Gerard Butler was shot in the face twice whilst filming 'Machine Gun Preacher'

The 41-year-old actor - who plays the lead role of Sam Childers in the real-life story - revealed that during filming of the new Marc Forster directed-film, he was shot in the face two times with a pellet.

He said: "I got shot twice filming Machine Gun Preacher. We were doing a big shootout and a pellet caught my eyebrow. I bled so bad that we stopped filming. Ten minutes later on the next shoot it happened again, in exactly the same bloody place."

Gerard's latest role follows the true tale of a man who turns his back on a violent past to became a machine gun clad liberator of refugee children in Africa.

Much like his latest character, Gerard started out as a bad boy too.

He told Empire magazine: "When I was younger I got chucked in prison a couple of times. I was a wild child, travelling the US, drink-driving and breaching the peace. I went from being incredibly self-destructive, struggling to find my place in life, to acting and getting my s**t together."

'Machine Gun Preacher' is due to hit the big screen on November 4th.