In his new posthumously published memoir, “My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments,” Eric Dane reveals that Duhamel fought Josh Duhamel on the set of the NBC series “Las Vegas,” on which he starred opposite James Caan for five seasons from 2003 to 2008 (via Entertainment Weekly ). Dane appeared on the show as a guest star in Season 2, filming his episode while dealing with a herniated disc in his neck. As a result, he asked Duhamel to go easy on him while filming a fight scene.
“We are about to shoot a fight scene. I ask lead actor Josh Duhamel to please not grab me by my tie during the scene. He promises not to,” Dane writes. “The director says, ‘Action,’ and Josh pulls my tie. The fire pierces my neck. I say, ‘Whoa, whoa, we have to stop.’ I apologize, grunt in pain, and then take two. He pulls my tie again.”
After two takes of Duhamel wearing his tie, Dane turned to the producer on set and warned him: “You better restrain your son.” Duhamel later apologized for not listening, explaining that he was “caught up in the moment.”
“Fine. Okay. Take three and the motherfucker’s got my tie again,” Dane continues. “I take off my suit jacket and say, ‘Let’s go, you scared-ass actor.’ I ball my hands into fists and come towards him. No one says ‘Cut,’ the camera rolls and for the world that sees this whole disgusting scene, I’m the aggressor, I’m the hothead, I start the fight.”
The incident wasn’t Dane’s proudest moment on set. He later wrote: “Josh and I have been seeing each other ever since and we’re on great terms. But I want to say it again. Josh, I was wrong. I should have walked away. I’m sorry, dude.”
Dane’s guest is Dr. Dane on the second season of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” He appeared in two episodes of “Las Vegas” in 2004, two years before landing his breakthrough TV role as Mark Sloan. Prior to “Las Vegas,” Dane worked regularly on television, guest-starring on a variety of series, including “Roseanne,” Married… with Children,” and had recurring roles on “Charmed” and “Gideon’s Crossing.”
As for Duhamel, the actor explained on “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” earlier this year that it can be difficult to work with moments in his career where he goes to “some pretty extreme places in my head” to capitalize on his characters. One such role was “Las Vegas” hero Danny McCoy, a former U.S. Marine who dealt with PTSD while apprenticing under a casino magnate.
“When I walked on set, people were like, ‘Wow, what’s wrong with this guy?'” Duhamel said. “They asked,” he said. “I was on the show ‘Las Vegas,’ and in the second season my character was deployed to Iraq and when he came back he had seen some things and was in a really dark place… That was the only way I knew how to do it, was to get in here and stay there. [I] I didn’t talk to anyone. I was kind of involved in this, too. And people didn’t want to be around me. And people were kind of avoiding me, and it kind of scared people, including me.
Dane’s memoir, “My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments,” is now available for purchase.