James McAvoy Talks ‘Speak No Evil’, Finding Stories, & Switching Genres

None of this was ever a part of the plan; red carpets, award nominations, Marvel fans incessantly plotting his next cameo like a band of conspiracy theorists. If you ask James McAvoy, it’s all a bit much. Nearing the 30th anniversary of his debut film — The Near Room (1995) — there certainly hasn’t been anything straightforward about McAvoy’s career trajectory. It’s not that he designed it that way. It’s more that he didn’t design anything at all.

McAvoy was 15 when he walked on set for The Near Room. He was raw, still five years away from his classical training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Years later, McAvoy would admit to Digital Spy that, at the time of filming, an acting career wasn’t yet at the forefront of his mind. Like most 15-year-olds, his focus was more short-sighted; he’d developed a crush on a co-star on set and, when she invited him to drama class, he suddenly realized that acting might be his calling.

“I think it helps that all of this was all an afterthought, really. When I was around 16, I almost joined the Navy, but I thought, ‘Hey, I’ve done a bit of acting. Maybe I’ll go to acting school.’”

James McAvoy

It’s an origin story that seems to encapsulate McAvoy’s spirit quite succinctly. Not in the literal sense, of course, but instead, as a reflection of his wandering curiosity. “I supposed I’ve always been that way,” he laughs. “There’s never been a grand plan for what I wanted a career to look like. It’s always been about entertaining, to me — entertaining not only the audience but also myself. When I first started, it was just about finding the opportunity to get on a set at all. […] But when I think [of] why I’ve found my recent films so compelling, it’s the opportunity to strike a balance with the characters. Be likeable. Make the audience feel safe. Then, you get that turn.”

That turn has become something of a signature for McAvoy in recent years, starting with M. Night Shyamalan’s blockbuster, Split (2016) and its successor, Glass (2019), where the actor plays a man balancing 23 dissociative identities. But in his latest film — James Watkins’s Speak No Evil — the turn is far more subtle. There isn’t a costume change or a sudden accent shift to signal to the audience that something has gone awry. Rather, McAvoy portrays Paddy, a husband and father who charms an American family enjoying a European vacation alongside his own. When we meet Paddy, he’s boisterous, a little rough around the edges, but undeniably charming. He exudes the sort of salt-of-the-earth masculinity that makes one want to chase his validation. After a few days, he invites the family to join him with his wife and son at their countryside home.

“[Paddy] is so interesting to me because there’s always this undertone of toxicity,” explains McAvoy. “But he puts a civilized face on it. He’s self-aware about it. It’s disarming, you know? There’s a sense of humour. He accepts that he’s not perfect. It’s sort of admirable.” Of course, the Americans accept the invitation. How could they resist? Then, slowly, McAvoy begins flexing the muscle he honed so expertly in Split: the turn.

“What drew me to the film was that duality. The audience feels it, too. They feel safe, they might really fall for this guy. Then, you have to come to terms with the fact that this man you started to like is something shocking, something horrific. You’re going through the same emotions as the characters.”

What McAvoy deploys is, indeed, shocking. Not simply through the portrayal of such a dark role but more so in the fact that this isn’t the James McAvoy the audience has come to know over his decades’ worth of work. He captured the hearts of critics as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland before signing on to Atonement, a heart-wrenching romantic war drama that saw McAvoy play WW2 soldier and tragic love interest, Robbie Turner. Both were richly complex emotional roles that cemented McAvoy’s “leading man” status.

In the months following The Last King of Scotland, it was widely maintained that his performance warranted Oscar consideration. But such nominations famously require a great deal of campaigning, something McAvoy was reluctant to do. Instead, he championed his co-star, Forest Whitaker for his performance (Whitaker, in turn, ended up winning “Best Actor”).

Years ago, McAvoy would speak openly about his distaste for the song and dance often required for awards consideration. But today, he doesn’t pay it much mind.

