Taylor Kitsch 'got therapy after film role'

Taylor Kitsch has confessed that he sought therapy after completing filming on The Bang Bang Club.

The film, which centres on the events of South Africa's post-Apartheid transition, saw the Friday Night Lights actor portray one of four photographers who chronicled the country's unrest, a role which required him to lose 35lbs and left him feeling "a wreck".

"It wasn't smart. I tried to run at least ten miles a day on fruit and coffee. Just barely any protein - I was ripped at the time, so I had to lose all the muscle," he recalled to New York Magazine. "I remember doing the physical in Texas, and because I was running so much, I had a very low heart rate, and it got super low.

"So that was physically, and then just the challenge emotionally to get there every day for Kev. The last few scenes, he's just a wreck, and to play that honestly, it just took a lot out of me. You almost f**king kill yourself to get there. You need counselling, you need all this s**t to come out of that character."

He went on to reveal that the role stayed with him long after production had wrapped, adding: "I did [go to therapy], yeah. Maybe a bit too Method, I guess, because he is suicidal.

"You just try to re-engage slowly with family and close friends, you know. Because you just go on this crazy endeavour and then all of a sudden, a day later, you're back in Austin, Texas, going for your morning coffee at your place, and you're like, 'Man, what just happened?'"

Kitsch recently admitted that he is "pumped" for his upcoming film John Carter of Mars.