Gerard Butler Talks Surf Scare on "The Tonight Show"

Making a stop on the talk show circuit, Gerard Butler dropped by NBC Studios in Burbank for an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Thursday (January 12).

The Scottish stud made the appearance to promote his new movie "Coriolanus," which is all set to hit theaters next Friday, January 20th.

During his sitdown, Gerard started off by talking with Jay about his near-death experience while shooting another new film about surfing called "Of Men and Mavericks".

Explaining that he plays surfer Jay Moriarity's mentor, Butler set out to shoot scenes which required him to ride the Northern California break known as Mavericks, as he told, "So I'm paddling and I'm with three of the best surfers in the world and Greg [Long] starts going 'Paddle, Gerry, Paddle!' and we start paddling to the side and it was like watching a tsunami come in as the whole skyline just became white as this wave spread across in front of us..."

Gerard continued, "It was like a 200 meter sprint and then you just saw the wave coming and we're like, 'Oh, here we go....'. So, you're already exhausted and then the wave just slammed. It was like a car crash really, and then underwater, spinning, spinning, spinning, and then everything went dark...."

The 42-year-old finished his story by telling, "So, I was down and I'm thinking, 'I've got to get up, I've got to get up.' I was terrified. And it was one of the most lonely, scary experiences and I knew the whole crew were up there but they couldn't do anything."

After his surf story, Butler also spent time telling Leno about his recent motorcycle trip, as well as "Coriolanus," with the full interview available in the videos below!