Sheen: 'Clough cruel and frightening'

Michael Sheen has admitted that he found Brian Clough a "contradictory" character to portray on screen.

The Frost/Nixon actor, who stars as the iconic football manager in the forthcoming Damned United, said that he did not want his performance to focus solely on Clough's negative traits, highlighted in David Peace's novel on which the movie is based.

"With Clough, there's so many contradictory things in his makeup. He's capable of huge acts of generosity and kindness to people, but could also be cruel and frightening," Sheen explained at The Damned United's UK press conference.

"I tried to be true to the whole person because that's what made him such a unique character. To just go down the darker road, which I think Peace does a bit more of in the novel, is just as two-dimensional as going for all the positive qualities.

"I hope that in the film you recognise a real human being, a complicated human being, but one that was able to inspire huge affection and admiration and respect from people."