I just realized that we have all of these James McAvoy photos sitting around this week and I hadn’t used them at all. James has been in full-blown promotional mode for the past few weeks, and not just for X-Men: Days of Future Past. He was also in Cannes to support The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby with Jessica Chastain (they look beautiful together) and while in NYC, he’s been promoting the American release of Filth, which already had a European release months ago. So, these are some assorted pics from Cannes and NYC.
James has a new interview with The Daily Beast which is mostly about Filth, but he does talk a bit X-Men and how much he parties in real life (not that much). These were two parts I liked a lot, and you can read the full piece here:
Have you ever found yourself spiraling a bit out of control on booze or drugs?
No, but I’ve been quite aware my entire life of mental people. I’ve always been a watcher. I notice myself, when I’m thinking irrationally, and I don’t think any of us are that far away from losing it. It doesn’t take as much as we think, sometimes, to lose it. But I’m pretty consciously healthy… I hope.The new X-Men film deals with drones—Sentinels—that target American citizens. What do you think the film’s message is when it comes to drone warfare?
Yeah, it’s got a little bit of a riff on drones going on. But what it’s really about is what the very first X-Men was about: the discrimination of others based on their ethnicity. The first scene of an X-Men movie ever was a scene in Poland in a concentration camp with Jewish people being killed for being slightly different. That’s exactly what the Sentinels are about. The key thing that makes the Sentinels work is they can discriminate between humans and mutants and say, “Human? You’re OK. Mutant? You’re all going do die.” It is a robot, and a drone, but it’s about the persecution of minorities and people who are different, which is something that’s so constantly current. The drone argument will come and go, but X-Men’s connection to the persecution of people who are different will always remain. Everybody’s felt persecuted at some point or felt different at some point.
Oh, I didn’t know that about the Sentinels. I’ve been avoiding spoilers because I am going to see this movie this weekend, but I doubt the Sentinels thing is a spoiler. So, they kill mutants? Got it. Speaking of spoilers, James appeared on The Daily Show and he was amazing with Jon Stewart. He’s so playful and funny in real life, isn’t he? And that Scottish brogue… HOT.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
Such a cutie. Also he looks taller than I thought he was!
He’s so cute, but I think he looks taller because Jessica is short.
Same here! I thought Jessica Chastain could actually tower over him… And he is such a handsome, funny guy.. Awwww love him!
Jessica couldn’t tower over anyone: she’s 5’4”. That’s why she has a hard time finding the right gowns.
I thought Jessica was taller, I mean, James is just 1,70 and she’s shorter than him even with heels.
I love James. Sigh.
Such a lovely man.
I could listen to him all day, love him. That interview just made my week!
My heart skips a beat when I see a McAvoy article
Love him
I love him more and more with every interview. He’s so much fun while being completely professional. And he’s pretty good at this acting thing.
I thought the origin of the comics was a Malcolm X vs MLK thing – more *how* to combat discrimination and persecution rather than an acknowledgement that it exists. Amirite? Or have I got that wrong?
It seems the Civil Rights Movement was an inspiration. And the MLK/Malcolm X parallels would fit in pretty nicely.
That makes perfect sense. I’ve only seen a few of the movies, and I always thought the mutants represented gays, aka being “born this way”.
Prolly a mutant… Both him and Jackman, to fly back and forth across continents in the span of a couple of days and still be proficiently coherent, articulate and hilarious, takes skills.
Others aren’t articulate even in vanilla press junkets *cough* Hansel Renner *cough*.
+1 It’s a very groovy mutation!
THANK YOU FOR POSTING ABOUT THE WEE HUNK! It’s so rare to find someone who’s good at acting and seems to have a brain outside of it too. Nevermind someone who has eyes like this and a perfect bum to boot.
Totally… no idea why he tends to bring out the ire in some people.
Brings out ire?????? Insanity must run in their family.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you! Always happy to see McAvoy.
You know I love you James, but… the X-Men do have the power to laser you in half with their eyes, lift the Golden Gate bridge with telekinesis and whip up a cyclone!
All you need to rule is greater firepower and more advanced weaponry – as the Aztecs, Native Americans and black inhabitants of colonial Africa would no doubt confirm, being in the minority does not equal less powerful. So, yeah, I always root for the humans in every X-Men film, however assily they’re portrayed!
