USA Today: James McAvoy is no tortured soul

When James McAvoy's son Brendan was born in 2010, he got a script about a couple dealing with something that, the actor says, he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

Fresh from the intoxicating all-consuming glow of new fatherhood, McAvoy, 35, immediately turned it down. The topic of parenthood, and how it's handled in the film, felt too raw, too close, too terrifying.

Two years later, he reconsidered. The reason?

"Time passing. It wasn't so weird, the idea of doing something that might or might not be based on this tragedy. A couple of years down the line, fatherhood is just embedded into you. It didn't feel like you're being contentious with yourself," he says.

The film -- or films, rather, in question: The trilogy called The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. The story of a demise of a marriage is told through the lenses of husband Conor

(McAvoy) in Him, his wife Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) and finally, in a merged story opening Friday called Them.

Shooting the multiple storylines, and dealing with a subject so unfathomable, didn't weigh heavily on McAvoy. He is, after all, someone who announces that there's a suspicious stink of curry in the air -- and proudly watches the Fox reality dating series I Wanna Marry Harry, the arc of which he recounts in impressive detail.

"We had a couple of stressful days. Generally it was a big laugh. I found that over the last couple of years, I've played some of the most mentally ill and harrowed and upset people and damaged people – Conor is suffering major grief – and weirdly in all those cases I've had more fun than ever before. The darker the character, the more fun you have to have," he says.

As for Chastain, she says the Scottish actor taught her that it's perfectly fine, even normal, to find joy and lightness in your work.

"Working with James was a good lesson for me. Sometimes I make my work too precious. I always have this feeling that I have to give everything to it, like there's torture in the work. There's something about being free and light and easy, even when you're dealing with the most difficult of situations. It's not forced. I learned that from him. That's a big deal for me. I'm a worrywart worker," she says.

The actor and his spouse, actress Anne-Marie Duff, live in the UK. He toggles between indies such as Rigby, big-budget behemoths such as the X-Men franchise, playing telepathic superhero Professor X, and theater, most recently appearing in Macbeth on London's West End.

Otherwise, he sticks close to home.

"My wife and I take turns (working), so one of us is generally at home. So we both get to fulfill ourselves professionally. We both get to be proper parents without relying on nannies too much," says McAvoy."I always took time off because I thought it was important to be with my wife and be with my mates. One year I had three movies in Toronto. I'd done 5 movies in a year. At quite a young age, I wanted to get out of this perpetuating cycle of having to take everything that comes my way. You have this fear that no one will hire you."

He pauses and cringes, realizing just how his statement can come across -- pretentious and pampered. But that's not how he means it. "And I know that sounds like such an (expletive) privileged thing to say. It sounds sort of like champagne problems. But you are quite often on set every day having a mental breakdown because it's in the script. You're pushing yourself. It's really hard. You can't do it constantly."

_____________________________________

Специально для britishboys.ru / britishboyfriends.blogspot.com. При полном или частичном копировании информации получение разрешения и активная ссылка на сайт / блог обязательны. Please credit if you use

Источники: 1 /