Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole isnt afraid to get his hands dirty for the sake of a role – or even getting punched in the face, for that matter.
The actor came dangerously close to hitting the deck during his latest movie, A Prayer Before Dawn, where he came face-to-face with a real boxing champion in a Thai prison.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk about his latest role, he told us: I very nearly got knocked out by an ex-prisoner boxer who actually stayed in the prison in which we filmed.
Provider: BBC
He was a south-east Asian boxing champion, and he caught me with a neat upper-cut which sent me to space and back while we were filming.
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Thankfully, Joe was able to somewhat hold his own in the confrontation – and it all ended up in the final movie.
He explained: Luckily I kind of grabbed him and clinched him, and then tried to squeeze the life out of him, pushed him and just carried on going.
It was one of them where you kind of think “well, I should stop now”, he admitted. But if I stop Im just going to have to do this again – and if I carry on and almost treat this like a real fight, like a genuine buzz like in a real fight, if I carry on and get through this – then this is going to look great on camera.
In A Prayer Before Dawn, Joe retells the true story of Liverpudlian Billy Moore – a drug addict who ended up in a Thai prison, entering Muay Thai boxing matches in order to literally fight his way to freedom.
Joe, who is most known for playing fan favourite John Shelby on Peaky Blinders, was flown over to a real Thai prison and placed among real prisoners in order to get the gritty and brutal authentic feel of the story.
There were 3,000 prisoners, Joe explained. They put a boxing ring in the middle of this prison and I went toe-to-toe with a champion Thai boxer. We had one day of choreography, which kind of meant we just had to kind of wing it which adds to it I guess in some ways.
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But loads of people tried to escape the day we filmed, he added. Our main cast had bodyguards…you realise what an experience it was.
To be honest, every day on the film was brutal. A physical, emotional and mental challenge.
A Prayer Before Dawn is released on digital download from 30 July.
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MORE: Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole admits parents were gutted by John Shelby exit: They were against it
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