Nicholas Hoult glad he's finished playing True History of the Kelly Gang villain

Nicholas Hoult is happy to see the back of his True History of the Kelly Gang character because he had to act out "horrible things every day" during the shoot.

In Justin Kurzel's reimagined story of the famous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, the British actor played a lecherous police constable alongside George MacKay and Russell Crowe.

In an interview with GQ Hype, the X-Men: First Class star admitted he disliked playing the villain because the character's actions didn't sit well with him.

"I remember there was a scene in The Kelly Gang where I had to hold a gun to a baby's head. My son was around the same age and it was really difficult in many ways," he confessed. "It was actually quite horrible to do that. I was glad to not be playing that character any more, if I'm honest, because it was just doing horrible things every day at work. And that's not something that sat too well."

The 30-year-old, who has a two-year-old son, encountered a string of bad luck while filming the movie in Victoria, Australia. He was attacked by magpies while riding his bike into town and ended up veering off the road and into a tree, and he was also hospitalised after a blank from a prop gun backfired into his eyes.

Nicholas also recalled the time the director brought a Shetland pony into scene while he was completely naked.

"I guess this character is a very relaxed sexual predator or whatever, but it's never comfortable being naked on set, around 15, 30 or 100 people that you don't know," he explained. "In my mind, I'm like, 'This pony just got lured in here with a carrot. I'm sitting here naked. It's looking at me like I'm a tasty snack.' I froze."