LOS ANGELESS-Ellie Bamber had a 'really, really special' time working on 'The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'.

The 21-year-old actress was delighted to film alongside a star-studded cast including Keira Knightley, Dame Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman and Mackenzie Foy in director Lasse Hallstrom's Disney fantasy and will never forget the experience.

She said: ''It's a live-action film and it's a lot more story based than the ballet but there's still going to be dancing.

''Getting to work with Lasse Hallstrom was so incredible and that cast, I mean... Mackenzie is amazing, Matthew Macfadyen is so brilliant - it was a really cool cast and being able to bring that magical tale to life... well, it was really, really special.''

Next year, Ellie can be seen in 'The Seven Sorrows of Mary', which is based on real events and sees her play an exchange student who is kidnapped, raped and beaten while in Brazil and though it was the ''toughest'' role she's ever had, the actress embraced doing night shoots in Rio de Janeiro.

She said: ''It was very intense. I think it might have been my toughest role to date.

''We did lots of night shoots so I'd come home to see the sunrise. There was something really special about a beautiful end to the day.''

But it isn't the British actress' first difficult role as her big break came in Tom Ford's dark thriller 'Nocturnal Animals', on which she formed a strong bond with her on-screen parents Jake Gyllenhaal and Isla Fisher, which helped her through filming.

She recalled to Britain's Elle magazine: ''On set, the three of us formed a really strong relationship together.

''We all got on really well and we'd hang out a lot outside of filming. I think that was really important because we had this bond with each other where we felt safe together, no matter what space we were put in.''