It was a little neighbourly nudge that helped Eric Bana become Brad Pitt's sparring partner in Troy. In the epic story of the Trojan War, Bana plays Hector, the Trojan prince who becomes the arch rival of Achilles, the Greek hero played by Pitt.

"My American agent lives next door to Brad's manager. They arranged for Brad and I to go out on a dinner date," says Bana, who lives with his wife and two children in Melbourne.

"Brad had been a fan of my Aussie movie, Chopper. We spoke about how cool it would be to work together. A couple of weeks later, the Troy project was green lit.

Bana got a call from director Wolfgang Petersen, who asked him to read the screenplay and then set up a meeting.

"When I met with Wolfgang, I told him I really liked the role of Hector. He told me he was glad to hear that because Brad had already said he wanted to play Achilles.

From the first day Bana and Pitt arrived in London last July, they began working with a fight trainer on the choreography for the film's climactic battle between Achilles and Hector.

"The fight was the last thing we filmed, so Brad and I were really pumped and ready for it," recalls Bana.

A little too pumped perhaps because on the morning of the second last day of shooting, Pitt's fist connected with Bana's nose.

"I went down with a thud. I wasn't quite sure what happened but there was blood all over the sand."

The set doctor rushed in to stop the bleeding.

Behind him were the make up artists who applied a patch and covered it with make up.

"I'm proud to say the whole incident only delayed the shoot by about 20 minutes. I now have a scar near my nose, courtesy of Brad Pitt."

Though a star in his native Australia, Bana was a virtual unknown with American audiences when Ang Lee cast him as the lead in Hulk.

"There's no question my life has changed as a result of Hulk. Even with Brad Pitt's endorsement I'm not certain I,d have been up for Troy without Hulk in my corner. "The flick also allowed me to indulge my passion for collector cars."