Gerard Butler Says Actors Were Sent to the Hospital 'Every Day' During Filming of 300: 'Insane' (Exclusive)

Gerard Butler tells his experience further 300 he was not without war wounds.

In conversation with his own Den of Thieves 2: Panther O’Shea Jackson Jr. for PEOPLE’s “Comparative Notes” segment, the 55-year-old actor recalled filming the 2006 historical action epic, which was directed and written by Zack Snyder.

“I remember every day someone was being taken to the hospital,” Butler claims. “You’d fight, you turn around, there’s a guy down there, a spear went in his eye. Another time, you turn around, there’s a guy who just fell, broke his ankle. I mean, that was crazy.”

Until he says exactly how he himself was injured 300Butler recalls “getting knocked over by a big set of waves” while filming in 2012. Chasing the Mavericksto the point where he “almost drowned”, despite learning to surf for the film.

“I thought I was done. They had to take me out, take me to the hospital, put me outside, give me a defibrillator. I mean, it was intense,” the actor recalled.

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Enter Gerard Butler 300 (2006).

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Gerard Butler says he was ‘burning alive’ after accidentally putting acid on his face during filming

He also said that he “was in collisions” with “James Bond himself”, Pierce Brosnan, “who drove me straight into the wall.”

“And this thing should have stopped because he should have hit the brakes,” Butler continued. “We hit a wall on the roof, a 3-foot-high wall, at full speed, in the Range Rover. It destroyed my neck, and that was after 300. I was already so beat up 300.”

“And I spent a day filming in the Icelandic Sea, I got hypothermia there, I overheated once in Montreal shooting a movie,” he continued about other illnesses he suffered while on the job. “They put wetsuits on us, but then we had to put on the full costume, and it was 110 degrees. And we were in it all day … and we still have to do so many things.”

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Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. for PEOPLE’s “Comparing Notes.”

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Gerard Butler was recovering from a torn ACL during filming Den of Thieves 2: ‘I wasn’t in the best shape’

The actor also had accidents with colleague Hilary Swank, with whom he acted in 2007. PS I love youand Angelina Jolie, his colleague in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Cradle of Life (2003).

“I scarred Hilary Swank on the head … she has a scar. I almost shot Angelina Jolie in the face. I was going down, I was hanging upside down. I had to shoot the gun, but I had no control over where the Thing went. I just I shot and just missed,” he said. “I’ve been shot at by bullets, shell casings, explosions. The whole camera once fell on Hilary Swank and me.”

And despite the fact that he said he was “rushed to the hospital” for acting-related injuries, Butler tells Jackson, 33, of the stunt work: “It’s fantastic. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Den of Thieves 2: Panther it’s in theaters now.

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