Tyler Perry stunned after hitting Fox in fight scene
Tyler Perry had to take a break from filming new action thriller Alex Cross after landing a sickening blow on co-star Matthew Fox during a fight scene.
The actor/director trained with Krav Maga specialists to perfect his fight sequences in the film, but when it came to unleashing his martial arts moves, he almost knocked the Lost star out.
He tells WENN, "I kept feeling within myself that he (Fox) was too
close. I wouldn't commit all the way to the turn and I was afraid
to completely let go because this Krav Maga training I took is
really amazing. I had major issues because I didn't want to hurt
him.
"But (director) Rob Cohen kept pushing me and pushing me, and
finally I just let go. My elbow came too close and I hit him in the
temple. Matthew spun around and we're on the catwalk of this
scaffolding and I grabbed him because I thought he was going
over.
"He was a good sport about it because he didn't turn around to kick
me. I had to leave the set after that because that was it for me; I
didn't want to be that committed!"
And Fox admits his co-star spent the next few days apologising for
smacking him around the head: "You do those fight sequences and
they're really drawn out and you're exhausted, so every now and
then somebody makes a mistake and you misjudge and somebody gets
hit.
"Tyler caught me with an elbow in the face about midnight on the
scaffolding when we were doing that stuff. He was so unbelievably
horrified that he did it that he called me every day just
apologising. I tried to let him off the hook saying, 'It's no
problem man'. I didn't get seriously hurt."
But it was a different story for a stuntman on the film - he
reprimanded Perry after the star pushed his son out of the way
during a fight scene in a restaurant.
The actor recalls, "I decked this waiter in the scene. Rob says,
'Go on, man, you're gonna try and save your wife. Knock him out of
the way!' So I run and I knock the guy out of the way.
"After the scene, everyone is quiet and the stunt guy comes over to
me and says, 'Hey man, that's my son. You can't hit him like
that!'"