Rowing coach praises work ethic on George Clooney movie shoot

Nick Harding said George Clooney was "nurturing, affable and friendly"

A rowing coach who trained actors for a movie directed by George Clooney has described the star as ""nurturing, affable and friendly".

Nick Harding trained stars of The Boys In The Boat on the Thames by his home town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

The biographical sports film tells the story of the United States crew during the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.

Mr Harding said the famous director "wasn't going to put anyone through hard days he wasn't going to do himself".

"It was a very challenging shoot because when you're trying to do anything on water and you have that many boats to corral and organise - it took a lot of planning," he explained.

"I was thinking, 'thank God I don't have to direct this because it's a really difficult thing to do'."

The film is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Daniel James Brown

The 63-year-old coach, who grew up in Marlow, retired to the town after spending 30 years as a screenwriter in TV and film.

Hollywood contacts asked Mr Harding for advice on filming the essential rowing scenes in the movie.

He joined ex-Olympic rowing coach Terry O'Neill and 2016 silver medallist Victoria Thornley in training actors for the Warner Bros film.

Mr Harding arranged for Mr Clooney to visit and spend a day with the Oxford rowing team so the star could get a sense of how to shoot pivotal race scenes.

"We were chatting about how to dramatize the racing so it's not too boring, he put a lot of time and energy into thinking how it is shot so it's not dull," he said.

Mr Harding said all scenes in the film that show racing feature the actors doing it for real: "You can't fake that, that is them racing"

Although training took place in Marlow, filming took place in Swindon, Henley on Thames and The Queen Mother Reservoir in Berkshire.

None of the cast had previous rowing experience.

The coach was initially doubtful he could train the performers as "you'd need nine months to a year to get a novice crew up to speed".

Mr Harding said the famous actor turned director "was gracious and encouraging to everyone"

The actors trained twice a day and eventually somewhat matched the achievement of the 1936 team.

Mr Harding said: "In the Olympic final they did 46 strokes a minute, which is really high, the cast got up to the same target."

The film's producers, including Mr Clooney, had been keen to recreate the activity in camera and not use visual effects.

"I'm very proud of them, I've worked with actors a lot but they were an impressive group of actors," said the coach.