Laura Harold, 33, from Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, stood in for Saoirse in the film “How I Live Now”, released last month. She told WalesOnline she was put through her paces during a physically-demanging shoot and appeared naked in scenes depicting a dream sequence.

She told WalesOnline “The role came about by chance. I had a friend who couldn’t do it and I got asked to send some photos in to an agent who was helping cast How I Live Now and I matched up almost. Obviously we are very far apart in age – I’m 33 and she’s 18 or 19 but when it came t measurements, we were fine.”

Laura said filming took place between May and July last year in Carmarthenshire. And she said the experience was very different to her normal on-set routine. “The next Monday I had a chauffeur show up on my door,” she said. “It was strange with where I was in life – on set and making the set – to being on it and being pampered and someone holding an umbrella and a coat.”

But Laura added it wasn’t all glamour – with frequent late-night shooting and physically-testing scenes. She said: “I really had to get my running shoes on. Most of it was running through brambles and running up a hill. It was a lot of sweaty work because Saoirse could only do a few takes as they were filming in two locations at once. You get scratched up and bruised up and there were times when I was working so hard I felt physically sick and that was quite hard work on my body. You are out there for so many hours and have to get it done in daylight.”

Meanwhile in scenes where she had to strip off, Laura took a pragmatic approach. “I don’t really mind my body,” she said. “We have all got faults.” Laura also met Saoirse and her parents on set and described the young star as “a good laugh”. “She was very down to earth and her parents were down to earth,” Laura said. “She was a good laugh, paying cards and messing around with the other kids on set.”

Sourse: WalesOnline