Eric Bana took no time to say yes to ''The Forgiven''

Los Angeles, March 22

Actor Eric Bana has said he agreed to do "The Forgiven" as he felt the role was one that is "hard to come across".

The "Troy" actor plays the role of Piet Blomfeld, a notorious murderer seeking redemption, in the Roland Joffe-directed drama. The film also stars Forest Whitaker as Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

''I read the script and loved it, and couldn't believe that Roland was asking me to do it. At that stage, Forest was already attached, so I was able to read it with him in that role. I was just beside myself that he was coming to me to play Piet," Bana told Collider.

"We had a couple of great long telephone calls and I said yes, straight away. It was such a rare thing. Every actor dreams of finding scripts like this, but they're very hard to come across," he added.

Bana said that he was happy with the shoot wrapping up in a short time as his character was not the one he would like to play over a "period of months''.

"It was a very short shoot, so I just led a very, very simply existence for the month, or whatever, that we were shooting. I enjoy being quite monastic when I'm playing that sort of character. I don't try to shake it off too much.

"I just try to sit with it, and then deal with it when it's over. It was okay. It wasn't a very long shoot and it was a very intense schedule, so that really helped. It's not a character that I'd like to play, over a period of months," Bana said. — PTI.