Gerard Butler rubbed phosphoric acid into his FACE on Plane shoot!

Gerard Butler managed to avoid serious damage to his face credit:Bang Showbiz
Gerard Butler managed to avoid serious damage to his face credit:Bang Showbiz

Gerard Butler was "burning alive" after he accidently rubbed acid into his face.

The 53-year-old actor was shooting his new action movie 'Plane' in Puerto Rico when he started getting burning sensations in his eyes, throat and nose, and it turned out to be phosphoric acid, which can cause severe skin burns and permanent eye damage if concentrated.

Fortunately, the Hollywood heartthrob had a lucky escape.

During an appearance on 'Late Night with Seth Meyers', he spilled: "I'm trying to find something that's wrong with the plane before we can take off for this final sequence and it's something in the wheel, so it's a brake. So, I'm sticking my hand between these two wheels, pretending I know what I'm doing.

"And whatever's in there, every time I bring my hands up, they're covered in blood and green fluid. We're also shooting in Puerto Rico so I'm covered in sweat. I must have been rubbing my face, and suddenly, it's in my throat, it's in my mouth, it's up my nose, it's in my eyes, it's burning my face. And I mean burning."

He continued: “It turns out this is essentially phosphoric acid.

“And the airline pilots that were there watching go, ‘No!'”

Gerard plays pilot Ray Torrance who has to land a storm-damaged aircraft in the middle of a warzone.

He then finds himself caught between the agendas of multiple militias who plan to take the plane and its passengers hostage.

As the world's authorities and media search for the plane, Ray must rise to the occasion and keep his passengers safe for long enough for help to arrive.

The Scottish actor recently appeared in 'Angel Has Fallen', which grossed £133 million at the worldwide box office.

And this week also saw him confirm there is a plot for a fourth 'Has Fallen' film.

Gerard is to to reprise his role as Secret Service agent Mike Banning for a new instalment in the action franchise, tentatively titled 'Night Has Fallen', but he has revealed that the movie is on hold for now as he focuses on other projects.

In an interview with ComicBook.com, he said: "We have a script for that, but I haven't been working on it at the moment. We have a really fun idea, it just needs to be developed.

"But it's been fun recently, making action. I will say – I want to play more the Tom Hanks of action movies. Let me take a break from the Mike Banning, where it's literally seven or eight full-on fight sequences in every movie, fist-fights.

"And actually claiming the characters that are real, who have to pull something extraordinary out of themselves that an audience can really identify with because that's what we need right now."

Gerard also previously portrayed Banning in 'Olympus Has Fallen' and 'London Has Fallen'.