British actor Rupert Friend says he is "fine" after hitting himself in the head with a blank bullet while making the action movie Hitman: Agent 47.

"I shot myself in the head," Friend told the New York Post.

"You fire blanks, but the guns eject real brass, hot cartridges. They're like 400 degrees... The cartridge ejected, hit the ground, bounced up and cut my head open," the actor explained.

"It was fine in the end, which I'm amazed about, because I've had head wounds ­before and they bleed like all hell."

Friend, 33, is known for his roles in the films The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Pride and Prejudice and The Young Victoria.