Dan Stevens required a "modesty pouch" for a sex scene in his new film.

The 39-year-old actor features in the German film 'I'm Your Man' as a robot called Tom and explained the measure he had to go to prepare himself for an intimate scene with co-star Maren Eggert.

Dan told Baz Bamigboye's Daily Mail newspaper column: "There was some sort of modesty pouch involved."

Maria Schrader's sci-fi romance explores the possibility of finding love with a robot in a light-hearted manner and Dan believes that the simplicity of the movie is key to its success – as it has been nominated for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Oscars.

The former 'Downton Abbey' actor said: "It doesn't get bogged down in the technology."

The opening scenes of the film see Dan's character dancing the rumba and he explained how he based his moves on the legendary Hollywood star Cary Grant.

He said: "Grant's a very stylised performer and we were re-making his movements – how he'd walked and so on – for Tom."

German is not Stevens' first language – even though he studied it at school – and he said that it actually proved beneficial for the comedic elements of the movie.

Dan explained: "The comedy comes from the off-timing of Tom's delivery. A lot of that robotic concentrating is just me trying to remember my German."

The 'Beauty and the Beast' star filmed the movie in Berlin during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic and admits that it was important to get back to doing some acting work.

Dan said: "It was a big step."

The star previously explained how he had to remove his "emotional baggage" before taking on the robot role.

He shared: "I think it was about taking certain elements away from perhaps the usual preparation of a role or a character and just being very, very present.

"Trying not to come with too much emotional baggage, which Tom doesn't really have."