The Irish actor - who plays a tough tattooed Russian in new movie 'The Way Back' - admitted that despite his hard man image he is not the bravest person in the world.

He said: "To be honest with you, I'm a big girl's blouse. I wouldn't be into spiders and stuff. I wouldn't be a fan of things with more than four legs. I get suspicious."

However despite his hatred of creepie crawlies, Colin does have a fondness for snakes.

He told Irish TV station TV3: "Snakes I don't mind. I wouldn't like one wrapped around my neck or taking a lump out of me but I don't mind them too much."

Colin stars with Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and Saoirse Ronan in 'The Way Back' -- based on a true story about soldiers who escaped from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and endured a 4,000 mile trek to freedom in India -- and revealed he was impressed by the soldiers' tenacity because he wouldn't hesitate to turn to cannibalism if he was in the same situation.

When asked which of his co-stars he would eat first, he joked: "It would have to be Saoirse Ronan because women are softer than men.

"I'm not saying they're not as strong, it's a different type of softness but it'd have to be Saoirse."