British actor Jeremy Irvine lost weight to play a torture victim in new movie The Railway Man by taking long country walks as he learned his script.

The star plays a younger version of Colin Firth's character Eric Lomax, who is captured and subjected to violence during World War Ii.

Irvine was required to slim down for the role and he used his exercise time to help him memorise his words for the shoot.

He tells Britain's GQ magazine, "I'd walk all day through the Cambridgeshire countryside with my script to burn calories. I think I scared my mum a bit."