Hardwicke's near-fatal on-set accident

TWILIGHT director CATHERINE HARDWICKE was forced to shut down production on her cult 1995 skateboarding film LORDS OF DOGTOWN after suffering a near-fatal accident on set.

Hardwicke was shooting the movie with late actor Heath Ledger and Emile Hersch in California when she tumbled over the lip of an empty swimming pool, and the nasty fall almost claimed the filmmaker's life - she spent 10 days in hospital recovering from serious head injuries.

Speaking about the accident in a New York Magazine article, she recalls, "Ten-foot fall. Cracked my head. Everyone thought I was dead. There’s video of it where people are screaming, crying."