Beach-running enthusiast; runs daily for conditioning. Matthew McConaughey, 56, reveals why he still performs his own stunts years after painful injury. He won’t shrink from doing his own stunt work despite suffering a bizarre and painful mishap years ago on a film set.
The 56-year-old actor revealed that he hyperextended his left leg performing a stunt for the 2002 fantasy–adventure film Reign Of Fire on the talk show Hot Ones.
While eating progressively spicier chicken wings, McConaughey insisted that the ‘silly injury’ could have been prevented with better planning on his part.
He explained that he hurt himself on the film — which costarred Christian Bale and Gerard Butler — while shooting a scene in which he walked across a charred field and jumped down into a shed.
‘You could see the bottom of the tunnel,’ McConaughey said. ‘It was about a six-foot drop, right? So, you see it. Go down, you know when to bend your knees and take in the impact.’
However, the hunky star — who recently transformed himself in a sexy Santa — was caught off guard when the lights were turned off and he couldn’t see through the cavernous darkness.