Archie Madekwe Reveals He Had to Learn to Drive to Play Racing Driver in “Gran Turismo”: 'It Was Intense' (Exclusive)

"Absolutely nothing on the insurance," Archie Madekwe says of his driving abilities. "I'm doing brilliant."

Archie Madekwe's role as a motorsports athlete in this year's Gran Turismo required more than just a refresher behind the wheel.

PEOPLE caught up with Madekwe, 28, at the Los Angeles premiere of his movie Saltburn, where the actor revealed that he learned how to drive a car while on the job shooting Gran Turismo, in which he starred as real-life pro racer Jann Mardenborough.

"I learned how to drive, and I was shooting during the day," Madekwe tells PEOPLE, noting he took driving lessons in the United Kingdom. "And then at night, I was taking driving lessons, and then went off to Budapest and played a race car driver. It was intense."

"No accidents. I'm doing great," he adds. "Absolutely nothing on the insurance. I'm doing brilliant."

Madekwe asserts he is a "great driver," though he tells PEOPLE he has not yet dared to take a spin in Los Angeles. "L.A. people aren't great drivers," he says. "I'm too scared. I'm too scared to do that."

Related: See the Stars of 'Gran Turismo' Compared to the Real People They Play

Madekwe is nearing the end of a productive year. In 2023, he appeared in the horror epic Beau Is Afraid and in Gal Gadot's Netflix spy movie Heart of Stone. That was on top of his lead role in Gran Turismo and a supporting performance in Oscar-winning writer Emerald Fennell's new film Saltburn.

In Saltburn, Madekwe acts opposite stars like Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant as a character named Farleigh, a member of the extended and wealthy family who inhabit the Saltburn estate Keoghan's character Oliver is invited to spend a summer living with. Farleigh is presented as an antagonist to Oliver throughout the movie, and the actor tells PEOPLE that he found that "everything is a defense mechanism" with his character.

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"He's on the outside looking in. He's just afraid that he's going to be found out. And I just loved that about him," Madekwe tells PEOPLE. "It's something that I, at times related to that idea of, especially as a person of color, often you find yourself putting on appearances for people, to jumping into different spaces that you don't feel welcome in. And I understood that in him immediately being in these spaces that he didn't think he was welcomed in."

Related: Jacob Elordi Brings Barry Keoghan Home for a Summer of Debauchery in New Saltburn Trailer

"And so I'm becoming a different person at spaces," he adds. "I find him endlessly fascinating. I still do."

An official logline for Saltburn calls the movie “a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire." The movie follows Keoghan's character's summer break from Oxford University spent living with Felix (Elordi), a wealthy classmate whom he befriends.

Saltburn is in theaters Nov. 24.

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