I Give It A Year actress Rose Byrne developed fear of birds while filming

Rose Byrne arriving for the European premiere of I Give It A Year (PA)

Bridesmaids actress Rose Byrne revealed she discovered she had a terrible fear of birds while filming with a live dove for her new comedy.

The 33-year-old actress shivered as she braved icy temperatures at the premiere of I Give It A Year in London's Leicester Square, in an elegant Balenciaga gown, and gasped: "I'm running on adrenaline."

Byrne stars opposite Rafe Spall as newly-married couple Nat and Josh in the British comedy. After a whirlwind romance, they find they have to do a lot of work to make their relationship work, and seek counselling. To make matters more complicated Josh is still best friends with his ex, played by Anna Faris, and Nat finds herself being pursued at work by a charming hunk, played by Simon Baker.

Baker's character's attempts to woo Byrne with a live dove go badly wrong, and the X-Men: First Class star admitted she was genuinely terrified of the swooping bird.

She confessed: "I was petrified. I was slightly unprepared, but I have a fear of birds, I discovered, and the scene, unfortunately, was hijacked by this fear. It was intense. It was like a weird acting exercise, where I had to focus on my objective while being completely physically overtaken. It was really weird."

Meanwhile Spall, who attended the premiere with his wife, former Hollyoaks star Elize du Toit, revealed he had real life experience when it came to his character shopping for ladies' underwear.

He said: "I have indeed been underwear shopping. I was quite brave, I thought. I completely braved it out.

"You can only go one of two ways - you either get really nervous, or you just go 'bugger it', And that's what I did. I got this strange confidence."

I Give It A Year is released in cinemas on February 8.

The film also stars Minnie Driver, Stephen Merchant, Jason Flemyng and Olivia Colman.

PA