RICHARD ARMITAGE was told he was “just an actor” after he took to Twitter to voice his opinions on Brexit last year.
The Hobbit star admitted he was going to have to “tread carefully” in the future following the reaction from users on the micro-blogging site.
The 45-year-old was forced to “reiterate” what he meant after sharing a link to a story on Theresa May’s reshuffled cabinet.
Richard originally posted: “As I said I'm not a Tory, but this could be an interesting positive time of rebalance in every respect.”
The actor went on to add: “Not Tory, not Brexit, not 'supporting'; 'accepting' what we now have,” and now he has addressed the posts.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Richard discussed his remarks, his future on social media as well as his new film, Pilgrimage.
Asked if he regretted speaking out, he commented: “Not at all… Most of the response was, ‘You’re just an actor, shut up’. My response is, ‘I’m also a person, that has a vote in England’.”
Saying that he’d hate to think people thought he was trying to influence them, Richard went on: “Everyone was sharing their opinion on Brexit and I thought I’d join in, but they come to your Twitter feed thinking it is a billboard for something - it is hard to differentiate when it is just an opinion.”
Meanwhile, the star went on to discuss his latest project about a group of monks who undertake a pilgrimage to transport their monastery's holiest relic to Rome.
The blood-thirsty offering, which also stars Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal, saw the stars film in a remote part of Ireland for several weeks without any phone signal.
Discussing shooting the gory elements, Richard added:
“I think the one moment where I threw up in my own mouth was when I pulled the intestines from the monk… the special effects department did such an amazing job with very little.
“I think there was a lot of sausage skin stuffed with something - it was pretty real and it made a nasty sucking noise. They called, ‘Cut’, and I threw up a little bit.”