Brad Pitt felt like an idiot on the set of his new war movie Fury after clashing with co-star Scott Eastwood for "disrespecting" their tank - only to realise the acting newcomer was just doing his job.

The Fight Club star portrays a battle-hardened army sergeant leading his tank crew on a deadly mission in the World War Ii drama, and he admits tensions ran high during one scene after he and actor Shia LaBeouf took issue with Eastwood spitting all over the vehicle.

Pitt tells Britain's GQ magazine, "We were driving down the road, I'm in the turret, Shia is at the other turret, and Scott is on the back, spitting juice. And I'm starting to get p**sed off, I'm starting to get hot, because this is our home, he's disrespecting our home, you know?

"So I said, in the scene with the cameras rolling, 'You're going to clean that s**t up.' Shia clocks it, and you have to understand, we've been through severe boot camp already. We've been through a lot in this tank. Shia saw it and felt the same - he's disrespecting our home.

"So, Shia had the same reaction I did and started having some words... Then I had to get in after the cameras were rolling and explain it to Scotty, you know."

However, Pitt soon realised Clint Eastwood's son was just taking direction from Fury writer/filmmaker David Ayer.

He explains, "The funny thing is, when we got home at the end of the day and read the script, it said Scotty's character is 'chewing tobacco and spitting it on the back of the tank.' He was just doing as instructed in the script! So we were the knobs (idiots) in the end."

Meanwhile, Pitt has showered praise on co-star LaBeouf, insisting the Transformers actor is a real talent.

He adds, "Oh, I love this boy. He's one of the best actors I've ever seen. He's full-on commitment, man. He's living it like no one else, let me tell you. I've been fortunate to work with a lot of great actors. He's one of the best I've seen."