Colin Farrell suffered in extreme weather conditions

The 34-year-old Irish actor plays a vicious Russian street criminal called Valka in The Way Back, which follows the escape of a group of men from an inhabitable Siberian gulag in the 1940s.

The weather conditions in Bulgaria, one location where the movie was shot, were so extreme that Colin begged director Pete Weir to cut the film in some places because he needed a break from the unforgiving snow, ice and wind.

“There was one particular shot we did - it was about 400 ft – I think it took us about four rolls of film,” he told Cover Media. “We were really struggling asking, ‘Are we nearly there?’ praying to hear ‘cut’ - it did a lot of the work for you. It smashed the line between reality and fiction.... That is the line where you literally are trying to get through what you are trying to get through to the best of your ability, without being conscious of anyone observing.”

The harsh weather was not the only battle with nature that Colin had to conquer.

The Hollywood heartthrob has also revealed he had to eat a caterpillar in one scene where his character runs short on food supplies.

“Colin ate a caterpillar on his last shot,” Peter divulged.

“I did. I’m sorry,” Colin said. “I didn’t name him because I’ve heard you’re not to name them [if you’re going to eat them].”

The movie is based on Slawomir Rawicz's memoir The Long Walk.