From IMDB.com
On March 31st 1993, the 52nd day of a 58 day shoot, Brandon prepared to film his first real scene without make up on. The scene was to explain how he and his onscreen fiance' were murdered. It was recalled as a strange day because the way the two characters were to be killed was changed several times before they decided that Eric Draven (Lee) was to enter his apartment and come across his fiance' being beaten by four thugs, upon which one was to turn and shoot Eric and leave him wounded. The cameras began to role and Brandon entered the apartment in character. The Michael Massee character, Fun Boy spots Eric, holds the gun up and shoots as planned, Brandon held his stomach, motioned to the director to 'Cut' then fell backwards against the door. Seconds later the director Alex Proyas shouted 'CUT', Brandon remained on the floor, Jeff Imada ran over to Brandon with a paramedic to see if he'd hit his head on the door when he fell and knocked himself out. They discovered a thin slit an inch below to the right of his navel, but this didn't hold any clues as to what happened. They removed Brandon's jacket and spotted a hole in his T-shirt. By this time Brandon had slipped into unconciousness. An ambulance was called and Brandon was rushed to hospital. He underwent 5 hours of surgery upon which they discovered a bullet had been the cause of the damage. Eliza Hutton made it to the hospital just in time, at 1:04pm Brandon Lee died.
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From Wikipedia:
Because the movie's second unit team were running behind schedule, it was decided that dummy cartridges — bullets that outwardly appear to be functional, but contain no gunpowder — would be made from real cartridges, which had been brought to the set, earlier in production. Bruce Merlin, an effects technician, dismantled the live cartridges by removing the bullets, emptying out the gunpowder, detonating the primer, and reinserting the bullets. This rendered the cartridges inoperative, but realistic in appearance. Merlin and his propmaster, Daniel Kuttner, took initiative to create some blanks by removing live cartridges, and replacing the gunpowder with firework powder; the bullets were not reinserted.
Later, a cartridge with only a primer and a bullet, was fired in a pistol; this caused the bullet to lodge in the forcing cone of the revolver. When the first unit used this gun to shoot the death scene, the chamber was loaded with blanks which had no bullets. However, there was still the bullet in the barrel, which was propelled out by the blank cartridge's explosion. Consequently, Lee was shot and severely wounded, as cameras were rolling at the Carolco Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. Seconds later, director Alex Proyas stopped the scene, but Lee remained on the floor. Stuntman (and Lee's friend) Jeff Imada ran over to him with a paramedic, and discovered a thin slit, an inch below to the right of his navel; by this time, Lee had slipped into unconsciousness, and was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered that a bullet was the cause of the damage. They fought for five hours in an attempt to save him, but at 1:04 PM he was pronounced dead at the age of 28.
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Contrary to popular belief blanks used in guns as props for films and other theatrical productions are not "safe." They are simply SAFER than bullets. They are constructed the same as a bullet shell casing just without the lead slug. When fired blanks actually do expel small fragments of metal when fired and can harm or kill if an actor is too close to the gun when it is discharged.
nihil