“I’m sure you can get lost in it,” he says, indifferently. “Everything outside of the work, I mean. I just don’t have much time for it. I think it helps that all of this was all an afterthought, really. When I was around 16, I almost joined the Navy, but I thought, ‘Hey, I’ve done a bit of acting. Maybe I’ll go to acting school.’ Luckily, I got in. I got a couple of small parts and just kept going at it. […] For the longest time, my greatest ambition was to buy my own house. I thought everything else would just be extra.”

At some point between The Near Room and his lead role as Professor Charles Xavier in the billion-dollar X-Men franchise, McAvoy was able to buy the house. So, what then? It would’ve been all too easy for him to rest of his laurels and return time and again to the blockbuster well until it ran dry. Or perhaps he could have pivoted and finally learned to rub shoulders with The Academy. But McAvoy is the first to admit that his creative choices haven’t been driven by calculated decisions, at least from a business standpoint.

“Each film, I hope for the opportunity to try something. I always want to entertain an audience. But it’s also about entertaining them in new ways.”

James McAvoy

If you explore his filmography, it’s hard to necessarily pin down a cohesive through line. In a tight five-year window, McAvoy followed up his performance in The Last King of Scotland (2006) with Atonement (2007), Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), and X-Men: First-Class (2011). The first film has been lauded as one of the best of his career. Gnomeo & Juliet was a smashing success in offering Shakespeare to children through a comedic lens (as evidenced by its $200-million worldwide profit on a $36-million budget). And X-Men: First-Class helped pave the way for a superhero genre in desperate need of emotional weight.

Perhaps the only commonality between the three films is that they offered McAvoy what he sought out when he signed on for Speak No Evil: a decisive pivot from what audiences had come to expect from him. It’s not that he was strategically avoiding being typecast. Rather, he simply gravitated towards whichever project allowed him to unearth new elements as an actor. The result has been an eclectic body of work that reflects his own meandering curiosity.

“I’m not sure anything has changed between then and now in terms of what excites me,” he says. “All I’ve really wanted in a project is to flex some new muscles. Each film, I hope for the opportunity to try something. I always want to entertain an audience. But it’s also about entertaining them in new ways. Maybe the only difference is that I’ve gotten more dynamic as an actor, I like to think. I can show different qualities, different sides, not just movie-to-movie, but within one film itself. Those twists and turns can get a bit quicker. The more I do it, the more I want to keep [developing] acting muscles.”

Even so, this relentless pursuit eventually takes its toll. A few years ago, while promoting His Dark Materials — a fantasy drama television series that earned a rabid cult following through its three seasons — McAvoy hit the wall. Over the years, he’d become known for not only the diversity of his projects but their rapid succession, tallying three, sometimes four projects in a single year. Then, the pandemic hit, the final season of His Dark Materials aired, and he told The Guardian, “I need to slow down.”

It might then seem counterintuitive for him to talk about eagerly collecting new acting skills. Then again, McAvoy has rarely been one to adhere to a plan.

“Oh, yeah, did I say that?” he laughs, thinking back on the quote. Has he stuck to his word? “Well, yes and no. I think I’ve slowed down in terms of public perception. I do a lot of projects for me, whether or not I think they’re going to be seen by a wide audience. I’ve done two improvised films now. Those were really more about my development as an actor. And then there are films like [Speak No Evil], where I get to test out what I’ve learned to a wider audience.”

By now, it’s hard to think of a demographic that McAvoy hasn’t reached; between a rich collection of theatre work, blockbuster success, and niche indie television roles, his acting “bingo card” leaves few boxes unchecked. But for McAvoy, there’s a key distinction to be made between reaching an array of audiences versus casting the same wide net time and again.

When Deadpool & Wolverine released its initial teaser this past February, there was universal speculation surrounding whether McAvoy would reprise his role as Professor Charles Xavier, a mantle he held for nearly a decade. In the ensuing trailer, the back of an unidentified bald head briefly panned across the screen, sparking feverish internet discourse connecting McAvoy to the project. But as the world now knows, McAvoy never planned on being in Deadpool & Wolverine. Instead, Emma Corrin shaved her head and was introduced to the cinematic universe as Cassandra Nova. At the same time, across the Atlantic Ocean in the U.K., McAvoy was heading into uncharted waters on the set of Speak No Evil.

