Austin Butler reveals sharp ‘pain’ he bared for 8 months

Austin Butler has revealed he unknowingly lived with a shard of glass in his foot for eight months, all while preparing for his physically demanding role in Darren Aronofsky’s new film Caught Stealing.

The actor, who plays a bartender in 1990s New York City caught up in a spiral of violent crime, admitted the shoot left him battered and bruised. 

“I was covered in bruises constantly. Every day it was something new,” Butler, 34, told PEOPLE. 

“I cut my shin open on a metal thing, I had to hop over something.”

His co-star Zoë Kravitz reminded him of another mishap, asking, “Wasn't there something in your foot for a long time or…?” That’s when Butler explained the bizarre injury. While traveling in Korea for the Dune press tour, he stepped barefoot on glass in his hotel room without realizing it. 

“For whatever reason, I thought that it was a nerve thing in my foot. So I just was hobbling around for eight months and then right before we were starting to film Caught Stealing, I was just pushing through the pain of running,” he said.

Kravitz couldn’t believe he let it go on for so long. 

“Eight months is so long not to be like, ‘Let me just check this out,’” she said in shock. Butler, leaning into humor, joked that he did consult “people”, but not necessarily doctors. 

“There was this guy Frank at the bodega. It’s like, ‘Yeah, why do you think this is?’ ‘It sounds like a nerve thing to me!’ Yeah. A guy at the car wash [too],” he quipped, as Kravitz teased him with a laugh, “‘Oh, nerve thing for sure, bro.’ ‘You’re getting on my nerves.’”

Eventually, Butler did see a doctor who removed the glass from his foot, finally allowing him to run without pain. 

Caught Stealing hits theaters on August 29.