Sylvester Stallone broke his neck while filming a fight scene in his latest movie. reports The Mail, London.
The veteran action hero had emergency surgery and a metal plate inserted in his neck following the accident on the set of The Expendables.
The 63-year-old actor was filming a fight with wrestling co-star Stone Cold Steve Austin, 45, in the upcoming movie, but it was so realistic that Stallone ended up with a hairline fracture in his neck.
Stallone told FHM magazine: 'Man, it was seven guys, kicking each other's ass, one guy tougher than the next. No joke, our stunt guys were begging for mercy.
'Actually, my fight with Stone Cold Steve Austin was so vicious that I ended up getting a hairline fracture in my neck. I'm not joking.
'I haven't told anyone this, but I had to have a very serious operation afterwards. I now have a metal plate in my neck.'
The plot of the film centres around a team of mercenaries head to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator.
The movie features a who's who of veteran action actors including Arnold Schwarzenegger, 62, Bruce Willis, 54, Dolph Lundgren, 52, Mickey Rourke, 57, Jet Li, 46, as well as relative youngster Jason Statham, 37.
It also stars Brittany Murphy, who died in December of a heart attack.
Stallone, who wrote the script and directed the movie, said testosterone was flowing during filming.
He said: 'Bruce's character, who hires me to do the job the film's based on, turns to me and says, "Look, there's one person I need to talk with before I give you the job."
'At which point Arnold, who plays my oldest rival, walks out. And it's clear we have a lot of history there. So I tell him I should have shot him a long time ago when I had the chance.
'And the scene goes from there. But man, those guys were up for it.
'They got out of bed at 5.30am just to shoot a small five-minute scene.'
It is not the first time the actor has been hurt during filming. He was also badly hurt by Dolph Lundgren when he filmed Rocky IV.
He said: 'Dolph and I always went for it. I gave him orders to try to knock me out while the cameras were rolling. At one point, he hit me so hard on the head I felt my spine compress.
'He then hit me with an almighty uppercut. That night my chest started to swell, and I had to be helicopter-ambulanced from my hotel to a nearby emergency room.
'I was told that Dolph had punched my rib cage into my chest, compressing my heart. If it had swollen any more, I would have died.
'After that, I was like, "Dolph, it's only a movie, bro."'
Stallone recently revealed that he and Arnold Schwarzenegger, once huge rivals, are now the best of friends.
'He's my best friend now. It's strange, given what big rivals we used to be. He's still ridiculously competitive, though. See this watch?
'This is the only one of its kind in the world, so I wore it to our last lunch. Arnold was desperate for me to get him one but I had to explain that wasn't possible. He was so mad!'
