Danny McBride developed claustrophobia on Alien: Covenant set

Actor Danny Mcbride discovered he suffers from claustrophobia after having to be sealed in a sleeping pod for new movie Alien: Covenant.
The This Is the End star portrays a spaceship crewmember on a mission to colonise a new planet in filmmaker Ridley Scott’s new Alien prequel, and certain scenes required the cast to climb into small pods which placed the astronauts into a deep sleep.
However, Danny soon learned he wasn’t a fan of confined spaces.
“I had to get into this sleep pod, and I was just joking around, and then they sealed me in and it’s like a coffin… and there’s no way to get out of it,” he explained during a cast interview on U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. “I’d just look up at Katherine (Waterston, co-star), like, ‘How long is this taking them? Do we have to do this? Do they see me there?’ (She’d reply), ‘Oh yeah, they see you, get back inside.'”
And Danny had to hide his irrational fear from director Ridley after accidentally holding up the day’s shoot.
“I saw Ridley and he was like, ‘What’s happening, why aren’t we filming?’ and I was like, ‘Nothing, I’m fine! I’m just good.'”
Luckily, the actor, who is known more for his comedy work, didn’t suffer a panic attack on set, but it may have been a different story had it not been for Katherine’s professionalism.
“I was able to get it (his nerves) into check,” he shared. “Maybe if Katherine had flubbed her lines (and we had to do) another take, it might have happened!”
During the group chat, the actress actually confessed she had suffered a malfunction with the pods – but she dared not tell Danny about it.
“I had gotten stuck in there before you had to get in there and I didn’t wanna tell you ’cause the door jammed when I was in there,” she revealed on TV. “I was like (to Danny), ‘No, no, it’ll open, no problem,’ (and thinking), ‘I hope I can get him out!'”
Alien: Covenant, the follow-up to 2012’s Prometheus, also stars Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, and Demian Bichir.