Alexander Skarsgård worked hard to maintain his beautiful buff body for his starring role in Legend of Tarzan, but the 39-year-old actor has said the weeks of grueling exercise was "nothing" compared to the night he attended the premiere of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in drag.

"As physically demanding as shooting Legend of Tarzan was, it was nothing compared to that night in drag," Skarsgård told Pride Source in a new interview.

He continued: "Oh my god; walking around in those heels, in that super itchy, hot wig and the fake nails, I felt like Edward Scissorhands. I couldn't even grab a drink. Once we got to the after party at the gay club, I just kicked my heels off and walked around barefoot because I was just dying. So, I have tremendous respect for all the drag queens out there. I got a little taste of what it takes to look that fabulous."

Skarsgård unfortunately won't have any gay sex scenes in Tarzan, but he's no stranger to them, having played the pansexual vampire Eric Northman through seven seasons of True Blood.

"A lot of the storylines are metaphors for the strife people in the LGBT community experience," he said of the show. "But it's done in a very subtle way where people who have never met anyone who's gay or who have prejudice toward that community would still embrace the show and would still come up (to me) and be super excited about it."

Skarsgård described the two gay sex scenes he filmed for the show as "incredible." Asked for his tips for other straight actors filming gay sex scenes, he said, "You just have to embrace it."

Skarsgård recalled of his first scene with Theo Alexander, who played the character Talbot Angelis:

"I just said, 'Look at the scene. It's this nemesis and he comes in and then it gets seductive and you think they're gonna make love and it gets into that and then suddenly my character stabs him in the back and he explodes. In two minutes, look at this emotional rollercoaster we're taking the audience on. If we commit to this, it's going to be an amazing scene and we're going to be very happy with it forever. If we hold back, that's when it gets awkward.'

You can read the full interview at Pride Source.

Legend of Tarzan opens nationwide on Friday, July 1.