Idris Elba is in the middle of a press tour for his latest movie, Beast, which was filmed in South Africa.

The film follows a father and his two teenage daughters who find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on proving that the savannah has but one apex predator.

And while Elba must fight a CGI lion in the pulse-pounding new thriller, he had a close encounter with the real-deal while on set in Limpopo.

"There was a lion there who wasn't in the movie, and he was on set," the actor exclusively told E!'s Daily Pop at the film's NYC premiere Elba joked that he kept his cool, telling the wild animal: "'That's my guy. Hey, buddy, what you doing over there? You running away?'"

Click 'read more' to see what else Idris had to say about filming in SA.