'Man on a Ledge' Star Sam Worthington on His Fear of Heights and Playing 'A Desperate Man' (Video)

Sam Worthington’s latest role is testing more than just his acting chops.

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The Aussie actor next stars in the Asger Leth-directed thriller Man on a Ledge, in which the majority of his scenes were literally filmed out on a ledge more than 200 feet above a bustling New York City street.

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“Your palms are sweaty, your legs are going, your eyes are going. It’s nerve-wracking,” Worthington told The Hollywood Reporter at a press junket for the film. “It’s not the height your scared of, it’s the fall, and what happens if you hit the deck.”

Armed with little more than a safety harness, Worthington’s first steps out onto that ledge of the Roosevelt Hotel were captured on film and are the same steps viewers will see in the finished product.

“What you see in the movie is the first time I ever jumped out,” the actor said, who added that he did fall off the building on multiple occasions.

Worthington plays a former cop and wrongly accused fugitive who feigns a suicide attempt in order to uncover the truth about how he was framed. Elizabeth Banks, Edward Burns, Jamie Bell, Anthony Mackie and Genesis Rodriguez also star.

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“I just like these types of movies,” Worthington told THR. “There’s a movie called The Negotiator and there’s a movie called Phone Booth -- it’s about a desperate man in a desperate situation, and you sit there going, ‘How did he get there and how’s he gonna get out of it?’ and it’s fast and fun and furious.”

“I like those movies and I thought, ‘I want a role like that,’” he continued. “Where you just get to kind of plead your case and see where it gets you.”

The Summit project hits theaters on Jan. 27. Watch more from Worthington’s interview with THR in the video above.