Jamie Bell spent five and a half months filming King Kong in New Zealand and mostly, just like the rest of the cast, didn’t really have a clue what Peter Jackson's finished film would look like. “There was a lot of blue screen,” he says. “And the way Peter described it was that it was like a canvas of blue and we could do anything we liked on it. He was like: ‘If you run and jump, don’t worry, I’ll put a rock under you; if you swerve, I’ll put a branch there. Just have fun.’ ”

So watching the world premier in New York last week was a rather surreal experience. “It’s always a bit bizarre when you see a film you’re in for the first time, and what’s even more bizarre, especially with this film, is that none of it was there — we were on a parking lot in New Zealand and now we’re in the middle of a jungle. And it must be even more insane for Andy Serkis to see himself as a 25 ft gorilla on top of a building." In King Kong Bell plays Jimmy, a rugged street kid who has seen terrible times and has been “adopted” by the first mate, Mr Hayes (Evan Parke), on the steam ship Venture. It sets sail to find the lost island, where they eventually discover Kong — a hugely impressive CGI creation modelled on a digital blueprint provided by Serkis, who did the same for Gollum in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“For him (Jimmy) Mr Hayes is a mentor, and he’s trying to tell Jimmy that there’s more to life, to get an education,” Bell says. “But I think what Jimmy wants most of all is to please Mr Hayes because he’s his hero and he wants to make him proud.”

Bell has had his own real-life mentor, of course, in Stephen Daldry, who cast him in Billy Elliot when he was just 13. The story of a working-class boy who battles against prejudice to become a dancer propelled Bell to fame. And, after the film’s release, Bell, who never knew his biological father, went south, with his mother’s approval, to live with Daldry, who became a father figure. Daldry, now married with a child, is still a key influence in his life.

Since Billy Elliot, Bell, now 19, has completed seven films, including Clint Eastwood’s forthcoming Flags of Our Fathers, a drama about the soldier who raised the American flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. “It’s a great role,” he explains.

Jackson’s evocative $207 million (£117 million) remake of the 1933 King Kong is set to dominate the worldwide box office. And the stars, including Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, the beauty who captures the heart of a beast, Jack Black as the film director Carl Denham and indeed Jamie, will all emerge from it with reputations enhanced.

It wasn’t an easy job, Bell says. “But it was great fun. And Peter is inspiring and collaborative, too. Usually it’s like being part of a machine: ‘You do that, you do this.’ But he is very open to your ideas.”

Bell, who lives in London, first started dancing when he was 6, tagging along with his sister to her classes. His mother, Eileen, who works for the NHS, encouraged him and bought him his first tap shoes.

“Dance was just around me all the time,” he says. “Not professionally or anything — Mum and my sister went to dance classes on a Friday night in Middlesbrough. I did something different and I think Mum kind of liked that. And she saw talent, I suppose, something that maybe some people didn’t see, and she wanted to push that.”

The dancing led to acting, and he loves that because it’s escapism and fun. “What I like about it is that it is stepping outside yourself and becoming somebody different for a while. It’s the same thing with the writing.

“I’m writing this musical piece set to Radiohead,” he says. “It’s like a Radiohead rock opera. Have you ever heard any of Radiohead’s music done by an orchestra? It’s pretty amazing.”

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