Darius stars as new Rhett Butler

Darius Danesh took time out of his career to take an acting course

Former Pop Idol contestant Darius Danesh has said how surprised he was to get the role of Rhett Butler in a new stage production of Gone with the Wind.

"I was thinking they're going to give it to a really big film star. I really couldn't believe it. It was a real shock," Danesh told GMTV.

He will join Jill Paice as Scarlett O'Hara in the Trevor Nunn production which opens in London in April.

Gone with the Wind was published in 1936 and turned into a film in 1939.

Butler was played by Clark Gable in the movie, and Danesh admitted it is a challenging role to take on.

"He's a rogue, a rough diamond, and it's a character that I'm overwhelmed to say that I'm playing in the production.

"I only found out I got the role four days ago. It was a really coveted role and Sir Trevor Nunn is probably the greatest living stage director," he said.

"Cream of the crop"

Danesh has appeared on stage in musical theatre, having played Billy Flynn in Chicago in London's West End. In 2007 he took over as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls.

"I'm very lucky to be taking on this role because Sir Trevor had the cream of the crop. The auditions were in New York and London.

"It was three months of the most intense process I've ever been through," said Danesh.

The Glasgow-born singer revealed he has been taking acting classes for the last two years in Los Angeles to learn the Meisner Technique.

The film won ten Oscars and remains an American classic

His main co-star Jill Paice has already worked with Sir Trevor, appearing in his production of The Woman in White.

Gone with the Wind tells the story of southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, whose idyllic lifestyle is shattered when the American Civil War erupted to finally solve the issue of slavery in the United States.

The film won 10 Academy Awards and has been named the most successful movie of all time at the US box office by film trade journal Screen Digest.

Rehearsals begin in a week's time with the first show on 4 April.