Sam Worthington's height terror on movie set

Sam Worthington almost had a meltdown when he arrived on-set for gravity-defying thriller Man On A Ledge - because his crippling fear of heights left him terrified.

The Avatar star plays a suicidal crook in the new movie, and the role required him to spend hours perched on a tiny ridge on a skyscraper high above Manhattan in New York.

And although a safety harness was used to ensure the actor was never in any danger as the cameras rolled, Worthington admits he began to regret taking the part when he arrived for the first day of the shoot.

He tells Seven magazine, "I had to man up and do it. I was lucky I didn't burst into tears and go into a foetal position because that wouldn't have been a very good start to the film. (I thought) 'It's called Man on a Ledge! Get out of the window!'"