Laura Dern and Cheryl Hines worked tirelessly to perfect new movie catfight

Laura Dern worked hard on choreography for her fight scene with Cheryl Hines in Wilson because she knows how terrible it feels to accidentally sock a co-star.

The actress reveals she once punched a nine-year-old in 1996 movie Citizen Ruth and so she insisted on making sure the hair-pulling catfight with co-star Hines was all for show.

"One time I punched a little boy in a film, this nine-year-old boy in Citizen Ruth, and that was tough to do," she tells WENN. "I hit him so hard.

"Obviously we meticulously rehearsed this fight scene, because I had to show this pent-up rage my character had. (Writer) Daniel Clowes and (director) Craig Johnson would say yes to the hair-pulling and throwing her over, but you have to punch her in the face. That just made me so happy that they were gonna take this as far as possible.

"Oddly, and I don't know where it came from - I guess from my own rage - I just roared with this bliss, which was really surprising. I guess it feels really good to punch somebody in the face if you haven't in your life!"

Johnson adds, "Both of them were so up for it, both Cheryl Hines and Laura. It's a process to put that together and do it safely. Nobody got accidentally socked.

"There's a way to pull hair and a way to tumble and there were stunt doubles that we used in moments but mostly it's all Cheryl and Laura. Cheryl used to do gymnastics so she was really up for it."

Dern plays the ex-wife of Woody Harrelson's character in the comedy and Hines portrays her sister.