Mark Ruffalo on Popping Channing Tatum's Ear for “Foxcatcher”: 'He Did Ask Me to Slap the S--- Out of Him'

"It was easy to do because he’d beaten the s--- out of me so many times," the 'Poor Things' actor joked of making 'Foxcatcher' with Tatum, on 'Hot Ones'

Mark Ruffalo had no qualms about getting physical with Channing Tatum for Foxcatcher.

On the newest episode of Hot Ones, the Poor Things actor recalled making 2014's Foxcatcher, in which Ruffalo played the older sibling of Tatum's character, and popping Tatum's ear in the process.

"He did ask me to slap the s--- out of him, and it was easy to do because he’d beaten the s--- out of me so many times," joked Ruffalo, 56. "It was like four months of learning how to wrestle."

"He like has 30 pounds on me, so when it came time to smack the s--- out of him, I was like, 'Came from Alabama,' " he added with a laugh.

Tatum, 43, and Ruffalo play brothers Mark and David Schultz, respectively, in Foxcatcher. The movie is based on the real-life story of U.S. Olympic wrestler David’s murder at the hands of team sponsor John du Pont (played by Steve Carell), of the famed du Pont family.

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Related: The Story Behind 'Foxcatcher' : The Real-Life Murder of Dave Schultz

Also during his Hot Ones interview with host Sean Evans, Ruffalo opened up about once being roommates with Joaquin Phoenix, while they shot their 2007 movie Reservation Road together.

“He’s a great cook, and he turned me on to vegan cuisine and so he would cook all the time and he was a great roommate," Ruffalo said, after Evans prompted him to share one positive note from living with Phoenix, 49, and one negative. "He was a roommate who would be out and you'd get a text [saying] 'you need anything? Need me to pick up anything?' "

"The place is clean, all the dishes were washed, he’s got a great sense of humor," the Avengers: Endgame actor added of his onetime costar.

In Reservation Road, Ruffalo and Phoenix costarred as fathers Dwight and Ethan, respectively, whose lives grow intertwined after Dwight strikes and kills Ethan's son while driving. The film follows Ethan's attempts to bring the man who killed his son to justice, and Dwight's moral struggle to take responsibility for the incident.

"He was super thoughtful and he offered me to stay there," Ruffalo said of his time living with Phoenix. "I was supposed to stay somewhere else and he was like, 'Hey, man, why don't you stay here? I have like three bedrooms.' "

Related: Mark Ruffalo Praises Jeremy Renner After 'Rennervations' Premiere: 'The World Loves You'

On Wednesday, Ruffalo attended the New York City premiere of Poor Things and, in an exclusive chat with PEOPLE, praised costar Emma Stone as “a once in a generation talent.”

“She's just so game,” the actor said. “I mean, this is probably one of the most daring female performances in decades, in a sense.”

“It's just the kind of fearlessness that she has and a presence, and I mean presence with you as an actor,” Ruffalo continued of Stone, 35. “She's just right there — no matter what you do, she goes with you. And she's a great talent.”

The new film is based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. Stone plays Bella Baxter, a woman who is on a journey of awakening after undergoing an experiment by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe. Meanwhile, Ruffalo plays Duncan Wedderburn, a debauched lawyer whom Bella runs off with to explore the world.

Poor Things is in theaters Friday.

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