Just because a movie is a romance doesn’t mean it was all love on set, as Gerard Butler has now detailed that he “almost killed” co-star Hilary Swank in an on-set freak accident that landed her in the hospital.
On an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Gerard Butler recalled the event in which he bloodied his on-screen wife, played by Hilary Swank. “You know the scene where I’m dancing and I [am wearing] suspenders? I shot that scene for a day and a half, and I had to dance like an idiot in the suspenders…At one point, the clip, which was a crocodile clip, got stuck in the television as I’m crawling towards her, and she’s right in front of me, laughing hysterically.” Goofy enough until Butler revealed what came next. “I’m crawling towards the bed, it gets stuck, it releases, flies over my head, hits her in the head, slashes her head.”
“I mean, I cut her open. You could even see the teeth of the [crocodile]. She had to get taken to the hospital.” Hilary Swank, of course, survived the incident instigated by a boxers-wearing Gerard Butler.
2007 was a major year for Gerard Butler, who broke out in a big way with Zack Snyder’s 300, playing King Leonidas and launching a thousand parodies. Hilary Swank, meanwhile, was still riding high from her second Oscar win for Million Dollar Baby, also turning up in that year’s Freedom Writers and the horror flick The Reaping.
Like many, Hilary Swank has turned her attention to television work, starring in the ABC series Alaska Daily. But we’re still hoping for a much-deserved cameo on Cobra Kai, where Swank could reprise her role as Julie Pierce from The Next Karate Kid.
Gerard Butler, meanwhile, has stepped away from romances as of late–perhaps afraid he’ll send another co-star to the hospital like did Hilary Swank–instead churning out action movies like Last Seen Alive and Plane. And if Robert Downey Jr. gets his way, we’ll get more Has Fallen movies any year now.
What do you want to see more of from Gerard Butler or Hilary Swank? Let us know in the comments section below.