Kebbell Surprised By Ritchie's Calm Persona

British actor TOBY KEBBELL was pleasantly surprised by director GUY RITCHIE's kindhearted personality when they teamed up to shoot new movie ROCKNROLLA - because he expected the filmmaker to be egotistical and hot-tempered.

Kebbell, who stars alongside Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton and Jeremy Piven in the upcoming action movie, was terrified about working under Ritchie's guidance because of what he'd heard about the star and his wife Madonna in the tabloids.

But he admits Ritchie was nothing like what he expected.

He says, "I'm not a big one for reading up on the lives of others in magazines, but you sometimes form an idea and I have to say when I turned up in London, I really didn't expect to become friends with Guy Ritchie. But I did; he's a really funny, great personality, but no ego. It was never about, 'Just because I say so.'

"He was incredibly open to other ideas as long as they were right for the film. And very even-tempered, you know - he never spoke a bad or a harsh word to anybody. I really like that."