Jack Black says meeting his "hero" Dustin Hoffman was scary.

Jack Black

Jack Black

The 49-year-old actor co-starred with the 81-year-old Hollywood legend in the 'Kung Fu Panda' trilogy and has confessed he was so "intimidated" by the 'Meet the Fockers' star's presence, he wanted to do separate scenes to prevent coming face-to-face with him.

Speaking to Total Film, Jack said: "We did spend some time together. There was a trick with one of our scenes that just wasn't working so they needed to get us to [record it] together. I was very intimidated for that scene, because he's been a hero of mine for so long. I didn't even want to do it. I didn't want to meet him, I didn't want to do the scene with him, didn't want to do a scene with him!

"I preferred doing in separate because there's a terror involved in meeting you heroes. But once we did, it was very informative and very helpful. He just came over and whispered to me: 'You should whisper that line!'

"I said, 'OK, I'll try that', and he was right. He's got incredible instincts."

The 'Goosebumps' star says although Hoffman has a huge amount of experience in the film industry behind him, his passion for different projects is what makes him unique.

The 'School of Rock' star added: "It's not how long you do it, as much as how much you love to do it. He really loves to do it. He relishes it. And that's what makes him great."

Jack added that he can see himself performing at Dustin's age because of his "love" of films and putting on a "show".

Jack said: "I have a passion for entertaining. I love to put on a show. As long as I love putting on a show, I think I could continue doing it."