Russell Crowe revealed in an interview with People published on Saturday (February 17th) that he broke both of his legs while filming 2010’s Robin Hood—and he didn’t find out until 10 years later.
“I jumped off a castle portcullis onto rock-hard uneven ground. 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,” the Gladiator actor explained. “With hundreds of extras around, arrows flying and burn pots setting the castle on fire, there was no pulling out … As I jumped, I remember thinking, ‘This is going to hurt.'”
Upon landing, Crowe said it felt like “like an electric shock bursting up through my body.” And even though “walking was a challenge” for weeks following this incident, he just “kept going to work.”
The Beautiful Mind actor went to the doctor for an X-ray 10 years later, after he started experiencing pain. “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.”