Channing Tatum was “very competitive” when filming ‘The Eagle’

Actor Jamie Bell, who stars alongside the Hollywood hunk, said they constantly challenged each other when filming the historical movie, about a roman soldier attempting to recover the lost roman eagle standard of his father's legion.

Jamie said: “I think when you’ve got actors that are really competent all around you at the action stuff, you have to really step up, you can’t p***y out on them – which is great because me and Channing are very competitive.

“We spurred each other on, we competed over who has the best fight scene, the fastest horse, who can stay in the river for longer.

“It was childhood stuff, but it was really good fun."

‘Billy Elliott’ star Jamie, 25, added he struggled during some parts of the film, particularly when learning to ride a horse, which he feels made his character more believable and helped create a strong bond with his co-stars.

He added to website flicksandbits.com: “I couldn’t ride a horse before which I was very honest about. Some actors lie about that, and I feel like the physical nature of getting it done was part of the struggle of the characters and the story, and it being their endurance and stamina which gets them through it.

“I don’t think we had the same endurance and stamina, there were moments when we had to keep each other going and press on.”