Clive Owen struggled through his new movie role as a single dad - because the Brit's own father abandoned him when he was just three years old.
In The Boys are Back, Owen plays a sports writer forced to raise his child alone after his wife dies.
And he admits the role reminded him of his first proper meeting with his country and western singer dad, when he was 19.
Owen - now a dad of two himself - briefly reconciled with his father after their reunion, but they've been estranged ever since.
The Closer star tells Details magazine, "It was a very bizarre experience, looking at someone you've never known and going, 'Oh my God, that's my father.'"
The actor also revealed that he was staggered at the amount of money which has been thrown at terrible films during the recession - insisting he has seen many of the worst scripts which have been greenlighted.
Owen can't believe that Hollywood executives are backing awful ideas in the current turbulent economic climate.
Of the scripts he has been receiving recently, Owen tells Details magazine, "They are not very good. And these are films that are funded and ready to go - expensive movies.
"You're amazed that people are funding them. I start to think it's me, that I'm being too choosy."
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