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Chris Pine’s Black Eye in Star Trek Beyond Is Very Real, Thanks to Idris Elba

2 minute read

Getting a black eye is not a particularly pleasant experience. But Star Trek Beyond actor Chris Pine seems to be something of a masochist, as he said he enjoyed the shiner he got on set — all thanks to Idris Elba, who plays his the villain in the new intergalactic action movie.

“It was great,” Pine told People about that time Elba seriously hit him. “He gave me a black eye, and that was fun, and we used that. He’s a big guy and we tussled and threw some fake punches.”

Elba, for his part, seems to think that Pine started it.

“He tried it with me, man. I was like, ‘Boom, have that,'” he said in an interview with Extra. “He’s a show-off, man. We could have covered it up; he just wanted to show everyone that he had a shiner.”

Pine’s character, Captain James T. Kirk, does have a long history of appearing onscreen with his face banged up; it seems to be a trademark of the rough-and-tumble captain’s look (and life approach). In fact, many of Pine’s movies find him looking a bit beat up (see: next year’s Wonder Woman; this year’s The Finest Hours). This time, though, just know that Pine actually suffered for his art.

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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com