Lily James craves "challenges"

The brunette beauty - who studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London - told The Independent: "I crave challenges.

"I want my life to be an adventure and my work to be an adventure. I want to do things that, on paper, people can't really imagine me doing."

Lily stars alongside the likes of Riz Ahmed and Sam Worthington in Relay, the David Mackenzie-directed thriller film.

The actress actually filmed a lot of solo scenes for the movie, and Lily admits that she found it to be a challenging experience for her.

She explained: "I hate acting on my own.

"You've got no one to bounce off, no one's eyes to look into. Acting is at its best when it's like a dance between two actors and you forget yourself. It was really hard."

Meanwhile, Lily previously confessed that she is keen to play "unlikely roles".

The actress explained that she's eager to challenge herself in her professional life.

Asked if she would've been interested in Relay if it was more "conventional", Lily told The Hollywood Reporter: "Honestly, I was so excited to work with [director] David Mackenzie and Riz that I almost would've done any old thing that they put in front of me.

"That being said, you love to find work that's surprising and characters that take you in a direction you didn't anticipate. And particularly at this point in my career, I want to keep pushing myself to play unlikely roles, roles that surprise me, and have something to get my teeth into. So that [unconventionality] was definitely what was very appealing about this role and story."

Lily recalled being wowed by the Relay script, and she hopes that film fans are similarly surprised by the plot.

The actress explained: "Relay felt like this really gripping, dark thriller that exposes the world of whistleblowers and the idea of this greater control and always being watched. It felt really surprising, and I was thrilled to get to work with such a unique filmmaker in David Mackenzie. His movies feel so cinematic and grounded and bold and original."