Los Angeles, Dec 29 (IANS): Actress Olivia Colman recalled a "slightly embarrassing situation" while shooting a sex scene with Micheal Ward.

The 48-year-old star admitted to feeling awkward when she and her 'Empire of Light' co-star, 25, chatted while she was straddling him and discovered he has a mother, who is five years younger than Colman, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"There was one particular moment when I was astride Micheal in a compromising and slightly embarrassing situation and he said, 'It's my mum's birthday today.' When he said she was 43, I was like, 'Okay, stop talking!'" she said on the New Year's Eve special of 'The Graham Norton Show'.

Olivia, who played Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's 'The Crown', was director Sam Mendes' first choice for the role of Hilary Small in the 2022 British romantic drama. She said: "Apparently it was. But Sam is so nice he would say that anyway."

"He was watching 'The Crown' at the time and thought of me. We had a Zoom conversation during lockdown and I said 'okay, yes' before I even knew what it was. It is an incredible accolade for him to write something for me," Colman quipped.

"It was an amazing part, thank God - can you imagine if it had been rubbish!"

Micheal was blown away by how nice Olivia is and "learnt so much" from her.

He said: "It was an amazing experience. It was incredible just to share the same space. I learnt so much about being a real person - everyone had a real sense of humanity. If Olivia had been rude, I might have thought that's how I need to be to reach a certain level of success but the fact that she is so lovely showed me I can be a good person and still be successful."