Felicity Jones developed a fear of heights after playing fictional balloon pilot Amelia Rennes in her new movie The Aeronauts.
The actress has reteamed with her The Theory of Everything co-star Eddie Redmayne for the historical adventure, which is based on true-life events taken from the 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air by Richard Holmes.
However, while filming the Tom Harper-directed drama, the 36-year-old found that some of the scenes shot while the pair were in a balloon basket added to her phobias.
“I didn’t have any fear of heights before I did the movie and then afterwards, suddenly, now I’m petrified of them,” Felicity told Good Morning America, explaining a series of terrifying on-set accidents may have led to her new discomfort.
“On the very first day of shooting we took the balloon up,” she shared. “They were doing a helicopter shot… The balloon took off and it was all fine until suddenly we hit a load of trees and Eddie and I are holding hands, bracing ourselves as we hit the ground at this incredible speed.
“The basket bounces, Eddie and I bounce to the back. I think that I’ve broken my back… and we’re just sort of like lying there, thinking that we might be paralysed… We were back at work at 5am the next day.”
The Aeronauts, also starring Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay, is in cinemas now.
