Tom Hanks 'nearly died' due to 'poisonous' injury on 'Cast Away' set

Tom Hanks almost lost his life due to his unbridled dedication to his role in Cast Away.

The 67-year-old actor starred in the survival film in 2000 as a FedEx employee named Chuck, who gets stranded on an island for five years following a plane crash.

He underwent rigorous transformation to embody the disheveled character, going lengths to deliver realistic performance in the film.

In an interview with BBC in 2009, the Forrest Gump star revealed he nearly died on the set of Cast Away after getting a cut on his leg.

Hanks remained in the hospital for three days where he was treated for the infected cut.

"[Cast Away] put me in the hospital," he said. "I was there for three days with something that, believe it or not, almost killed me.

The actor continued: "I got an infection from a cut and it was eating its way through my leg. I didn't know it, I just thought I had a sore."

"I went to the doctor who took one look and said, 'I have to put you in the hospital because we have to get this infection out of you before it poisons your blood and you die',” Hanks added.