As first days on a job go, walking on to a legendary director’s film set and holding one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses ‘uncomfortably close’ is probably one of the more memorable.

And that’s exactly what Petts Wood actor John Wark had to do for his role in Werner Herzog’s new movie Queen of the Desert.

John, 32, who grew up in Scotland and has lived in Petts Wood for eight years, has a small part in the film about the extraordinary life of Gertrude Bell.

Bell was one of the first women to graduate from university and one of the world’s first female explorers, unlocking Syria and Iran at the same time as Lawrence of Arabia. After the war, she played a key role in shaping the Middle East.

On Herzog’s film, John found himself on the same set as the likes of James Franco and Homeland star Damien Lewis.

He said: “It was nuts. I was only on it for one day - it’s one scene but it’s four pages of dialogue.

“I’m playing an playing an exciting Scottish cattle baron who is trying to convince Nicole Kidman to come outside for...you know.”

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He added: “It was an interesting day. The first line of the scene said ‘he can’t dance and she tries to nudge him into the right direction and he mistakes it and pulls her body uncomfortably close.

“So I just walked onto the set on the first day and there was Nicole Kidman and Werner Herzog and he says ‘right, action’ and I’m pulling one of the world’s biggest movie stars close to me and trying to chat her up.”

John has been a professional actor since the age of seven and has appeared extensively on stage as well as having roles in the likes of the BBC Robin Hood series, Taggart, and the Elijah Wood and John Hurt-starring The Oxford Murders in 2008.

He counts Alan Rickman as his mentor and had a small part in the actor’s recent directorial effort, A Little Chaos. He also plays a detective in the US TV hit Outlander, which is available on Amazon Prime now.

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John Wark in Outlander. Copyright Starz/Sony TV

With that experience behind him, John was very excited about working with Herzog.

He said: “He’s a legend. You have a perception of what this guy is going to be like because you have read so much about him, because of the movies he has made and the stories you hear about on the movies sets – the fact that he ate his own shoe – but when you get on set he is just the calmest, lovliest man.

“He was so calm, so friendly and so sweet. And he gave great direction, so it was great.”

Queen of the Desert premiered at Berlin Film Festival in February and is out later in the year.

Until May 9, John is on stage at The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park in journalist Jonathan Maitland’s Dead Sheep.

Wark plays Weekend World reporter Brian Walden in the show about Thatcher’s former Chancellor Geoffrey Howe and the resignation that triggered the Iron Lady’s downfall.