Steve Buscemi was recuperating from stab wounds Friday in New York, while his Domestic Disturbance costar Vince Vaughn recovered in Los Angeles, just a day after they were entangled in a bar brawl with locals in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Although Buscemi was stabbed in the face, throat and arm during the melee, his publicist said Friday that things could've been worse. "He's at home in New York, and he's going to be okay," says rep Staci Wolfe.
Meanwhile, police are still investigating the cause of the fight, which left Buscemi hospitalized and Vaughn and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg arrested on misdemeanor fighting charges.
Police said the fight broke out around 2:30 a.m. outside the Firebelly Lounge in downtown Wilmington, where Vaughn, Buscemi and Rosenberg had been on location shooting the new John Travolta film, Domestic Disturbance.
Local resident Timothy Fogerty, 21, was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, after witnesses told police he instigated the brawl and allegedly stabbed Buscemi. He was released from jail Thursday after posting $50,000 bond.
Witnesses told the Wilmington Star that the fight erupted inside the bar after Vaughn had been "rude." Buscemi apparently was stabbed while trying to play peacemaker during the ensuing fracas. "[He] is a nice man and didn't deserve this," witness Jackie Williams told the Star.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Kenneth Purgason, who was arrested for fighting along with Vaughn and Rosenberg, told E! Online Friday that "Vince Vaughn was being a jerk" inside the bar. "I mean, I can understand where he's coming from--there were like 20 people surrounding him," the local resident said. "I guess somebody got pissed off, they talked back and forth...they took it outside and I don't know what happened next. All hell broke loose."
Purgason claims he was standing on the street when, after the stabbing occurred, "I went over to try to talk to Vince Vaughn and try to calm him down, because he pushed my friends. His friend [Rosenberg] then hit me...and then the cops sprayed all of us."
He says the crowd, including Vaughn, got hit with pepper spray. (Vaughn's publicist is not commenting on the scuffle.)
Purgason says he later ended up in the same holding cell with Rosenberg at New Hanover County jail and the two apologized to each other. Vaughn, Rosenberg and Purgason are all due in court June 4.
Vaughn, meanwhile, flew to Los Angeles Thursday night and went to work Friday on his new film, Made, costarring his Swingers buddy, Jon Favreau. The Artisan Entertainment release, costarring Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Famke Janssen and Peter Falk, is due out this summer and stars Vaughn and Favreau as (get this) up-and-coming boxers who get involved with the mob.
As for Buscemi, it was not known Friday when the actor would return to work in North Carolina, but production on Domestic Disturbance is still expected to continue as scheduled.
Barring any other disturbances, that is.