Dakota Fanning became a competitive swimmer for Man on Fire

Dakota Fanning became a competitive swimmer for her role in 2004's action-thriller 'Man On Fire'.

The 29-year-old actress was just nine when she played young Pita, who Denzel Washington's former CIA officer character Creasy was hired to protect amid a series of kidnappings, and as a result of all the swimming, she's now a superfast swimmer.

Speaking to Total Film magazine, she said: "Well, when I did 'Man on Fire', there was so much swimming involved. And Tony Scott wanted me to actually win the races, so I had to become a competitive swimmer. So I'm an amazing swimmer [laughs]. That's something that has stuck with me."

Dakota and Denzel, 68, reunited for the upcoming American vigilante action film directed by Antoine Fuqua, 'The Equalizer 3', a sequel to 2018's 'The Equalizer 2', which is loosely based on the TV series of the same name, and she loved getting to "fall back into the dynamic" they had almost two decades ago.

She said: "For me, it was particularly special because I was working with Denzel again, 20 years later, and Man on Fire is a movie that people, to this day, come up to me about maybe the most. And I don't think I've ever met someone who doesn't love Denzel Washington.

Obviously we're playing different characters, but to kind of fall back into the dynamic that we had in that movie when I was so young, and then now being an adult, and to kind of get to feel that again with him... it was really kind of this full-circle thing."

Denzel reprises his role as retired US Marine and former DIA officer, Robert McCall.