- A Wild Night: Mark Ruffalo revealed he once had to save his Now You See Me costar Woody Harrelson from a “melee” in a packed New Orleans bar.
- Harrelson’s Instinct: The fight allegedly began after a man shoved Harrelson, whose “first response,” according to Ruffalo, is to “immediately punch them in the face.”
- A Quick Escape: Ruffalo physically pulled Harrelson from the escalating brawl, fearing the situation could “go so disastrously wrong.”
- A Known Pattern: The story, told on Harrelson’s podcast, was corroborated by co-host Ted Danson, who confirmed this wasn’t out of character for the actor.
A Magical Escape That Had Nothing to Do With a Script
On a wild night in New Orleans during the filming of Now You See Me, Mark Ruffalo had to perform a real-life escape act, but the person he was saving was his costar, Woody Harrelson. Reuniting on Harrelson’s podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Ruffalo shared the shocking story of a bar fight that could have ended in disaster.
The scene was a chaotic one, set against the backdrop of Mardi Gras. “We were shooting Now You See Me in New Orleans, completely on the streets. Totally wild,” Ruffalo recounted for Harrelson’s co-host, Ted Danson. One night, the chaos spilled over when he and Harrelson stopped for a drink at an overflowing bar.
How One Shove Ignited a “Melee”
Ruffalo explained that the trouble began with a fan interaction. “A woman came up to him and she said, ‘Oh my God, I love you so much.’ Woody put his hand on her arm and he said, ‘Oh, thank you. Thank you, darling,'” Ruffalo described. “And this guy comes over and he pushes her outta the way, and he shoves Woody.”
Ted Danson, who has known Harrelson since their Cheers days, immediately knew this was bad news. “Oh, bad bad,” Danson said. “Not good.”
Ruffalo confirmed his fears. “Bad,” he agreed. “Because Woody’s first response is not ‘shove someone back,’ but ‘immediately punch them in the face.'”
Ruffalo’s Quick-Thinking Intervention
Just as Danson and longtime fans might expect, Harrelson’s reaction led to instant chaos. “A whole melee broke out in this bar,” Ruffalo recalled. “I was in the middle of it and it was turning into a— it was getting to become a whole thing… And I grabbed you.”
Harrelson confirmed the memory as Ruffalo continued, “I grabbed you and I pulled you out. ‘Cause 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.'”
This wasn’t the first story of its kind for Harrelson. Danson has previously recounted how he first met his Cheers costar after Harrelson had gotten into a bar fight and been carjacked on the same day, calling him a “whimsical creature” and a “bundle of contradictions.” This latest revelation only confirms the wild stories that have followed the star for decades.