Jamie Bell a lover not a fighter!

The Billy Elliot star, 24, admits he struggled to get to grips with his all-action role in The Eagle because of his dancer background.

“You would think dance would help with fight scenes in a way but bizarrely, sword fighting breaks all the rules because you’re supposed to go right foot, right arm forward. Dance is right foot, left arm,” explains Jamie.

“With the fight choreographer, I had to unlearn the way you teach sword fighting and teach it backwards for me, because I literally couldn’t do it. I cannot make a step with my arm going at the same time, because in dancing it’s a very unnatural movement.”

Bell — who became a household name after starring in 2000 movie Billy Elliot, when he was just 14 — recently admitted finding fame at a young age caused him to “lose himself”.

“Imagine me at 14. I’d just done the [Golden] Globes and was looking forward to the Oscars and hanging out with all these people and being told I was so great. I didn’t go off the rails and start doing a bunch of drugs. But definitely I lost touch with who I was,” he explained.

“If I’d actually been nominated for an Oscar, my life would have been ruined. Where do you go from there? Down, down, down.

“When I see these young people getting nominated, it’s great, of course. But I hope that they always have that person who goes, ‘Check yourself. Be careful.’”