Gerard Butler On Filming ‘300’: “Every Day Somebody Was Getting Taken To The Hospital”

Armando Tinoco

14 January 2025 at 10:48 pm·2-min read

Gerard Butler recalls the difficulties of filming 300 and how many of his co-stars were being taken to the hospital due to injuries.

Butler starred as the King of Sparta in the 2006 Zack Snyder film 300, in which the actor co-starred with Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, and many more.

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“I remember every day somebody was getting taken to the hospital,” Butler told People. “You’d be doing a fight, you turn around, there’s a guy down there, a spear went in his eye. Another time, you turn around, there’s a guy over there who just fell, broke his ankle. I mean, it was insane.”

Butler also mentioned that while filming 2012’s Chasing Mavericks, he was “taken down by a huge set of waves” and “almost drowning,” adding, “I thought I was done. They had to take me out, take me to hospital, put me out, give me the defibrillator. I mean, it was intense.”

Other filming incidents Butler was involved in were scarring Hilary Swank while working on 2017’s P.S. I Love You and almost shooting Angelina Jolie on the set of 2003’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — The Cradle of Life.

“I’ve scarred Hilary Swank on the head … she has a scar. Almost shot Angelina Jolie in the face. I was coming down, hanging upside down. I had to fire a gun, but I had no control over where this thing went. So I was just firing and I just missed it,” he said. “I’ve been shot by bullets, casings, explosions. A whole camera rig once fell down on Hilary Swank and I.”

Butler stars in Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, which he says he shot after tearing his ACL.

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