THERE was bound to be a few bizarre moments when a former Priestley College student doubled for Johnny Depp in his new film.

But sitting in a bathtub opposite Gwyneth Paltrow’s double probably topped them all.

Sam Allen stood in for the Pirates of the Caribbean actor in various scenes in the caper, Mortdecai.

Johnny plays debonair art dealer Charles Mortdecai who races to recover a stolen painting rumoured to lead to lost Nazi gold.

Sam got the part after the star's double dropped out and an assistant director noticed he had the same profile.

He said: "They put me in the wig and gave me his complexion and stuck a moustache on and took me down to set and before I knew it I was stood next to Johnny saying: ‘How’s it going?’

"If Johnny was not needed then I’d be in the scene and I’d do the actions and play out his character.

"But one day one of the crew came up to me and said: ‘How do you feel about getting naked today?’"

The comedy scene involved a bathtub with only some flesh coloured trunks protecting Sam's modesty.

"I was really nervous," Sam added.

"I shamelessly did more push-ups than I can remember in my trailer. When the robe came off I was surrounded by about 60 or 70 people and Gwyneth Paltrow’s double in this bathtub.

"Then Johnny and Gwyneth would come in and we’d swap in and out. It was a surreal experience."

It gets worse as Sam was even asked to vocalise a sex scene in a farcical moment in the film where Mortdecai is trying to sleep.

He said: "It’s really weird because you’re going through these motions and the director was saying: ‘Make it bigger Sam!’"

Sam, who was born in Warrington but grew up in Florida, spent three months shooting the film last year at Pinewood Studios and manors around the London area.

He added: "It’s going to be really fun and playful. The guy that directed it is David Koepp who was the mastermind behind the writing of Jurassic Park. He’s a bit of an icon really and it was great working with him.

"It was a really good experience and now I’m on the books as Johnny's double so whenever he is over here – and he’s here a lot as he does a lot of filming at Pinewood Studios – I’ll usually get the call."

Sam, who is one half of the Warrington music duo Priestley, has also worked on the sets of Fury, World War Z, Snow White and The Huntsman, Maleficent and Jack and the Giant Slayer.

He said: "The more that you do and the more that you see the less star struck you become because at the end of the day these are just actors just doing their job and they have their own lives as well."

But Sam has also just finished work on his first leading role in the arthouse film, We're Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time.

He plays David Gledhill in the true story about how his life changes when his partner Tracey Wilkinson dies.

Tracey was born with cystic fibrosis and the illness slowly destroyed her lungs during their 15-year relationship.

Sam, whose dad John came second in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest with his band The Allisons, added: "In the last four years of her life when she was more in the hospital than out they started writing this diary of what David’s life would be when she passed.

"It was things she urged him to do or recommended and it went from a document to a screenplay

"It’s a sad movie but it’s a very realistic approach to how we deal with grievance. It was humbling thing to be asked to represent David."