“We had a fake knife and a real knife,” Bender told the outlet more than a decade after the series finale aired. “The real knife, like every time you make a movie, is blunt. But it’s a real blade, so it won’t wobble, because all rubber blades have that effect a little bit.” The director directed 43 episodes from the show’s first to final seasons and was also an executive producer, so he no doubt had a lot of experience with how prop weapons were handled on set, as did O’Quinn at the time. Bender noted that “Terry was working with a real knife and the fake knife”, using both to make the fight sequence as real as possible.
As it turns out, the real knife was probably used for the shots where it would be most visible, while the rubber prop was supposed to be used for the moments of real impact between the actors. “Terry was well trained when he would have the real knife in his hand, even though it was blunt, and when he would drop it and right next to him, an inch away was the fake knife,” Bender explained. But that’s not what happened during a nerve-wracking moment at the end of filming, when O’Quinn accidentally grabbed the real knife instead of the prop. The actor recalls being caught up in the action of the moment, which involved a fight and apparently even fire hydrants on set to simulate a storm.
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