Paul Rudd lied about playing Hamlet "in a production directed by Sir Ben Kingsley" at the beginning of his career

But when he was starting out, Rudd's manager got creative with his CV and put that he had done Shakespeare with Oscar winner Kingsley, even though he had in fact only attended a class run by the Gandhi star.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, Rudd revealed: "When I first got a manager, I had no credits to put on my CV, but I'd once done an afternoon masterclass with Sir Ben Kingsley when I was in school. My manager put this down as, 'Paul played Hamlet in a production directed by Sir Ben Kingsley.' I lived in fear that he would one day see my CV!"

Rudd got his big screen break in 1995 with roles in comedy Clueless and horror sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and he is combining horror and comedy for his latest project Anaconda, a meta-reboot of the 1997 movie of the same name.

Rudd stars with Jack Black in Tom Gormican's film about two friends who travel to the Amazon to shoot an amateur remake of the Jennifer Lopez-led Anaconda, only to encounter a real and giant man-eating snake.

Asked how the film came about, Paul said: "Jack and I are both huge fans of Tom Gormican's The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and when this script showed up it seemed to have similar DNA in that it was a clever meta comedy take on a reboot. I was very excited to work on it particularly when I found out Jack was involved."

Jack, 56, joined Paul on the UK TV chat show and admitted he agreed to sign up to play wedding videographer Doug McCallister when he was told Rudd would be playing background Ronald "Griff" Griffen Jr.

The School of Rock star said: "It is really very funny and crazy. I had never read anything like it. I was mainly excited to work with Paul because he makes me laugh so much. I made sure he was definitely attached to the film before I signed anything.

"When I read a script, I need at least three 'worth the price of admission' moments and this definitely has some powerful scenes."

The Graham Norton Show is available on BBC One and iPlayer on 10:40pm on Friday (19.12.25).