Chiwetel Ejiofor feared he wouldn't have the time to learn his lines for 'Locked Down'.

The 43-year-old actor stars in Doug Liman's romantic comedy heist movie and revealed that he came up with an idea inspired by 'The Godfather' so he and co-star Anne Hathaway could learn their lines during the rapid shoot.

Explaining behind-the-scenes photos that show him and Anne wearing each other's lines on their bodies, Chiwetel said: "I thought from the beginning that because there were so many lines, we couldn't learn them all in such a short time and we would have to come up with a couple of tricks to get through it.

"I had seen that in 'The Godfather' Marlon Brando had his lines held up by other actors so I showed that to Doug Liman and Annie and said, 'At some point this is what is going to have to happen', and it came to pass!"

The film follows Chiwetel and Anne as disgruntled married couple Paxton and Linda who decided to steal a diamond from the Harrods department store in London amid the backdrop of the coronavirus lockdown and the '12 Years a Slave' actor was grateful to work on the project during the pandemic.

Appearing on 'The Graham Norton Show', he said: "It took us 18 days to shoot – it was really quick, and we rattled through it. It was incredible to be able to work during the lockdown and it changed the experience for me. We were only able to do it because everyone was so conscientious."

Watch the full interview with Chiwetel on 'The Graham Norton Show' on BBC One on Friday night (05.03.21).