Neve Campbell recounts on-set bear attack when she was a teenager: ‘He’s biting me’

Neve Campbell went head-to-head with Mother Nature as a teen when she was attacked by a bear on the set of a movie, the “Scream” star shared during a recent talk show appearance.

While promoting the latest film in the "Scream" horror movie franchise on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Campbell shared with host Kelly Clarkson the details of the harrowing incident, which took place while then-17-year-old Campbell was shooting a film in Canada.

“I was playing this role where she’s ‘one with the animals,’ and there was a scene where I’m supposed to be getting chased by a bear,” Campbell told Clarkson, not naming the film. “They brought this bear on set, and they first gave me a big bottle of Coke to feed it. So now this is like a bear on a sugar rush.”

She continued: “And then they said — and I’m 17, so I’m really dumb — they said, ‘Dip your hand in honey and just run, and when you get to the tree over there, turn around and stick your hand out and feed the bear.’ And I, of course, wanting to please everyone was like, ‘Ok.’ ”

However, things did not go according to plan for the former “Party of Five” star in attempting the dangerous stunt.

“I turn around and I put my hand out, and the bear is not slowing down and he is not coming for my hand,” Campbell said. “He grabs me by the leg and he pulls me through the forest, and my mother happens to be visiting set, so she’s screaming. The whole crew is frozen because no one can believe what’s happening.

“All I could think to say was, ‘He’s biting me,’ like it wasn’t obvious.”

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Luckily for Campbell, the bear wrangler that was on set came to her rescue by throwing rocks at the bear, which allowed Campbell to escape and find refuge on top of a nearby rock. Despite the close call, Campbell said she was eager to give the stunt a second go: “No, that was rehearsal,” she said shortly after the incident. “We didn’t get it on camera: Let’s do it.”

Although Campbell brushed off the freak encounter as part of the actor's trade – “We get asked to do really silly things” – Clarkson said she would have handled the situation much differently.

“Actors are so different from musicians; I can’t stress this enough,” Clarkson said. “If I was in a music video and that went down, I would be like, ‘Bye,’ ” to which Campbell replied, “So would I, now.”

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The newest installment of “Scream,” now in theaters, not only finds Campbell’s iconic Sidney Prescott character as a wife and mother now but also a fearless heroine.

“The possibility of a threat to your child just takes her strength to another level,” Campbell told USA TODAY. “It's nice to go in with, oh, well, Sidney would have no doubt whatsoever now. Not that she ever has much doubt, but she needs to take care of this because of the possibility of Ghostface coming for her family.”

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Contributing: Brian Truitt