Masters of the Universe actor 'starstruck' by fight-scene partner Idris Elba

An actor who plays a role in the new Masters of the Universe film has said filming alongside Sir Idris Elba left him "starstruck".

Masters of the Universe, which was released in the UK on Friday, is a re-imagining of the original 1980s cartoon of the same name.

Samuel C Wilson, 35, from Cardiff, portrays one of Skeletor's henchmen, Trap Jaw.

He said he gained more than 20kg (44lb) for the role and spent six hours a day having makeup and prosthetics applied to transform him into the evil cyborg.

"I'd be looking in the mirror with this new face on and if I smiled it didn't look like a smile - it looked more like a funny grimace.. so I had to re-learn [how to smile]," said Wilson.

"Having the jaw on was tough.. then I had these two black gumshields in... it was pretty intense, so acting was pretty tough with all that on."

Wilson said he trained alongside Elba to get "as big as possible" ahead of filming.

"Luckily... literally the world's strongest man is my cast mate," said Sam.

"And I said 'all natural, how do I get as big and as strong as possible?' He was like 'don't' worry... that's something I'm particularly good at' so I trained with him."

Wilson said his highlight was an on-screen fight with Elba.

"This stuff that I had taken months to rehearse, to get perfect, Idris just turned up on the day and smashed it out of the park," he said.

"He's seriously charismatic. He has a gravitational field around him. I had to say to him at the beginning, in all my prosthetics, 'I have to tell you I'm a little bit star struck and it might take me five minutes'.

"And he was like 'I got you man. Don't worry. Don't worry.' He was really, really sweet with me.

"There were lots of those moments. I was surrounded by all these famous people. And working with them.. so there was a lot to take in."

Wilson has previously appeared in a number of big budget productions including Dodger, House of the Dragon and Under Salt Marsh.

He is soon to appear in the BBC's California Avenue, and science fiction series Bladerunner 2099.

He said his friends call him "Welsh Sam".

"I think it'll take me some time to re-acclimatise to the fact that people are watching stuff that I'm in.

"Because it wasn't very long ago I was doing pub theatre stuff... which I love too."

Masters of The Universe, starring Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, Camila Mendes as Teela, Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn and Jared Leto as Skeletor, was released in the UK on Friday 5 June.