An injury almost ended Nicole Kidman’s career because insurance became too expensive for her production company to cover.
By Paul Miller, Trustee of the Insurance Museum
She damaged her knee while filming Moulin Rouge and caused delays to filming while she recovered, leading to two claims and a $3m insurance loss. She cost insurers a further $7m the following year when the same knee forced her to pull out of Panic Room after three weeks. The insurance money was partially spent on hiring Jodie Foster as her replacement.
Miramax was initially unable to get insurance on her for the film Cold Mountain because their insurer, Fireman’s Fund, viewed her as high risk. An underwriter referred to her in an email:
“…the doctor we sent her to for her examination noted swelling in the knee. The other major fact that can’t be changed is our paying three claims for this actress’s knees over the years.”
Instead, Ms. Kidman put $1 million of her own salary in an escrow account that would be forfeited if she failed to maintain the production schedule. She also agreed to use a stunt double for all scenes considered an injury risk. This meant that she had gone from uninsurable to insurable and could act once more.
One reason that insurance is so important in Hollywood relates to the financing that films receive from banks or other sources to fund a production. Those financiers require a completion bond which guarantees that they will be repaid the entire cost if a movie loses one of its essential elements. These elements are defined by the guarantor that sells the bond.
For example, when Terminator 3 was made, a completion bond bought from IFG for $2.54 million named Arnold Schwarzenegger as an essential element. If Arnie had been disabled or abandoned the film for any reason, IFG would have repaid the bonded cost of $181.6 million. Before a bond company will assume such a large risk, it also requires the production to purchase cast insurance. With Terminator 3, Fireman’s Fund provided the cast insurance, bringing the insurance cost to $4.54 million.
Charlie Sheen was uninsurable because of his erratic behaviour and drug use, once almost losing out on a part in a Roman Coppola film. However, Coppola was his friend and opted to make the film without insurance. Fortunately, Sheen had no issues whilst the film was made — without insurance, the movie would likely have been cancelled if anything went wrong.
After Elliot Gould beat up his co-stars and showed up high on drugs on the set of the film A Glimpse of Tiger in 1971, Warner Brothers shut down the production and put his career on hold. Gould said that this incident led to him being considered uninsurable. He couldn’t get another role in a Hollywood film for two years.
