Ridley Scott has revealed actor Idris Elba thought he'd really been shot in American Gangster after the director tricked him with the recoil - after safety-conscious Scott had insisted on not even having blanks in a gun.
Scott, 83, said the weapon used on the set had a solid filled-in barrel, with no bullets in it, for the scene where Frank Lucas, a mob boss's right-hand man, played by Denzel Washington, puts a gun against the forehead of Elba's character Tango.
Elba was acting out a scenario like the one that had earlier tragically killed actor Jon-Erik Hexum, who put a gun against his own head and fired - but whereas Hexum had a blank in his gun, Scott didn't even have blanks in the gun for Elba's fake shooting.
2007 film: Ridley Scott has revealed actor Idris Elba thought he'd really been shot in American Gangster after the director tricked him with the recoil - after safety-conscious Scott had insisted on not even having blanks in a gun
But to add realism and draw a reaction from Elba, Scott told him to lean his head against
