‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ Slap: Alicia Vikander Hits Armie Hammer, Find Out Why

You may not know it, but The Man From U.N.C.L.E. had a real slap in a scene where Alicia Vikander actually hits Armie Hammer during a heated confrontation between their characters.

It didn’t happen by accident either. Armie Hammer (Illya Kuryakin) didn’t know what hit him — no pun intended — when Alicia Vikander slapped him during the filming of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Vikander explained what happened to E! while at San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weekends ago, and it had nothing to do with something her co-star had done.

The actress said director Guy Ritchie pulled her aside and whispered to her to hit Hammer. “Guy was like, ‘Go over there and slap him.’ I was like, ‘Can I?'” So she did.

“(Armie) got a bit surprised the first time I did it,” Vikander said of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. slap. “The first time I did it, I was like, ‘I’m sorry.'”

Vikander’s slap happened during a scene — a part of which is seen in the trailer — where she and Hammer get into an elegant fight, Hammer explained.

“I think every scene we have in this movie has a certain flair and style to it that really only Guy Ritchie can bring to it. Even that scene, it’s not just a tussle in a hotel room. It has a great beginning, a great development and a great end.”

Co-star Henry Cavill, who plays Kuryakin’s antagonist, American spy Napoleon Solo, also spoke of how much fun it was to work with Guy Ritchie and the director’s attitude about fight scenes gone wrong.

“It’s a lot fun, carefully choreographed, but if it goes wrong the great thing about Guy is he says, ‘Go with it. Roll with it being wrong because fights aren’t clean.’ They’re messy affairs and you look ridiculous. People when they’re fighting for real in the street, they’re basically hugging and rolling around on the floor. You don’t see people doing flying back kicks.”

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is an adaptation of the 1960s television series which starred Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. Here is the film’s synopsis:

“In the early 1960s, CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin participate in a joint mission against a mysterious criminal organization, which is working to proliferate nuclear weapons.”

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. comes to theaters on August 14. Watch the latest trailer below.

[Image via Warner Bros.]