Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds hit the red carpet in New York for the premiere of the new action thriller "Safe House."

In the movie, Washington plays a former CIA agent who has been placed in a safe house manned by Reynolds' character. After the secret location is raided by rebels, their characters flee the bunker in search of a secure location.

Filmed mainly in Cape Town, South Africa, over the course of five months, the story line of the film had the duo tracking across various locations in South Africa.

In an effort to make the film as realistic as possible, Washington actually subjected himself to waterboarding, which is a form a torture formerly used by the CIA in order to extract information from prisoners. The practice involved water being poured over someone's face which resulted in the feeling of drowning.

SOUNDBITE Denzel Washington saying (English):

"It's very disorienting and I was relaxed. You imagine in those real situations where it's already tense and you might have already been sleep deprived or blindfolded or whatever. But I knew it was a controlled environment so it wasn't as intense."

"Safe House" opens in U.S. theaters on February 10.

John Russell, Reuters.