Saturday Night Live: 30 scandals and secrets you didn’t know
By Jeremy Dick
13. Jeff Daniels gets his face plastered
Back in the 1990s, Jeff Daniels was riding his Dumb and Dumber fame into a guest hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. One sketch called for Daniels to portray Liam Neeson. The day before the live show, the actor went into the studio to make a mold of his face. This is to create a fake nose for him to wear as Neeson.
What was supposed to be a 15-minute process however took a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, the crew used the wrong material to make the face mold. Instead, they used plaster. Like, the plaster you would put on the wall. And it was far too late by the time they noticed. As a result, Daniels had what was likely the worst experience of his acting career.
After hardening, the plaster had conformed to Daniels’ face. With his eyebrows, eyelashes, and facial stubble, removing the plaster was incredibly painful. Daniels wound up being stuck in the plaster for hours, with the make-up crew even using a hammer to try to break him out. Eventually, a surgeon was brought in by Lorne Michaels to cut the actor out the rest of the way. It’s a great example of how much really goes on backstage at SNL that fans may never hear know when the cameras turn on.