Blake Lively opened up about an injury she suffered while filming Reed Morano’s The Rhythm Section. They had to suspend the production and push back the release of the movie after the actress needed to undergo surgery and physical therapy.
The intense drama that required action scenes compelled Lively to perform her own stunts where she and co-star Jude Law try to beat each other up. During the course of their fight, she broke a ligament and dislocated two bones in her hand.
Blake Lively’s Italian Physical Therapist Wanted ‘Deep Inspiration’
In an interview via The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, actress Blake Lively explained what happened during her scene with Jude Law on the set of The Rhythm Section:
“It was like a four-minute scene with me and Jude Law beating each other up, and then on my hand, I severed a ligament here, so my knuckles are kind of dropped, and then I dislocated these two bones and broke some things. My hand just basically turned into party confetti. It was just like, ‘Pow’ upon contact.”
She had two surgeries on her hand, but her trip to the hospital was deemed useless because she still needed a physical therapist to completely heal, describing the guy who came in looked like “Zac Efron and Fabio had a baby with a Ken doll.” She quipped:
“He’s like this Italian, beautiful hand therapist. He also looked like he could do a standing back tuck. Even on set, doesn’t matter if we were shooting in the desert, he’d have a perfect little espresso cup.”
The host asked if the physical therapist spoke English, to which Lively replied in the affirmative, though the guy was not particularly well-versed in it because it was new to him. She added:
“He was talking about respiration and how important that is to breathe through the physical therapy because it’s painful. And then suddenly I’m hearing Ryan starting to wake up, and then I hear Pierre Luigi say to me, he’s holding my hand, he goes [in deep, breathy voice]: ‘Inspiration, inspiration, deep inspiration,’ and I was like, ‘It’s just my hand!’ ”
It did not seem worth it for Lively to sacrifice her hand for the project after it heavily tanked at the box office. For a budget of $50 million, it only grossed around $6 million with a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Blake Lively Poked Fun At Herself While Remembering Her Accident On Set
Blake Lively also shared on social media an update on her recovery while she was confined at a hospital due to her broken hand. She said (via People):
“Literally 4 weeks after I said, ‘I’d give my right hand to be in this movie!’ (Good thing no one told me to ‘break a leg’). My husband somehow knew ‘Wild Thing’ would be my version of smelling salts. I’ve never felt so seen. Or high. Also… I have zero recollection of this.”
The video showed the actress slowly opening her eyes to the song Wild Thing by Tone Loc. The filming was suspended for six months to allow for Lively’s full recuperation.
