Written in the stars: Henry Cavill explained how he met his onscreen father Russell Crowe when he was still a schoolboy

It is partly down to Crowe that Henry then went on to become an actor after the Gladiator star gave him some advice.

Cavill was a 16-year-old pupil at the Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, and had been cast as an extra while Russell filmed a goodbye scene to his on-screen son in Proof Of Life.

During a glossy photoshoot he recalls the tale to GQ Magazine: ‘I thought we kind of look ridiculous, standing there, looking over at this famous actor.

‘And I want to be an actor. So I thought I may as well go over and ask this guy about it.’

Built to last: The British actor asked Crowe for some advice when he met him at his secondary school

The future: Russell stars as Superman’s father Jor-El in the new Man Of Steel movie

He continued: ‘Hi, my name’s Henry. I want to be an actor. What’s it like?’

Rather than being stand offish Crowe was happy to impart some words of wisdom and told young Cavill ‘But if you want to go for it, then really go for it. Commit.’

Despite having a reputation for being an unreasonable hard man, Crowe showed his caring side after he left the football field.

Real steel: Russell and Henry crossed paths again when training together at a gym in Los Angeles

Coming soon: The full interview is in June’s issue of GQ

Two days later, Cavill received a package in the post which contained some Jersey sweets (Cavill mentioned where he’d grown up), a jar of Vegemite, a CD of Crowe’s band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts and a picture of Crowe in Gladiator, with a signed message.

The message read: ‘Dear Henry, a journey of 1,000 miles begins in a single step. Russell.’

Although the two stars had that shared experience in common, Henry refrained from mentioning it to Crowe as they trained together at a gym in Los Angeles.

Then eventually, one day he asked Crowe if he remembered filming at Stowe School and if he remembered speaking to a young pupil.

Crowe said yes and asked what advice he gave he gave him, to which Cavill revealed: ‘You said the pay was pretty good, but they treat you like s**t’.

Crowe laughed out loud and said: ‘Yup, that’s what I said all right. Hello Henry.’