Mirren thought of breaking her leg to avoid nude scene

Veteran actress Helen Mirren considered breaking her own leg in a bid to avoid shooting for a fully frontal nude film scene.

The Oscar winner was not ready to do a nude scene in Ken Russell's 1972 film "The Savage Messiah" and thought about harming herself to force the director to rethink the scene, reports imdb.com.

"The day I had to do that nude scene, where I had to walk completely b**lock naked down a flight of stairs, was awful. It was early days and I was so mortified, embarrassed and unhappy about it," she said.

"I remember that morning looking out of my trailer, this funky little caravan thing and wondered if I threw myself off the top step of the trailer I could manage to break my leg and not have to do the scene! I wouldn't like to do that today," she said.

Mirren fast became known for stripping off onscreen - but she insists it isn't as easy as it looks.

"It's never comfortable. The best thing would be if all the crew took their clothes off too and then you'd feel fine but it's never comfortable to be the only one without clothes on."