“If it’s a good story, if I feel like I’m able to add something new to a conversation, then sure, I’d be into it. But there are a lot of stories to be told, and a lot of acting muscles I’m still trying to work on.”

James McAvoy on Marvel.

Over the past few years, there’s been a pattern of veteran A-list stars disavowing such blockbuster franchises while simultaneously collecting cheques as if it were a mandatory chore. In 2023, Sir Anthony Hopkins discussed his recurring cameos in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok by telling The New York Times, “They put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne; shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.” Last month, Harrison Ford addressed the press line at ComicCon when asked why he returned to Marvel in his new role as Red Hulk, explaining, “What did it take? It took not caring. It took being an idiot for money, which I’ve done before.”

Of course, both Hopkins and Ford are known for their unapologetic candour. But while it’s usually endearing — a means of defying the industry’s corporate authorities — such statements don’t just alienate major film studios, but the audience themselves. McAvoy, conversely, positions himself somewhere entirely outside the conversation. He doesn’t ridicule the genre, yet he’s never been one to blindly chase the next cheque. As for his thoughts on the superhero craze that he helped ignite, he doesn’t disparage its potential for storytelling. Rather, he maintains the same process he would when considering any other project.

“If it’s a good story, if I feel like I’m able to add something new to a conversation, then sure, I’d be into it,” he says. “But there are a lot of stories to be told, and a lot of acting muscles I’m still trying to work on. If I can do it in that universe, that’s great. But there’s other things on my list, I’d say.”

As for what that list might entail, it’s hard to imagine. He’s worked around the globe, learned under an array of celebrated directors, and exercised enough acting muscles to make him a thespian bodybuilder, of sorts. Plus, he bought the house he always dreamed of.

“Yes, the house,” he laughs. “I should say, there’s one caveat to that. For a long time, that was really the only tangible goal. But these the last two years, I started chasing the chance to direct my own film. And now I’m about to do it. I can’t say much but I feel ready. I mean, I’m losing more sleep over it than my babies have ever cost me. But I’m excited. I can’t wait to share it. So, I suppose the next goal will be to do well enough with my first movie that they let me direct another.”

His directorial debut will add yet another touch point for fans to associate with his career. But this isn’t anything new for McAvoy. After nearly 30 years of leading roles, when he sees the familiar wide-eyed expression of a stranger recognizing him, there’s no telling what they might recall.

“We walked past someone on a park bench, and she said, “I loved you in Narnia!’ I mean, 21 years later — here I am caught up thinking about directing my first movie — and someone still remembers me as Mr. Tumnus. That just tickles me, man.”

James McAvoy

“If you ask 10 people how they know me, they’ll give you 10 different answers,” he says. “People stop me on the street to say, ‘Oh my God, you’re that actor from —’ and I think they’re going to say Split or X-Men. And they bring up some obscure TV show that I’d assumed nobody had watched. I just think, ‘How the fuck did you see that?’ It always makes me really happy.”

For someone who’s committed to working out as many acting muscles as possible, such interactions help to validate the exercise. Perhaps years from now, fans will rush to tell him how much Paddy kept them on the edge of their seat, or how they felt when they watched his directorial debut. Whatever it might be, McAvoy welcomes the trip back in time.

“You play these characters, and you forget that you end up occupying a place in people’s lives,” he says. “I love when I get surprised. Recently, I was walking around with the music supervisor for the new film coming up with ideas. I was a bit in my head, and we walked past someone on a park bench, and she said, “I loved you in Narnia!’ I mean, 21 years later — here I am caught up thinking about directing my first movie — and someone still remembers me as Mr. Tumnus. That just tickles me, man.”

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