THE DUELLING DUO

Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch discuss the cathartic, if at times traumatic, filming of the War of the Roses remake

- SAMANTHA FRASER/HOT FEATURES

Away from the cameras, the British acting greats Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are very good friends.

But for their latest movie The Roses, the stars are anything but, playing a married couple whose love turns to resentment, irritation and, eventually, all-out war.

Indeed, Benedict says he and Olivia are so close that he worried whether she was all right as they pretended to be the fiercest of foes.

"I got slightly traumatised when it started because we had a lot of fun times, it seemed, with a few bumps. And then it got quite dark. I was like, 'Can we just check in with each other every now and again?'

Olivia adds: "I was throwing things at him and calling him all sorts of things, and he went, 'Can we just check if everything's all right?' "

In the movie – a remake of the 1989 hit The War of the Roses, which starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner - Benedict, 49, and Olivia, 51, play husband and wife Ivy and Theo. As Theo's career falters while his wife's takes off, playful rivalry gives way to disenchantment and fights that veer from the comic to brawls.