Malek, who won an Academy Award for his leading role as Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic in 2019, also revealed that the new role was a result of him pushing for an action hero that was a “sophisticated and elegant” version of screen heroes of the past.

He said: “I’ve come from a place of banging down doors to work, work, work. And now I try to choose very carefully roles that I think will help not only to entertain, but perhaps allow people to see something inside of themselves that they probably know exists, but help bring that to the surface.

“I thought, could that ever be done with an action film? So I kept pushing for a version where that was a sophisticated, elegant, extremely smart version of what I’d seen in the past.”

The actor suggested that his role in the 20th-century terrorism thriller differs from other action heroes because while they “quintessentially have a superpower”, Charlie is marked by his normality.

He told The Telegraph: “We look at heroes – I love a character like Jason Bourne… but what I love about Charlie is that his superpower is being underestimated.

“He’s motivated by grief and we begin to ask this question of how far people will go for the ones they love. And I just think people can relate to this… he reminds me of someone I see as I’m walking through the streets of London or Los Angeles, New York.”

He added: “I tend to gravitate to many characters who are overcoming some type of grief and discovering a certain power inside of themselves.”