David Thewlis' expensive giraffe

David Thewlis has revealed he initially wanted to close his short film 'Hello, Hello, Hello' with a shot of a giraffe, but couldn't afford it.

David Thewlis once spent £2,000 on a camel for a scene in a film - because he couldn't afford a giraffe.

The British actor, director and author originally wanted to close his short film 'Hello, Hello, Hello' with a shot of an ostrich running down a road, but noted it had already been done by another director, making him initially set his sights higher, and wanted to hire a giraffe.

He explained: "I couldn't afford a giraffe. Four thousand pounds it was to get a giraffe. But I could get a camel for £2,000. And it was a beautiful camel. I expected a scraggy-looking thing to turn up, but on the night they said, 'The camel's here, David,' and I turned around and thought 'Ah!' because it was gorgeous."

David has since made one full length film, 'Cheeky', but admits the end result wasn't quite what he had hoped.

He added: "I'd directed a short film, and I really enjoyed it. And then I wrote 'Cheeky', and I was never meant to direct that.

"But I got persuaded to direct it, and persuaded to be in it, and that was never the plan. I didn't have a very good time and I don't like the finished product. I think it's rubbish. Well, it's not rubbish, but it's not what it was supposed to be.

"It was supposed to be something much stranger. It was supposed to be very inspired by Bunuel, but you'd struggle to see that."