Dev Patel likes "challenging" roles

Asked how he chooses his roles, he told the New York Times newspaper: "Something that feels like a challenge. I know it sounds so cliché, but it’s the truth. With 'Green Knight,' I had read the script, and what was so alluring was I couldn’t quite quantify what it made me feel - but it made me feel a lot, and I was slightly terrified of it. Then I got that amazing call after I’d met David that he wanted me for the lead. And after that initial excitement, you’re just drenched with fear of, now I have to actually do this. That’s kind of what happens with everything. It’s eagerness, curiosity and excitement, followed by fear and how the hell am I going to get through this?"

Meanwhile, Dev previously admitted he found his heartthrob status "very overwhelming" because he was an "awkward outsider" growing up and never had a girlfriend when he was in school.

He said: "It's very overwhelming and strange because I've always been the dude that never got a girlfriend in school. I was kind of the awkward outsider. So not that it's changed much but I'm still the same. I feel the same ... Isn't that insane! I feel so overwhelmingly grateful. I don't know why I'm the recipient of so much luck and love. But it's beautiful. It's amazing. I'm just grateful."

And Dev admits a lot has changed since he starred in his breakout role in 'Slumdog Millionaire' nearly ten years ago and quipped he would like to "go back to that place of innocence".

He said: "I was beautifully unaware of everything back then and now I've come through it a couple times. It's more complex. It's more emotions in my head. I actually would like to go back to that place of innocence."