In a new conversation with The Guardian, James McAvoy shared why he’d choose a bad film over a bad play.
“Between a good film and a good play, I’d rather be in a good play,” the actor revealed. “But between a bad film and a bad play, I’d 100% rather be in a bad film: you get paid more, the audience aren’t there, nobody can boo you, and by the time it comes out, it’s a year down the line and you don’t even have to see it.”
Though he didn’t name the films, McAvoy has been in several movies that didn’t get good reviews, such as ‘X-Men: Apocalypse,’ the tennis movie ‘Wimbledon,’ and the thriller ‘Glass’ by M. Night Shyamalan.
The actor’s next movie is ‘Speak No Evil,’ a thriller where he plays one half of a couple who invite another couple to their holiday home. It’s a remake of a 2022 Danish film and also stars Aisling Franciosi, Mackenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy.
“I just happened to be luckily a bit bigger and musclier at that time ’cause I’d just been doing that for a couple of years before this movie came along,” the actor previously discussed his transformation for the role. “So I knew it was gonna help.”
McAvoy continued, “I tried to keep him as soft as possible for the beginning of the film when we’re on holiday, trying to take the edge off the fact that this is clearly a bad guy coming in here.”
“And then by the end of the movie, doing all that classic s— that actors do — eating slightly less carbs, pumpin’ up before each take, you know, all that kind of stuff when he’s meant to be malevolent and more bestial and animalistic,” he added.
James also noted, “But honestly, I was lucky to just be in the kind of shape I would want to be to play that part anyway — which I’m not anymore.”
‘Speak No Evil’ will arrive on September 13.
