Russell Crowe is known for doing a lot of his own stunts, but one "small mishap" that occurred on the set of his 2010 "Robin Hood" came back to haunt him years later.
Speaking with People, the actor shared that he broke both his legs during filming, but continued to work for at least a month. At the time, he didn't realize the extent of his injuries.
"I jumped off a castle portcullis onto rock-hard uneven ground," the Oscar winner, 59, said of how he sustained the injuries. "We should have prepped the ground and buried a pad but we were in a rush to get the shot done in the fading light."
Crowe admitted he didn't realize how dangerous the situation was until he was about to jump.
"With hundreds of extras around, arrows flying and burn pots setting the castle on fire, there was no pulling out," he recalled. "As I jumped, I remember thinking, 'This is going to hurt.'"
The actor described how, upon landing, it felt like "an electric shock bursting up through my body."
"We were shooting a big movie, so you just struggle through, but the last month of that job was very tricky. There was a number of weeks where even walking was a challenge," he said.
Crowe admitted he "never discussed the injury with production, never took a day off because of it. I just kept going to work."
Decades later, however, he began experiencing "very strange pains" in his lower legs, which prompted him to see a doctor for an MRI and X-rays.
"I thought it was nothing serious," he said. "After working through a long New York winter, my body was just missing exercise and sunshine."
It was only after the doctor looked at his X-rays and asked when Crowe broke his legs that he realized the severity of his injuries.
"Apparently he could see the remnants of fractures in both shin bones," Crowe said. "To jog my memory he said, 'Would have been maybe 10 years ago?'"
It was at that point that Crowe remembered jumping off the portcullis on the "Robin Hood" set.
"Apparently I finished that movie with two broken legs," he said. "All for art. No cast, no splints, no painkillers, just kept going to work and over time they healed themselves."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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