Now he has a very different movie in cinemas, Monster Trucks, which is basically what it says on the tin. "When you say Monster Trucks, people don't think monsters inside of trucks," he says. "So it's funny to get the reaction of people like, 'Oh, literally monster trucks!'"

Till enjoyed the way the film plays with the usual family movie cliches, never becoming a boy and his alien movie like E.T. "This is more like little brother, big brother," he says. "They don't have the best relationship with each other in the beginning, and then they certainly do by the end. But yeah, my character doesn't coddle him very much. He actually kind of cracks a whip on him like, 'Get to work. This is my truck. You're my engine now.' But then obviously it develops into much more than that."

Lucas Till on the set of Monster Trucks

Till says that this film feeds into his childhood dream. "When I was a kid, I think I wanted to be Arnold Schwarzenegger," he laughs. "Most actors are like, 'I want to be more like Marlon Brando.' But when I was a little kid, I just wanted to be an action hero! Then I grew up and my interests were different."

Even so, the chance to do some stunt driving was tantalising. "I'm a Fast & Furious fan," he says, "and when they did our stunts they let me on the truck, which was moving around 35 miles per hour but it feels like 80. I was on top of moving vehicles swerving in and out and jumping down the side, crawling and so forth. I'm pretty proud of that."

And the best thing about Monster Trucks is that he's neither joining an existing franchise nor remaking a classic. "It's nice because you get to create something all your own," he says. "And you don't really get many opportunities like that, because usually movies that are made are something that has been made a million times before. So it's really, really awesome to be part of something that has the potential to become a franchise, but also it's mine. With X-Men, I was just nervous when I got it, nervous doing the movie and nervous after it came out. But with this, it's whatever I want to do with it!"

Watch the trailer for Monster Trucks: