Jamie Bell is unrecognisable in his latest role as a neo-Nazi in new indie drama Skin, but hes admitted it took a lot for him to agree to take on the role.
The actor, who first shot to fame as the titular role in Billy Elliot, has taken on a very different topic for his latest movie – and admits he feared for his safety.
Jamie stars as real-life neo-Nazi Bryon Widner, who left the white supremacist movement and went into witness protection after becoming an FBI informant.
Bryon has since undergone two years of tattoo removal to get rid of the ink on his face and be able to blend in to society once again.
Jamie revealed to Variety that he feared for his safety in going against the white power groups, admitting: There was a lot of fear and trepidation about doing this movie.
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I was worried. I think that these are a group of people that are not to be messed with, really. They are organised, theyre armed.
Theyve shown and they continue to show that they are people who dont mind being out in the daylight. They dont care that their faces are out there carrying torches, saying things they theyre saying, carrying the slogans that theyre carrying. So, just from a literal sense of safety, I was afraid.
The movie is based on writer and director Guy Nattivs Oscar-winning short film of the same name, and follows Bryon as he starts to doubt the white power movement and decides to leave the group.
Jamies fears came after he spoke to Bryon for the first time, on the day of the Charlottesville rally attack, in which a car was driven into peaceful protesters by a man with white supremacist beliefs in 2017.
He says he asked his director whether it was right to be making the movie given the rising tensions. Jamie says: I got off the phone and I said to Guy, “I think that its too incendiary right now. Its too explosive.
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Were in a world where its being emboldened. Theyre walking in the streets. Theyre in broad daylight. Theyre showing their faces.”
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Its a far cry from Billy Elliott as Jamie had to completely transform for the role in Skin, gaining 20 pounds in weight, shaving his head and having to wear fake teeth, contact lenses and facial tattoos.
Skin is available in cinemas now, and on DirecTV from 27 July.
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