'He Did Ask Me To': Mark Ruffalo Admits To Slapping 'The S**t Out Of' Channing Tatum
Mark Ruffalo admits that he once Hulked out on Channing Tatum — and popped his eardrum.
The accident occurred as the duo were filming a pivotal scene for 2014′s “Foxcatcher” in which Ruffalo smacked Tatum in the face. When asked about the story surrounding the incident on Thursday’s edition of “Hot Ones,” he told host Sean Evans that there was “a lot of that” on set.
“He did ask me to slap the shit out of him, and it was easy to do because he’d beaten the shit out of me so many times,” Ruffalo said of Tatum. “It was like four months of wrestling, of learning how to wrestle together — and he has 30 pounds on me,” he recalled.
“So when it came time to smack the shit out of him, I was like, came from Alabama,” he said, drawing his arm back.
“Foxcatcher” is based on the true story of John du Pont, the heir to a family fortune who murdered U.S. Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz in 1996. It marked a dramatic turn for “The Office” star Steve Carell, whose portrayal of du Pont earned him an Oscar nod.
Ruffalo, who was cast as the slain wrestler and older brother of Tatum’s character, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards. It was his second Oscar nod in the category after 2010′s “The Kids Are All Right” and before 2016’s Best Picture winner, “Spotlight.”
Tatum, for his part, reflected on wrestling for “Foxcatcher” during an Academy Award panel in 2014, saying that he would “never do it again.”