Actor Mark Ruffalo revealed that filming the 2013 thriller “Now You See Me” took an unexpectedly chaotic turn when he and co-star Woody Harrelson got caught up in a bar fight in New Orleans.
Ruffalo recounted the incident while appearing with Harrelson on the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast, hosted by Ted Danson.
The two actors revisited their experiences shooting the film on location during Mardi Gras, where Ruffalo said the production was “completely on the streets” and “totally wild.”
“Capturing stuff on a long lens, getting dragged into bars during the middle of a scene, like in the middle of Mardi Gras,” Ruffalo told Danson.
According to Ruffalo, one night after filming, he and Harrelson stopped into a crowded bar for drinks.
“It was a packed place,” he said. “And a woman came up to him and she said, ‘Oh my God, I love you so much.’ Woody put his hand on her arm and he said, ‘Oh, thank you. Thank you, darling.’ And this guy comes over and he pushes her outta the way, and he shoves Woody.”
Danson, listening to the story, immediately reacted: “Oh, bad bad. Not good.”
“Bad,” Ruffalo replied. “Because Woody’s first response is not shove someone back, but immediately punch them in the face. Which is the right thing to do, by the way.
“It’s the absolute right thing to do. But then a whole melee broke out in this bar. I was in the middle of it and it was turning into a — it was getting to become a whole thing … and I grabbed you.”
Harrelson confirmed the account, responding, “That’s right.”
“I grabbed you and I pulled you out,” Ruffalo said. “‘Cause I was like, ‘This could be fun, but it also just could go so disastrously wrong because you and I might be able to handle ourselves but the rest of the folks we were with … I don’t think so.'”
Danson praised Ruffalo’s restraint, joking, “I’m embarrassed to say that I would’ve been the guy who said, ‘I’ll be right back, I’ll call someone.'”
The podcast conversation also touched on Harrelson’s reputation for attracting trouble.
Danson recalled previously sharing a story on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” about first meeting Harrelson after he had been involved in a “bar fight” and “carjacked” on the same day.
Danson said his first impression was, “Oh, dear God, that’s who that is,” but that changed when Harrelson turned and asked, “Could you look at this poem I wrote?”
Danson described his longtime friend as “a whimsical creature” and “a bundle of contradictions.”
Ruffalo and Harrelson are set to reunite in the upcoming sequel “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” which will bring back the original Four Horsemen cast (Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco) alongside new characters for another illusionist heist.
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