It’s almost a given that not everything will go easily and completely throughout the production of a film. If you’re an actor, though, you undoubtedly hope that you won’t damage your co-star. Especially your Academy award co-star, who is 20 years your senior and widely regarded as one of the world’s finest. Sadly for Ryan Reynolds, that’s exactly the situation he and Denzel Washington found themselves in when filming Safe House in 2012.

Reynolds described how he ended up giving Washington not one but two black eyes while filming a scene on Netflix’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. He feared his career was going to end at the time. Continue reading to learn how he managed to thrash Washington so hard.

The time when Ryan Reynolds ended his own career

Safe House tells the story of a CIA spy (Reynolds) posted in Cape Town, South Africa, who goes on the run with a rogue CIA operator (Washington).  A sequence in the film has the two actors in a speeding automobile, with Washington attempting to suffocate Reynolds. Reynolds said that he and Washington were the ones who pulled the act.

“There’s a scene in the movie where he crawls through the trunk in the back and he grabs me and chokes me,” Ryan shared with David Letterman. He added that the car was at its top speed.

Reynolds accidentally smacked Washington in the face with his head during the sequence, which was filmed on the second day of filming.

Ryan told Letterman, “He and I are in this out-of-control car and my corner of my head, I felt it hit his eye so hard I was sure that it split wide open. And we stopped the car and there he is with this giant egg.” This was the moment when the The Adam Project actor felt his career and life was over.

While Reynolds was convinced that his career was over, Washington remained cool and convinced his co-star all was well. Thanks to that, we got movies like Free Guy and more.

What do you guys think about the Ryan Reynolds episode of the Netflix Originals? Did you guys like it? Let us know in the comments.