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Actor William Hurt has revealed that he spent a night incarcerated in a maximum security prison as preparation for his role in The Yellow Handkerchief. 

In the Udayan Prasad-directed feature, Hurt plays an ex-convict who sets out on a road trip with two troubled teenagers.

Speaking to Parade, Hurt said that he spent the night at a facilty in Angola, Louisiana, in the company of a prisoner serving a life sentence.

"I also went back for ten days to talk to inmates. And I wanted to get rid of my New York actor body, so I went to a trainer who helped me beef up," he said.

"There's a difference between telling a story and living a story. I want you to feel that my character's living through a situation that you would believe.

He added: "But you have to be careful. You can't really capture life without killing it. You can't open up a frog and see how his heart pumps without killing the frog. I don't want to kill the frog.

"I want to be part of expressing how wonderful and vital that privilege of life is. I ask myself on every page of a script and every word I say in a scene, 'Is this true or is this just a made up character?'"

The Yellow Handkerchief opens worldwide this Friday (26 February).