A model is suing two Hollywood film studios claiming that her career has been wrecked after suffering a crippling back injury playing an alien in the hit film ‘Men in Black 3’.

Danika Gerner claimed a metal costume she wore during the film shoot caused nerve damage and a herniated disc.
The 23-year-old said she had to wear a sheet metal dress weighing 30lbs and six inch heels to play an alien from the planet Glamoura.

Gerner, who has appeared on the cover of several fashion magazines, filmed her role over a week with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in New York.

As one of the aliens she worked 12 hours shifts during filming and she said she complained about the pain from wearing the heavy costume.

The metallic costume was similar to a suit of armour that was fitted to her body by velcro. The outfit on the 6ft 2in tall model was completed with towering six inch high heels.

“I complained about my back hurting and asked the wardrobe people if I take off the costume between takes,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling the New York Post.

“They kept saying ‘No, not yet’ because you are in the background of every shot,” she claimed.
Gerner, who has appeared in ‘Sex in the City 2’ and ‘Ugly Betty’, said she was in so much pain after the film shoot last year that she could not accept any other assignments from her modelling agency, Wilhelmina Models.

Within a month she was dropped from their roster of models and she was sent an email saying: “It doesn’t seem to be working out. Best of luck in your future endeavours.”

Gerner said she tried massage and chiropractors to ease the pain but a MRI revealed a large herniated disc pressing on her nerve. She underwent a laminectomy to remove part of the vertebral bone.

“This wasn’t an instantaneous break. This actress’ back was broken slowly, over the course of a week,” said her lawyer Tim Yusuf

According to the New York Post Gerner is suing Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment in Brooklyn Supreme Court for unspecified damages.