Jamie Bell shows off a muscular physique in images from his new film

**Honey** · December 30th, 2009, 08:17 AM

He's come a long way from the shy and skinny ballet-dancing teenager in Billy Elliot.
And after being ridiculed and teased for wanting to dance, Jamie Bell looks more than ready to take on his critics.
The 22-year-old actor shows that he's all grown up as he flaunts a buff-looking physique in the first pictures released for his latest film.

All grown up: Jamie Bell flaunts his muscles in first look pictures of his new film The Eagle of the Ninth

He stars in the upcoming movie The Eagle of the Ninth, alongside Donald Sutherland and Channing Tatum, which is due out in cinemas next year.
Set in 140AD in Roman-occupied Britain, Bell plays Esca, a Celtic slave of his master, a young centurion called Marcus Aquila, played by Tatum.
Aquila has arrived in London twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of his father's Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland.

Young centurion: Marcus Aquila, played by Channing Tatum, seeks advice from his uncle, played by Donald Sutherland

Vengeance: Marcus Aquila (Tatum) takes on an enemy as he fights to restore his commander father's reputation

Together, he and Esca set off across Hadrian's Wall to find out what happened to his father's legion and retrieve its golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.
The film, which is based on the 1954 novel by the late children's author Rosemary Sutcliff, also stars British actors Mark Strong as Guern, 'an ex-soldier who holds crucial information about the Ninth', and Douglas Henshall.
Sutherland plays Aquila, Marcus' uncle who is living retired in Britain in the film which cost £15million to make and was shot in Hungary and Scotland.

Ready for battle: Centurian Aquila leads his troops out of London

Since Bell made his acting debut in Billy Elliot aged just 14 - for which he won the 2001 BAFTA Award for Best Actor - he has landed some major Hollywood roles.
He starred alongside Jack Black, Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson's King Kong, with Daniel Craig in last year's World War Two film Defiance, and with Hayden Christensen in Jumper last year.
Bell also landed the lead role as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the movie adaptation of the Herge comic books, due for release in 2011.

Twinkle-toes: Jamie Bell in his film debut as ballet-dancer Billy Elliot, who is encouraged to dance by his teacher Georgia Wilkinson, played by Julie Walters and seen here on the right

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1239374/First-look-Jamie-Bell-puts-ballet-dancing-days-shows-muscular-physique-images-new-film.html#ixzz0bBK5S6PV

**Speranza** · December 30th, 2009, 09:13 AM

Oh God, he's almost irrecognizable! He was vey charming as a kid, although not beautiful in a classical way, I find he's in a akward phase right now, but I think he could do good as an actor