Hi °C | Lo °C 
Actor Liam Cunningham has revealed how he was petrified before his first day filming with screen legend Steven Spielberg.
The director cast the former ESB worker in his new World War One blockbuster 'War Horse'. But despite years of experience, the respected star of stage and screen was wracked with nerves before cameras rolled.
"I was in a sweat that first morning but once you start working with Steven, that's all forgotten," Mr Cunningham revealed at the Irish premiere of the 'War Horse' in the Savoy Cinema last night.
The tear-jerker follows a farm boy who tries to track down his beloved horse after it's shipped to the battlefields of France in World War One.
Critics have credited Mr Cunningham with one of the most powerful performances in the film, as an army doctor who saves a horse.
However, the actor believes it could have gone the other way.
"In the film I tell a sergeant to shoot the horse, and they had the horse trained to dip its head as soon as the gun came out. I remember thinking, thank God I'm saving the horse, because if I had shot the much-loved star of a Spielberg movie, well that would been the end of my career," he said.
The film is seen as a prominent contender for the Oscars next month.
