Jamie Bell was "very scared" about his "literal safety" portraying a white supremacist in his new film 'Skin'.
Jamie Bell
The 33-year-old actor stars in the biographical drama as former skinhead group member Bryon Widner , the co-founder of a violent white power group in Indiana called Vinlanders Social Club, who marries a woman called Julie Larsen who - with the help of a black rights activist - helps him turn his back on hate and leave his own organisation.
Jamie felt a lot of "fear and trepidation" about the role as he feels white power groups in the US "are not to be messed with" and admitted he was "afraid" for his own wellbeing if he took on the part.
Speaking on Variety's 'The Big Ticket' podcast, he said: "I was very scared, honestly. There was a lot of fear and trepidation about doing this movie. I was worried.
"I think that these are a group of people that are not to be messed with, really. They are organised, they're armed.
"They've shown and they continue to show that they are people who don't mind being out in the daylight.
"They don't care that their faces are out there carrying torches, saying things they they're saying, carrying the slogans that they're carrying. So, just from a literal sense of safety, I was afraid."
The 'Billy Elliot' actor went on to explain that he'd even considered turning down the role a he felt the current social climate was " too explosive".
He said: "I got off the phone and I said to Guy [Nattiv, the film's director], 'I don't think we should be making this movie, man. I think that it's too incendiary right now. It's too explosive.'
"We're in a world where it's being emboldened. They're walking in the streets. They're in broad daylight. They're showing their faces.'"
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