BROKER Peter Bates didn't pull any punches when he got to star in the forthcoming blockbuster about boxing legend Muhammed Ali.

Peter landed the role as press photographer in the film Ali, which is due out in the UK on February 22, after spotting an advert in his local cafe -- in Mozambique.

The 29-year-old from Hoddlesden has been living in Maputo since just before Christmas in 1999 after taking a job there.

He was sipping coffee in his favourite cafe when he noticed the advert asking for extras. And he almost missed the chance.

Peter, whose parents Linda and Bernard live in Gleneagles Avenue, Hoddlesden, said: "It was around August and I noticed a small poster in the cafe where I spend Sunday mornings drinking coffee.

"It said that Will Smith's latest movie Ali would be partly filmed here in Maputo and asked for white Europeans to attend a casting day if they were interested in becoming an extra.

"Apparently this had been in the national papers and on local TV but, as I still don't read or speak Portuguese, I hadn't noticed."

Peter called the number, went along for an interview, filled in a form, posed for a photograph -- and was offered a role as a press photographer covering the famous Ali v Foreman Rumble In The Jungle.

Peter, a former pupil at Darwen Vale High School and student at St Mary's College, Blackburn, almost to get a speaking part but lost out to someone else.

Not that it soured the experience for him.

He said: "The most awesome shoots were out at the stadium in Machava. A purpose-built ring with all the spotlights and floodlights had been erected and, in order to get the atmosphere, leaflets had gone out telling people to turn up and see Will Smith and to win prizes such as TVs and bikes in a raffle, which to the average Mozambican is like winning the lottery.

"They expected around 6,000 people to show up, to be dispersed among the 30,000 cardboard cut-outs they'd made for the stands.

"But imagine their surprise and the atmosphere when 32,000 local people showed up. It was awesome."

After weeks of filming alongside the film's stars, including Will Smith as Ali, and Jon Voight, Peter said he was on first name terms with the cast and managed to get these photographs taken with them.

He said: "Will Smith was less accessible, as whenever he stepped off set he was mobbed by everyone.

"As a result he tended to keep himself to himself. The photo of me and him together was so difficult to get.

" I was having my meals with the main cast and crew when we were at the stadium and not with the rest of the extras.

"Due to this I was able to wait behind afterwards and collar Will after he'd left his trailer to go back on set.

"Everybody else was already on set and I should have been also but, hey, I wanted a photo with Will."