Rami Malek demanded that his new action movie was filmed in Britain despite it being more expensive.

The Oscar-winning actor, 43, revealed he put his foot down about where to film The Amateur because of the “top notch” production industry in the UK.

Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “As a producer of this film, we were looking at different places to get tax incentives, and the UK gives a great one, but I just wanted to make sure that this was our base, because we ultimately did get the best of the best.

“Perhaps that affected our budget a tiny bit, or to a certain degree, but I felt adamant about filming here, it’s top notch. There’s no question about it.”

The Bohemian Rhapsody star, who plays Charlie Heller, an introverted CIA cryptographer in the film, added that Britain’s film production provides “a certain calibre that allows you to do certain things that you might not possibly be able to do in other places”.

His comments come after film and television studios were handed major tax breaks earlier this year in a bid to make Britain’s production sector “second only to Hollywood”.

In March, it was announced that business rates for production hubs will be cut by 40 per cent over the next decade to promote investment in new studio space around the country.

The move was welcomed by big studios who expressed hope that it could give UK film production its biggest boost since 2007, when an incentive scheme lured blockbuster productions from Star Wars to Jurassic World to the studio complexes at Pinewood, Leavesden, Ealing, Twickenham and elsewhere.

Speaking about the “creative hub” of filming in Britain, James Hawes, The Amateur’s director known for One Life and Slow Horses, said: “I want to tip my hat to the UK film industry.

“I think the fact that this is where that was happening, that an American studio was coming to the UK to make a film of this ambition – with talent coming from the US and Germany – you really felt like this was a creative hub to be proud of.”