James Nesbitt claims ‘Stan Lee’s Lucky Man’ bosses thought they had "killed him" with a stunt.
The 52-year-old actor had to film an underwater scene for his role of Harry in the Sky 1 drama series and producers stuffed weights in his pockets to ensure he fully sank in the tank – and because the water was "murky", divers took some time to find him and give him oxygen to help him breathe.
He recalled: "I remember filming this one underwater scene, in a 12ft tank in the studio.
"when you go in, they don’t know if you’re going to be a floater or a sinker so they put weights in your pockets.
"Of course, I sank like a f***ing stone. I sank like all the f***ing stones.
"It was really murky, so it took a while for the guys with the oxygen to find me, which was scary.
"And because I had the weights in my pockets, it took ages for me to get back up.
"When I finally it the surface, the whole crew was standing there terrified. I could just see them all thinking, ‘F**k, we’ve killed him.’ "
James – whose character in the cop drama can control luck with a bracelet – enjoys playing a "flawed superhero" but admitted as filming goes on, he finds shooting action scenes increasingly tricky.
He told heat magazine: "We needed to find the ordinary in the man to play the extraordinary in the story, so we created a flawed superhero.
"I also like the fact he’s a bloke from Northern Ireland doing all this heroic stuff when he should be well past it. It is [action-packed]. I enjoy it, but it gets harder as you go on.
"You get a bit stiffer and you’re like, ‘Oh Jesus, here we go again.’ "
James Nesbitt almost died
