Taylor Kitsch says John Travolta is an icon "for a reason".

The Canadian actor stars alongside the Hollywood movie star in the Oliver Stone-directed Savages. In one scene their characters have an intense confrontation, and Taylor has revealed how he felt about sharing the big screen with John.

"Obviously, it's John Travolta and you just respect a guy like that. He's an icon, for a reason. I think it takes a special actor, which he is, just to give you that scene, in that way," he gushed in an interview with Collider.

"I've worked with lesser actors that are more worried about how they're going to come out of the scene than the scene itself. It just says so much to John that he was like, 'Yeah, let's make this scene incredibly memorable and let it just serve the script, and not selfishly our characters or ourselves.'"

Savages boasts an all-star cast including Blake Lively, Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro. Taylor has teased how he reacted when he got the call from Oliver saying he was to be in the movie.

"I just told Oliver how lucky he was. No. It's just an amazing accomplishment," he smiled.

"I hold a lot of pride within that. To have worked with these guys, it's something that I'll have for a long time. It was amazing!"