Josh Duhamel and Eric Dane spent years being mistaken for Hollywood twins, courtesy of their matching chiseled jawlines, handsome faces, and silver-streaked hair. But their Las Vegas collaboration was hardly a case of seeing double. In My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, Eric Dane recalls how Josh Duhamel broke his promise to keep his hands off Dane’s tie during a fight scene, turning a painful stunt into an actual brawl. The cameras kept rolling without the crew knowing the full story, and Dane got framed as the villain.

In his memoir, Eric Dane finally offers the other side of a Hollywood scuffle that made him look like the troublemaker.

Eric Dane looks back at his Last Vegas brawl with Josh Duhamel

Long before Eric Dane became Grey’s Anatomy heartthrob Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan, he was still finding his footing in Hollywood. Josh Duhamel, meanwhile, was a rising primetime star, fresh off a Daytime Emmy win and leading NBC’s Las Vegas. In his posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, Dane revisits a 2004 guest appearance as Leo Broder, revealing how a fight scene with Duhamel spiraled into a real-life confrontation.

“Nobody calls ‘Cut,’ the camera keeps rolling, and to the world who sees the whole nasty scene, I’m the aggressor, the hothead, I start the fight,” Dane wrote.

The actor was dealing with a herniated cervical disc in his neck and had specifically asked Duhamel not to grab him by the tie during their characters’ onscreen scuffle. But when the director called “Action,” Duhamel pulled on the tie, sending a jolt of pain through Dane’s neck. The scene immediately came to a halt, and Duhamel apologized before admitting he had “got caught up in the moment.” The two prepared to try again, but Dane was already losing patience.

 “You better rein in your boy,” Dane warned the producers. 

Yet the assurances did little to prevent another painful repeat. Recalling the third take, Dane described how Duhamel grabbed his tie again, prompting him to throw off his suit coat and challenge his co-star. With his fists clenched, Dane charged at Duhamel, while the cameras continued rolling and nobody called cut.

Whatever their differences beyond the set, Josh Duhamel and Eric Dane eventually found common ground after their on-screen clash, unsurprising when one knows of Duhamel’s rift with politics.

How Josh Duhamel and Eric Dane reconciled

In the very same posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, Eric Dane revealed that the two actors eventually put the incident behind them.

“Josh and I have seen each other since and we’re cool,” Dane wrote, before offering a more personal mea culpa: “But I want to say it again. Josh, I was wrong. I should’ve walked away. I’m sorry, dude.”

Duhamel, too, has reflected on his early Las Vegas days, admitting in In Depth with Graham Bensinger that he sometimes went to “pretty extreme places” mentally to get into character, occasionally making him difficult to work with. In the end, what began as a painful on-set clash became a bygone Hollywood chapter, with Dane making sure his memoir delivered both sides of the story.

What do you make of the fight that Eric Dane and Josh Duhamel had in Las Vegas? Let us know in the comments!