Actor Justin Long suffered a minor concussion on the set of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story after repeatedly getting hit in the head for one scene in the 2004 comedy.
The Live Free or Die Hard star appeared alongside Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller in the sporting film, in which a group of misfits enter a top dodgeball competition in a bid to save their local gym.
One memorable scene had Justin’s character pelted with balls in the middle of a game, and although the actor went out of his way to play up the comedy value of the shoot, it left him so battered and bruised, producers urged him not to drive home at the end of the day’s filming.
“The day we shot that scene where I was getting hit constantly, I kept trying to get them to hit… the comedy zones, head or the nethers (genitals), so (I was) just shamelessly throwing myself (in front of the balls), and it was coming pretty fast,” Justin recalled on Today.
“They didn’t want me to drive home at the end of the day because I was a little off, I was slightly concussed. So next time you’re watching that and laughing, know that you’re laughing at my pain!”
“It was well worth it,” he added, before quipping, “I can’t have kids anymore!”
Justin was reminded of the painful scene as he sat courtside at the New York Knicks basketball game in the Big Apple on Tuesday night (14Mar17), as venue bosses at Madison Square Garden made sure to play the part on a loop on the arena’s big screens to acknowledge his presence.
However, Justin didn’t mind too much, as his friend remarked on how well he had done for himself since starring in DodgeBall, which really helped to raise his profile in Hollywood.
“I went to the Knicks game last night and they played it over and over, me getting hit with balls, and this was shot 13 years ago,” he shared. “My buddy, who came with me to the game…, he said, ‘You’ve got a lot of mileage for getting hit with balls. You’ve really parlayed that into (something useful), you get free tickets to the Knicks now!'”
