish that it sparks more of a conversation. That needs to happen.”
O’Brien’s co-star Kaya Scodelario said the cast were extremely proud of the actor.
“It was a huge thing that he went through and he’s incredibly brave to want to revisit those moments and those scenes and to get the job done, and we’re just really proud of our friend for being that brave,” she said.
“I don’t know if I would have been.
“And it’s also been very inspirational for us that it’s highlighted that sets are practical place, they can be very dangerous, and the producers and everyone involved have to take that seriously from now on.
“It’s not worth losing a life for the sake of a movie, so it’s kind of inspired us, but mostly we’re just proud of him.”
Maze Runner: The Death Cure is released on January 26.