J.J. Abrams Broke His Back On The Set Of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Before Harrison Ford crashed his plane in Los Angeles, he had already sustained a pretty significant injury on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, breaking his left leg. But it turns out that wasn't the only injury sustained during the production of Episode VII.

In fact, when one of the doors on the film's set fell on Harrison Ford's leg, director JJ Abrams (who appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart yesterday) rushed over to help by lifting the object off Ford as quickly as possible. But in the process, Abrams actually broke his back. That's right, Abrams literally broke his back trying to make this movie for Star Wars fans.

Hear more about how J.J. Abrams broke his back after the jump!

This revelation came from an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (via Hulu):

As a big Star Wars fan, Jon Stewart tried to get J.J. Abrams to tell him everything about The Force Awakens, but the director successfully dodged the hardball question by simply praising Stewart as he only has four shows left before he leaves The Daily Show behind.

With regards to the injury, Abrams lays out what happened, and it sounds pretty gruesome. If you can't watch the video, basically a hydraulic door fell on Harrison Ford, and the director says you saw the actor's ankle turn 90 degrees, breaking instantly. Thankfully it sounds like Ford, who Abrams calls a superhero and miracle man, was about as cool as you can be when there's a door on top of you that just broke your leg.

But Abrams wasn't so lucky since he found out that he broke his back in the process of trying to help. He had to wear a back brace on set, but didn't tell anybody what had happened to as not to raise concern. During this time, a completely healed Ford was able to run over to Abrams on set, while the director felt pain just by talking to him. Trust me when I say Abrams tells this story better when talking to Jon Stewart, so it's worth six minutes of your time.

Other chatter in the interview focuses on whether or not Abrams has ever been fired from a job before, and how The Force Awakens is about the story of Jar Jar Binks (who almost ended up being played by Michael Jackson).

Check out the latest edition of Star Wars Bits for another quick interview with Abrams about the pressure of directing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and stay tuned for even more updates about the continuing sci-fi saga.