Rihanna could be a "huge movie star" within a year, says a top director.

The Barbados-born singer appears in new movie Battleship, which is due out in April and is based on the famous board game.

She plays a Navy weapons officer and impressed director Peter Berg with her dedication to the role.

"If she wants to be a huge movie star then in a year you'll be sitting here with her talking about whatever her next film is," he told BBC Newsbeat.

Peter was adamant Rihanna was right for the part even before shooting began. He had seen many of her music promos and was sure she had a talent for acting.

"I've worked with musicians before and I always expected there was a great actress in Rihanna. That's just from watching her intensity and how hot she is in her music videos," he said. "For anyone that's been on a music video set, it's not so easy to do sexy. If it was, there would be a lot more Rihannas."

The 23-year-old star was refreshingly down-to-earth during filming. She was happy to muck in with the other members of the cast and didn't expect special treatment.

"Rihanna lived in this small really unglamorous hotel room for four months," Peter explained. "It was really hot, there was nothing but really bad fried food.

"She had no entourage, she shared the same little trailer as everyone else did."

Battleship also stars Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgrd and Brooklyn Decker.