Robert Pattinson admitted he had to perform sex act on set because 'faking it doesn't work'

Every actor has their own little way of doing things – maybe they’re more method or perhaps they prefer for others to do all their stunts for them.

And when it comes to sex stuff on screen, stars have various choices for how they go about handling it.

Prosthetics may be used; intimacy doubles may step in or the actor may decide to go the whole hog for the film and do the scene unsimulated.

Robert Pattinson previously opened up about this as he admitted he had to perform a sex act on set because ‘faking it doesn’t work’.

Before breaking out thanks to the 2008 film he basically ignores (Twilight) he actually shot another flick in the same year.

Titled Little Ashes, the 1922-set movie saw him take on the role of young artist Salvador Dali who arrives at uni in Madrid, where he befriends filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca.

Dali soon feels a strong attraction towards Lorca, with a romance taking place.

Although Pattinson was naked for a lot of the movie, his biggest obstacle was filming a sex scene.

To make the scene convincing, the Batman actor needed to really look like he was having an orgasm. So, he made it as convincing as possible by, well, actually having one.

Deciding to 'rub one out' on set, the young actor was concerned that the moment could ruin his career.

The film was released in May 2009. (Regent Releasing)

In a 2013 interview with Germany's Interview magazine, he explained: "If you Google something long enough you will soon know everything there is to know about me: what I eat, what my poop looks like, with whom I’m sleeping, what my d**k looks like, even what I look like when I masturbate.

"Well, that might be a little exaggerated. But my orgasm face is recorded for eternity."

Unable to fake it in the moment, Pattinson added: "Try it. I can tell you right now, no chance. It just doesn’t work.

"So I rubbed one out in front of the camera."

Despite being unsure of the outcome, he said it all worked out in the end.

He opted to masturbate instead of fake it. (Regent Releasing)

"Something like that, yes. After the end of the shooting I thought for a couple of days that this would be the end of my - at the time really short - acting career," he said.

"But then I got the phone call that said 'You got the role'. And then Twilight started."

It turns out Little Ashes was pretty well received after it won the GLAAD Media Award for 'Outstanding Film−Limited Release' during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.

While the film has a solid 6.4 rating on IMDb, its Rotten Tomatoes score falls a little short at 24 percent.

"It has a beautiful cast, but Little Ashes suffers from an uneven tone and a surplus of unintentionally silly moments," the critics' consensus read.