Guy Ritchie advised Jake Gyllenhaal against learning his lines for their new movie The Covenant.

In the director’s new action thriller, Gyllenhaal plays a U.S. Army Sergeant who travels back to Afghanistan to rescue Dar Salim’s interpreter character Ahmed, who he became friends with while stationed out there.

During an appearance on the YouTube show Hot Ones on Thursday, the Oscar-nominated actor revealed that there wasn’t a “fully written” script for the movie and they worked on each scene before shooting it.

“With Guy, it was unlike anything I’ve ever done,” he recalled. “He said to me, ‘Don’t memorise any of your lines,’ and the script came in 50 pages. It wasn’t even a fully written script. Usually, scripts are like 110 pages, and I was like, ‘What is this?’ when he first sent it, and then he said, ‘You come to set, and we’ll work on it on the day, and then you’ll go shoot your thing.'”

The Prisoners actor found the unique experience creatively fulfilling because he was involved in the creation of the scenes instead of simply saying the lines in the script.

“It was one of the most inspiring, creative experiences I’ve ever had because it asked for total let go, you know, just let go, come in, figure it out together. I loved it,” he added.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is released in U.S. cinemas on 21 April.

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