Emile Hirsch felt Moscow was like "the wild west" while shooting 'The Darkest Hour'.

The 'Milk' actor portrays a leading role in the alien invasion movie - set in the Russian capital - and he admits he loved filming in the city because there is a sense that "anything can happen".

He said: "I mean there's a certain sense where it's kind of like the wild west, a little bit. There's this sense where anything can happen, but there's also, well, the people are really nice when you got out to bars and clubs and stuff, everyone is really cool. I've had a lot of fun meeting and hanging out with Russians a lot."

Emile adds he was particularly keen to work on the project after seeing 'Avatar', which made him want to work on a sci-fi film more.

He told Collider.com: "'Avatar' for me was a really big element In Me wanting to do this film. Because I saw 'Avatar' and it just blew my mind. I walked out of the theatre after I saw it and was like, 'I would really love to make a science fiction movie in 3-D.' I literally said that, I was like, 'That's what I want to make.'

"Then this script came along and I didn't know it was going to be 3-D at the time, but it still really excited me. And then I found out it would be 3-D and that blew my mind."