Tom Taylor auditioned eight times for 'The Dark Tower'.

Tom Taylor and Idris Elba

Tom Taylor and Idris Elba

The 16-year-old actor - best known for playing Tom Foster in the his BBC TV series 'Doctor Foster' - landed a role opposite Idris Elba and Matthew McConnaughey in the Stephen King big screen adaptation, but wasn't sure he would get the part because he had to try out so many times.

Speaking to the i newspaper, the actor said: "I did eight auditions. I got flown to LA to meet Idris Elba and the director. I kind of thought, 'What the hell am I doing?' at that point.

"I heard they looked through a lot of different people. At one point I think they were going to go and do a street-casting in New York, so the fact that I got it was even more amazing.

"It was a huge deal - they picked an English actor."

Taylor has kept in touch with the two Hollywood actors, and recalled the first time he met McConnaughey the actor was still in his character as Walter/The Man in Black, the villain of the movie.

He said: "When I first met Matthew he invited me to his trailer. He was very much in his character, because he was playing an evil character so he had to stay in the zone.

"He told me how he prepares for roles, and how he gets his best performances. It wasn't method acting but he just had to stay in the zone.

"Idris is a good man. At the end of the day they're both just normal people. There's nothing superhuman about them."

Taylor has also admitted that while filming 'The Dark Tower he fell behind studying for his GCSEs

He said: "I did fall a bit behind, at the beginning of Year 11. I was revising with my friends, and then I started doing a film, and I had fallen so far behind that I thought I couldn't be bothered and it wasn't worth doing it again.

"But a few months later, when it was time to really revise, I pulled it back and I actually did surprisingly well."