Cooper exhausted by movie boxing training

The Mamma Mia! star takes on twice the work in the film, starring as Latif Yahia, an Iraqi man who was forced to work as a body double for Saddam Hussein’s eldest son Uday, also portrayed by Cooper.

The actor learned how to fight for the role – and Cooper admits the sport is much harder than he expected.

He tells Britain’s OK! TV, “I did some boxing training – I was awful at it. I respect boxers so much.

“Boxing is unbelievably difficult – (after) two minutes I was exhausted and on the floor! I trained to make it look like I knew what I was doing but I’m sure if a professional boxer watched it they would think it was pathetic.”