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Los Angeles - Gerard Butler was nearly blinded during his first real acting job.
The London Has Fallen star is known for performing his own stunts but his career nearly ended prematurely after an on-stage incident during a production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus.
He recalled: "We were supposed to be these revolting citizens - not that they were disgusting they were in revolt, rebelling.
"So [the director] puts us all together and he gives us the script.
"At this stage we didn't need the chisels that we had- we had these wooden chisels that they're supposed to use as weapons - but we didn't know our lines, and it's very physical theatre so they wanted 12 guys running.
"Run, turn, says the line, run, turn, says the line.
"But we all had stakes in our hands so we go and I turn this way and the guy next to me goes and sticks a wooden stake right in my eye.
"I thought I'd lost my eye, and then I had a black eye probably for two weeks."
After the incident, the 46-year-old star is sure the director wishes he'd never employed him.
Speaking on 'Live with Kelly and Michael', he quipped: "I'd just talked my way into the job, I'd said to the director, 'Can I read for this? And I read and he said, 'You come in'...
"[After the accident], I know the director was like, 'Why did I take on this amateur'."
Watch Gerard's full interview with Kelly and Micheal here:
