SCREEN actor Jamie Bell loses his virginity in his latest movie while filming his very first sex scenes. The Billingham-born star, 21 — best known for his debut movie Billy Elliot — plays the title character in Hallam Foe, a film about a teenager who runs away from home to live on the rooftops in Edinburgh. His character gets involved with an older woman, played by Thunderbirds’ star Sophia Myles — currently d ating David “Doctor Who” Tennant — and the pair say shooting their erotic love scenes proved to be a tad embarrassing. Jamie said: “The sex stuff was immensely awkward. Any actor who tells you it isn’t is lying, or is in love with the person they are having sex with! It’s much easier in real life, to be honest.” Sophia, however, was much more worried about having to dance in the film, which is due out on August 31. She said: “I actually lost sleep over that one. I was more worried about that than the rest of the film because I don’t have much confidence when it comes to breaking out moves. “The idea of having to do it on celluloid and in front of the boy who was made famous as Billy Elliot was far more taxing than the sex scenes. “I have to say, though, that Jamie Bell’s naked bottom is pretty impressive.” Jamie said he wasn’t too sure about playing Hallam when he first read the script. He said: “On the first page it says ‘Hallam takes off his sweater and circles his nipples in lipstick’ . . . so I think most actors may have thought otherwise.” Hallam Foe, which has garnered rave reviews from critics ahead of its UK cinema release, is the first film Jamie has made on home territory in six years, since he made the period drama Nicholas Nickleby with fellow Northerner Charlie Hunnam. Since then, the Teessider has filmed two blockbusters — King Kong and Flags of Our Fathers — and several critically-acclaimed independent movies, including Dear Wendy and Chumscrubber. He said: “I haven’t made a film in this country because there haven’t been any that have been good enough, or filmmakers that have been interesting enough to work with. “In America, they make a lot of fresh, young, hip indie films and that’s what I’m passionate about. I always prefer the smaller independent films like Hallam Foe to running away from big monkeys . . . it’s much more rewarding as an actor.” Jamie was catapulted to international stardom with Billy Elliot back in 2000, a role for which he won a best actor Bafta, and he says he was saved from becoming a precocious child star by his mum Eileen. He said: “The best thing I did to ensure some sort of sanity was to go back to school and be a kid for a while, experience the beginnings of my teens. “Winning an Oscar probably would have ruined my life. Can you imagine going back to school on the Tuesday after winning an Academy Award? It would be nuts. “It was a conscious decision by my mother to lock me down, get my head back on my shoulders and straighten me out. “When you’re a 14 or 15- year-old actor, if you surround yourself with adults, you forget yourself . . . it’s great to act when you’re a kid but it’s important for young performers to have a regular life.” | 
