George MacKay found “a real release” in playing an explosive character in his new movie Femme.

In the new revenge thriller, the 1917 actor plays a closeted gay man named Preston who attacks Nathan Stewart-Jarrett’s drag queen character on the street.

When asked how he channelled Preston’s rage, MacKay told Cover Media, “I don’t know if there’s one which way, you just go for it. His aggression is not always kind, he’s explosive, but it’s actually a real release to do it, you just kind of let yourself go and just try and be in the moment with it. You just run at it.”

MacKay’s Preston is covered in tattoos, and the 31-year-old could spend up to two-and-half hours in the make-up chair getting the fake ink added to his body “if it was a pants day”.

As the tattoos could last a few days after application, MacKay sported them while out and about in his free time – something he found quite humiliating.

“It’s always funny because you go home sometimes with a bit of one. It was always a bit embarrassing if you’d be out and about and people could see that it was flaking off, you know, under a T-shirt for a few days, someone can see that you’ve got a very large fake tattoo, it’s not such a good look,” he admitted.

Femme is in U.K. cinemas from Friday 1 December.

© Cover Media