Things can get pretty exciting when shooting a film, especially those feature massive moments like fight scenes. While fight sequences probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when one thinks of The Da Vinci Code. However, the film still has some tense moments, a number of which involve Paul Bettany’s Silas, the albino Catholic monk who works for “The Teacher.” One particular scene saw Silas punch Tom Hanks’ Robert Langdon in the gut and, it turns out, Bettany caused Hanks to fart in the process.
During the film, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu pay a visit to Langdon’s friend, Sir Leigh Teabing, an expert on the Holy Grail. During their visit, Silas breaks into the house and punches Langdon. Paul Bettany recently recalled shooting that scene from The Da Vinci Code and remembers the set being incredibly quiet at the time. With this, everyone was all ears when Tom Hanks let out a fart due to Bettany’s punch:
I had to grab him and I had to punch him in the stomach and it’s very quiet on set. There’s always more quiet when there’s a stunt going on because you’re worried somebody’s gonna get hurt. So everybody’s listening, and I punched him in the stomach and he farted really, really, really loudly, but really loudly.
Needless to say, Paul Bettany and Tom Hanks shared a pretty memorable (and awkward) moment together. During his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the WandaVision star further admitted he was at a loss after punching Hanks. He also revealed his co-star’s hilarious reaction to his punch:
I didn’t know what the form was. What do you do when the biggest movie star in the world farts? I kinda looked at him. And he went, ‘What is wrong with you? You just made me fart!
In all honesty, that’s probably how most of us would respond if we had just farted loudly on set after being punched by a co-star. Thankfully though, Tom Hanks seems to have a pretty good sense of humor, as does Paul Bettany. Based on Bettany’s tone, it sounds like Hanks wasn’t seriously offended by the hit.
Every actor probably has moments on sets that they’re probably less than proud of. Even Tom Hanks admitted to being cranky while filming his classic Sleepless in Seattle. But being the professionals that they are, most actors work through and learn from their past slip-ups.
If anything, Paul Bettany has a great story that he can pass down to his children, and so on and so forth. Not many people can say they punched one of the greatest actors of our time and made him fart. In short, Bettany is in a class all his own, and he seems to know it. If you’d like to check out his tussle with Tom Hanks, you can stream The Da Vinci Code on Netflix.
