Josh Hartnett says he didn't work out before his towel scenes in "Lucky Number Slevin" because he wanted his character to appear doughy and harmless.

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In the thriller, which co-stars Lucy Liu and Bruce Willis, Hartnett plays a seemingly ordinary guy caught between two warring crime bosses -- Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. For his first several scenes, Hartnett wears nothing but a floral-print towel as he tries to convince various thugs he isn't who they think he is.

"The challenge was not to get freaked out and go start working out and try to get all buff," the 27-year-old heartthrob told reporters in New York. "I made a really conscious decision not be ripped because it's distracting. I wanted him to be kind of 'schlubby.' I wanted him to be kind of soft and un-intrusive. ... I wanted him to seem like he was absolutely no threat to anybody."

The "Sin City" and "Pearl Harbor" star said fans will see him in much better shape later this year when he plays a boxer in the period film, "The Black Dahlia."

"I had to be in a gym four or five hours a day boxing," he said.