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Mark Ruffalo recently rescued Woody Harrelson from a bar fight in New Orleans during filming of the first Now You See Me movie in 2012.
While appearing on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast — hosted by former Cheers stars Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson — Ruffalo shared details about the incident that nearly went “disastrously wrong.” The Oscar-nominated actor is currently promoting his HBO series Task and the upcoming third installment in the magic heist franchise, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which hits theaters November 14.
“We were shooting ‘Now You See Me’ in New Orleans, completely on the streets. Totally wild,” Ruffalo explained. “Capturing stuff on a long lens, getting dragged into bars during the middle of a scene, like in the middle of Mardi Gras.”
The production took place between January and March 2012, coinciding with the famous festival that filmmakers incorporated into the movie.
Ruffalo described how the situation escalated quickly when a fan approached his co-star. “A woman came up to [Woody] and she said, ‘Oh my God, I love you so much,’” he recalled. “Woody put his hand on her arm and he said, ‘Oh, thank you. Thank you, darling.’”
That’s when things turned chaotic. “This guy comes over and he pushes her outta the way, and he shoves Woody. Bad,” Ruffalo continued. “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.”
The confrontation quickly escalated. “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,” said Ruffalo. “And I grabbed [Woody] and I pulled him out. Because 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.’”
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
The franchise has proven surprisingly durable since its 2012 origins. Along with Harrelson and Ruffalo, the third film features returning stars Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Morgan Freeman — with newcomers Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, and Rosamund Pike joining the ensemble.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t continues the saga of the magician thieves known as the Four Horsemen. The film arrives in theaters on November 14.
