Five things we learnt on the set of The Meg

Be travelled to the Auckland set of The Meg to meet the cast and crew of the upcoming shark flick.

And while MEG herself wasn’t as terrifying up close and personal, it turns out there was some gnarly stuff that happened on location.

From the real-life story of the Jurassic shark that inspired the movie to Ruby Rose’s near-death experience, here’s what we learned…

There was a real Jurassic era shark called a Megaolodon

If you weren’t already terrified of sharks, then imagine coming up close and personal with an 18-metre long megalodon that resembles a stockier version of a great white? Yeah, no thanks.

The megalodon is an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 23 to 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era.

Yep, true story. We even held a fossilised tooth of one on the set of The Meg!

Ruby Rose nearly died!

She’s one of the most in-demand action stars in Hollywood, but Ruby Rose’s latest role could have cost her life.

With her hair slicked back in a wet look from filming a scene in a water tank, Ruby, 30, got real about her terrifying on-set incident.

“I did almost drown the other day,” she told Be during a break from filming. “That was fun.”

“It was a very full on scene where I end up in the water and then there’s this little bit where Rainn [Wilson] has one thing to do. ‘Just one thing, Rainn! I know you were funny in The Office, but you had one job.’

“And that one job helps me get out of that whole situation. [The director] John [Turteltaub] thought I was acting, and I was acting for a little bit, but then I really needed them to throw me something to get out of the water.

“[John] was like, ‘Just hold, this is great, this is amazing’. And I was thinking, ‘This is not fantastic, I’m sinking’.”

She recalled: “I then screamed, ‘Help!’ I did it in my American accent because I thought, ‘If this looks amazing, I still want it’.”

Jason Statham never stops working out

He’s on the top of every director’s list when it comes to casting the ultimate British tough guy.

Which means action aficionado Jason Statham has to keep his body looking top notch all year round. So how does he do it?

The 49-year-old actor spoke to Be from the set of The Meg about how he maintains his buff physique.

“I’ve always kept myself in decent shape, he told Be during a break from filming the shark flick in Auckland. “I know they’re always going to ask me to do something that will require some kind of preparation.

It took 20 years to make this movie

When Steve Alten published Meg: A Novel Of Deep Terror, it was optioned fairly quickly, but names kept attaching then dropping themselves from the project.

Jason Statham is (probably) not going to punch a shark in the face

When we asked Jason on the set if he’ll punch the shark he simply said “You’ll have to wait and see.

Cryptic, but we’ll take it.

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