Mark Ruffalo turned out to be the unexpected "magic trick" Woody Harrelson had tucked away in his sleeve. As the Marvel star recounted, he played a pivotal role in helping his *Now You See Me* co-star narrowly sidestep a bar brawl while they were filming the 2013 blockbuster.
"We were filming *Now You See Me*—the first installment—right there on the bustling streets of New Orleans. It was pure chaos," Mark reminisced on Woody and Ted Danson’s podcast *Where Everybody Knows Your Name* on October 15. "We were capturing scenes with long lenses, getting swept into bars mid-take, like in the heart of Mardi Gras madness."
The 57-year-old actor went on to describe how, one fateful night, he and Woody, 64, wandered into a crowded bar. A woman approached Woody, gushing about how much she adored him. "Woody placed his hand gently on her arm and replied, 'Oh, thank you. Thank you, darling,'" Mark shared. "But then, this guy storms over, shoves her aside, and lunges at Woody."
Ted—who has been friends with Woody since he joined the *Cheers* cast in 1985—chimed in, "Oh, that's bad. Real bad."
Mark nodded in agreement. "Woody's first instinct isn't to shove back," the *Avengers* star noted. "It's to throw a punch square in the face."
Both Ted, 77, and Woody erupted in laughter as Mark added, "And to be honest, that would've been the right move."
"Absolutely the right thing to do," Mark continued. "But then, all hell broke loose in that bar."
Indeed, Mark found himself smack in the middle of the fray. "And I grabbed you," he said, turning to Woody, who confirmed the memory. "I grabbed you and hauled you out of there."
"I thought, 'This could be a blast, but it could also go horribly wrong,'" Mark added. "Because you and I might be able to hold our own, but what about the rest of our crew? I don't think so."
Ted was impressed by Mark's knack for defusing the situation. As he joked, "I'm ashamed to admit I would've been the guy saying, 'I'll be right back. I'm gonna call someone. I'll be right back.'"
But as Mark pointed out, he was a wrestler in his day. "Between Woody taking care of the head and me grabbing the legs, we're like the perfect tag team," he quipped.
And that "perfect tag team" is set to reunite on the big screen once again in *Now You See Me: Now You Don’t*, the third installment in the franchise, hitting theaters on November 14.
