Brie Larson had to battle fear of guns for new gang role

Oscar winner Brie Larson struggled with gun scenes in her new gang movie Free Fire, because she hates handling weapons.

The actress was a wreck on the set most days because she couldn't even stomach the thought of holding a gun, let alone firing it.

And even picking one up and pointing it at a castmate was a struggle.

"I didn't like it," she tells WENN. "I don't think I realised how uncomfortable I was with it until I started shooting the film.

"It's a piece of equipment that I feel odd holding in my hand. I've never experienced that before - touching something and feeling like, 'I don't feel like I should have this. It feels like I shouldn't be near it'."

And Brie had to constantly remember to take out the earplugs she was wearing off camera whenever she was in a scene.

"I wore a lot of earplugs because it was so loud," she adds. "We had some that were like wax in the bottom of my bag in the movie. If you'd be off camera when a gunshot happens I'd have the earplugs in and then I'd have to run onto set and you're not supposed to see them.

"I'd be constantly having one in, one out; there were just earplugs all over the floor, in my bag, in my pockets, everywhere!"

The film, about a bitter rivalry between two 1970s Boston, Massachusetts gangs, also features Cillian Murphy, Jack Reynor, Sam Riley, Sharlto Copley, and Armie Hammer.

It hits cinemas in the on Friday (21Apr17).