Jennifer Garner once pulled a page out of Mike Tyson’s book by biting off part of a costar’s ear.
Garner, 53, told the story of her maybe-too-realistic fight scene with actor and stuntman Sala Baker during a panel for season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me at Apple TV’s press day in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday, February 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Can I just say that the performer, Sal, the last time I fought him was in The Kingdom,” Garner said of the 2007 film starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman. The actress played Special Agent Janet Mayes, while Baker, 49, was credited as The Kidnapper.
“Pete Berg, who was the director, told him to try to kill me,” Garner explained. “We did not have a lot of choreography, and he told me to do anything I could to survive. He did, and I did, and I ended up scrambling onto his back. I bit his ear, and we have a picture of him missing a chunk of ear, because we were not kidding.”
Jennifer Garner’s Longtime Love John Miller Supports Her at Show Premiere
Nearly 20 years later, Garner and Baker reunited for The Last Thing He Told Me. The Apple TV drama sees the 13 Going on 30 star play a woodturner named Hannah, whose husband, Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), disappears, leaving her with his angsty daughter and a note reading, “Protect her.”
In season 2, which follows Owen’s return, Baker plays a uniformed man who knocks on Hannah’s door after she receives a text telling her to “get out of the house.” Hannah is unable to escape the house in time and enters a fight with the man, as seen in the trailer.
“We went for it in a way that the crew — this was maybe our first or second day of shooting — were like, ‘Can you be careful with her?’ I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, he’s not going to be careful. I’m not going to be careful. Just back out of the way. I have a score to settle here,’” Garner said of the scene. “And Sal was with us the entire season. So prepare yourselves.”
Coster-Waldau, 55, was appalled by Garner’s story.
“Can we just go over that again? You bit a piece of his ear off?” he asked in astonishment.
Garner replied, “Like Mike Tyson.” (Tyson, 59, infamously bit off part of Evander Holyfield‘s ear during their 1997 boxing rematch in Las Vegas, resulting in his disqualification, fines and a temporary suspension.)
Coster-Waldau fired back, “Why are you all looking as if this is a great thing? What is wrong with you people?”
Garner concluded, “Don’t make me mad. I seem nice. I’ve warned you before.”
Jennifer Garner Just Joined Cameo for a Good Cause
The Last Thing He Told Me is based on the two-book series by Laura Dave. In January, Dave, 48, exclusively told Us Weekly how the original book’s sequel, The First Time I Saw Him, helped the showrunners plan season 2.
“I walked them through the book. They had the world and the themes and everything, but I only had 100 pages I was willing to share at that point,” she recalled. “While I was doing some of that editing, they were off creating the second world for the show. I think they speak to each other really beautifully.”
The Last Thing He Told Me season 2 premieres on Apple TV on February 20.
