How Filming The Witcher Could Have Blinded Henry Cavill

Speaking exclusively to Metro UK, the Geralt actor shared that he was only supposed to wear his colored Witcher contacts for three hours at a time due to the discomfort and potential damage the eyewear could cause.

"Drying out isn't the problem, it's that part of your eye, it's the only part of your body that receives oxygen from the air rather than blood," Cavill said. "And so if you're covering it up, you're not getting any oxygen to it, and over a long period of time, you will do damage to your eyes."

While on set, an eye technician monitored and supervised Cavill and his tricky contacts. The actor noted that she was incredibly strict about the use of the contacts, and regularly hounded him about removing the contacts when he was supposed to, regardless of the production's shooting needs "because you will start to go blind after a while." Despite knowing the potential permanent consequences, the actor admitted that he basically brushed off her regular warnings and was quite stubborn about removing them.

"I was sure she was probably selling a slightly more dramatic version of the truth because I do tend to be a bit stubborn like that," said Cavill with a laugh. "And I'll say, no, it's alright we can shoot, [a] couple more hours will be fine. And she said we won't be fine. You've got to take them out now."

Unsurprisingly, the actor's eye technician was right, but the Witcher star had to learn the hard way while filming on and around the volcanic rock of the Canary Islands.

"[Dust] got in behind the contacts, so my eyes ended up being scratched," he revealed. "I didn't realize it was scratching ... but it got to the point where I couldn't really keep my eyes open, [and] my eyes were watering." His eye-watcher eventually forced shooting to halt until he removed his contacts. While dedication to a role is admirable, Henry Cavill was quite lucky to have someone with the foresight to protect his eyes when he wouldn't.