Often times actors are given a bit of a bad wrap, with most of them staying out of harms way in favor of a stuntman, however every now and again you’all hear a story about how an actor went above and beyond and almost paid for it. Such is the case with Arrow actor Manu Bennett, who recently revealed how he almost lost his life shooting his role in Spartacus.
Whilst appearing at the MCM comic con last weekend, Bennett explained that a mix up with prop weapons almost left him in a spot of bother.
Apparently the weapon mix up occurred after the actors broke for lunch, which saw forty odd Gladiators drop their weapons to the ground. The young actor that Bennett was dueling however picked up one of the real swords used for closeup scenes instead of the stunt sword that he was supposed to be using for the fight scene. As a result Bennett was very close to losing his life.
At the panel, he said:
“So, I go into this fight scene with this young guy. We get to this part where I kicked him. Bang. He goes into the wall and he’s meant to hit the wall and come at me with a sword. Well, the moment I kicked him, he hit the wall, he bounced off and came straight back at me and I was stood surprised. It’s one of those moments with spacial awareness and I’m like ‘Woah! You’re coming fast!’ I kinda lifted my sword and directed it out of the way from my body. I caught it late and it stabbed me in the chest and started going into my chest and I was like ‘Woah!’ I’ve still got a scar on my chest where it ripped me across my pectoral muscle, but honestly, he was going for [my chest] and if I hadn’t made a swipe movement, it would have gone straight into my heart. I just went ‘Dude… Have you got a real sword?’ and he was just like ‘Yeah.'”
This should certainly silence some of the critics who believe that actors are merely playing make believe and are never truly in harms way. Although I’m sure that’s not the case with all actors.
What do you think? Are you shocked that this nearly happened? Does this make you respect Bennett any more? Let us know in the comment section below!