(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jamie Bell is adamant his new movie isnt a history lesson, although he did a great deal of research before shooting began.

The actor appears alongside Channing Tatum in The Eagle. Set in Roman-ruled Britain, the adventure movie tells the story of a young Roman soldier who tries to honour his late fathers memory by going on a hunt for his lost legions gold emblem.

Jamie stars as British slave Esca, who accompanies Channings character Marcus Aquila on his quest. Esca hates Marcus as he is Roman, but he also saved his life so the slave feels he owes him repayment. Their troubled relationship was very important to Jamie, who wanted to full understand what Esca was going through.

My character is a character whos lost everything, his tribe, his values and his freedom. At the beginning hes very much a character whos got nothing left to live for and its Marcus who saves his life, which I think creates a lot of conflict for Esca. Really throughout the film the emotional journey of that character is to try and earn back that freedom, through nobility and through honour, its a film about cultural identity, Jamie told UK TV show This Morning.

Absolutely, the film is definitely not a history lesson. Its an intimate journey full of action and adventure, but for me it was really important for me to understand what the character had lost, what he had before he was enslaved. So I was reading up on the tribe.

Jamie spends much of the movie on horseback, which he has previously said was hard as he is terrified of the animals. He was open about his misgivings from the start though, and thinks his background in dance he famously played a boy obsessed with ballet in the movie Billy Elliot helped him with the action sequences.

I was very honest, I said, I dont do horses, I havent done sword fighting before. Both me and Channing have a history in dance, so if you can bring that to it... its steps in order and it becomes like a dance, he said. (C) Cover Media