Miles Teller: 'Film car crash recovery brought back painful memories'

Fantastic Four star Miles Teller had no problems relating to his character's car crash recovery in new movie Bleed For This, because he was involved in a near-fatal accident in his early 20s.

The 29-year old Whiplash star underwent painful laser treatment for years in an effort to make a full recovery from his car drama, and he relived the accident in his new film, in which he plays crippled boxer Vinny Pazienza.

"My car accident happened pretty much like Vinny's," he told WENN. "It kind of came out of nowhere. At the time I didn't understand how serious it was and then I was left to pick up the pieces and recover.

"More the recovery process, although not as extreme as Vinny's, I could relate to. I've lost, in my own life, three people I grew up with, two of my best friends, in car accidents. I just feel, like, pretty much everybody I know, if they haven't been in a car accident or a pretty serious one they know someone who has. That's just a part of growing up. I think it's specific to growing up in the United States."

And Teller will always be grateful he walked away from his own car accident, telling MrPorter.com: "The EMT (emergency medical technician) told me 99.9 per cent of people in these cases would be dead or paralyzed.

"Recovery was slow. For years, I had to have steroid injections and laser surgery, the kind they use for tattoo removal. Very painful."

Bleed For This revolves around real-life world champion fighter Vinny, who refused to retire from boxing after suffering serious injuries to his neck and spine in 1991. It co-stars the likes of Aaron Eckhart and Katey Sagal and starts hitting cinemas from later this month (16).