It's the weekend a former Basingstoke student has been waiting for as the Disney film that he stars in is released.

Max Harwood plays the lead role in Everybody's Talking About Jamie, which came out yesterday (Friday).

He plays the role of Sheffield teenager Jamie New, who wants to be a drag queen.

Also featuring household names such as Richard E Grant, Sarah Lancashire and Sharon Horgan, Everybody's Talking About Jamie is based on the hit musical and a BBC3 documentary.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Friday, Harwood said that the real-life Jamie had inspired him.

"He's inspired my story," he said. "You don't usually get to meet the person you're inspired by because they're either dead or not around to be involved in the project."

Speaking about one particular scene where he is given a new pair of high heel shoes by his mum, played by Lancashire, and has to walk along a garden wall, Max described the Mission: Impossible-style stunt and the challenges it posed.

"The heels were one thing, but when they showed me how high that wall was, how thin it was, it was windy and there were no crash mats.

"I was pretty much the Tom Cruise of a teenage drag musical doing my own stunts! It was a challenge but it was a complete learning experience."

Harwood, 24, studied at Bishop Challoner school before going to Queen Mary's College, where he took A Levels in theatre studies, art photography, music technology and history.

Later he attended a one-year foundation course in musical theatre at The Guildford School Of Acting in Surrey. He trained for two more years in London, at The Urdang Academy, before landing the big role in his debut feature film.

The Basingstoke-raised actor also worked at the town's Odeon cinema, and speaking in July when its future was thrown into uncertainty, said it would be a "full circle moment" to see his face on the Leisure Park's big screen.

Max said that he was blessed to star alongside some big names: "That was daunting but an incredible gift. They're all very different in terms of their experiences so for me I got to learn lots of different things, comedy, British TV stuff that Sarah does so well, the exuberance that Richard bought, I really got to learn so much.

"I have their personal numbers and they continue to keep up with what I'm doing."

The film, telling the tale of Jamie Campbell, is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Speaking to Breakfast, Jamie himself had high-praise for Max.

"I'm so glad Max was undiscovered.

"He's still very young and this is one of his first big professional jobs. That was really nice giving this opportunity to someone like him.

"When you see the film, he's absolutely incredible, he's a star and he'll be doing lots more big things in the future."