@Tapioca
You can just write ‘Native Africans’ or Africans*, you know! If really bugs me that the native inhabitants of that continent are reduced to a colour rather than a proper title, as other ethnic groups are respectfully granted.
*Bearing in mind that Arab peoples/Arab North Africans originate from relatively new settlers in Africa. (i.e. non-native Africans).
I find the way she’s posing with him oddly inappropriate. He’s married. Nothing extremely blatant – just … something strikes me about it.
yes Jessica looks all over him, less than Charlize with Fassbender, but she really like him and not in a platonic way. I’m not sure he’s very comfortable with her behavior but he acts like a gentleman
Really? I see nothing untoward in her positioning and pose whatsoever.
Also, she’s took her boyfriend along… lots of pics of them around. She doesn’t struck like the kinda type that goes for the another man when her own’s around the corner.
They were hollered by the photographers… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhrdHsoHKz4
Guess she was taking their cues?
He’s the one with his arm around her, not the other way around. Co-workers can be good friends and give hugs and friendly embraces without any thing untoward happening.
that’s not what I do (hugs and rub against my coworkers escpecially with those married or in a relationship) but I see others pics and in these pics she looks into him and not like too friends
@ Just Me: Yeah, but they’re actors. And actors, as a group, seem to be far more demonstrative than normal co-workers- it seems pretty common for them to kiss on the lips as a greeting, for example, which is something that I would NEVER do with a co-worker, no matter how much I liked them. Plus, they filmed a love story, so they spent days (maybe even weeks) where they were kissing and touching and pantomiming all sorts of intimacy- I think a lot of those natural No-Touch barriers were demolished during filming.
I love Jessica but, she tends to fawn over male co-stars on the red carpet, she was even worse with Tom Hardy when they were promoting Lawless.
Yeah, I guess that’s it. She just seems overly fawning…
Actually, I can’t blame her. In fact, I respect her restraint. If that were me, it would be less fawning, more fondling.
+ 1, the pictures might become inappropriate.
The only way my hand would remain up by his shoulder chastely like that is if he had safety pined it there so we didn’t have “a repeat of what happened the last time”
j.eyre – yes, apparently you were quite the spectacular last time. From what I heard (because all photographic evidence was bought and destroyed), you attempted to move full-on to the realm of an entirely different word beginning with “f”.
Well, you know my mantra on these matters:
“But it was right there“
Best interview ever!
The pilot handed over the joy stick?! What the hell? That was hilarious on an epic level.
So effin charming.
As we do every night, my husband and I watched The Daily Show. I didn’t realize James would be the guest. So I had to feign less interest than my husband already knew I had.
At the Joy Stick comment, my husband totally called me out by saying “You should see yourself right now, you are literally blushing”
Is anyone still using the term,“mental people”? Is that a current colloquialism or outdated terminology? Paranormal, where are you?
Also, very very cute, but blah blah on the talky; not bad, but not brilliant.
Huh. I thought mental was US slang, guess I was wrong.
It’s exactly like “crazy” – out-dated/offensive if you’re talking about someone with an actual mental illness, but fine as casual slang for losing self-control: “The crowd was going mental” or “You missed a great party. John went completely mental – sank 5 shots, and then danced the Macarana before throwing up on Fred.”
In context, it’s hard to tell which one he meant. They were talking about Filth (and the lead character is bipolar), but the specific question was about losing control due to hard-core boozing/drugs … so honestly could be either.
I dunno – I thought ‘mental’ was a kinda colloquial slur here in the UK, no matter what context you use it. Hence why that show ‘The Mentalist’ sounds kinda stupid over here. I dunno how it goes down in the US (the word, I mean, not the show!).
mental is used a lot in glasgow, generally to express that something is crazy or out of control, often related to drink or drugs. it doesn’t normally imply mental health problems. i think “mental people” was meant more along the lines of people going crazy and overindulging.
Just when I was out after X3, McAvoy and Fassbender won me back. They were so ridiculously good in a First Class…and we get another one after this one. Hint to Fox Studios: if you want to keep this series going pay McAvoy and Fassbender whatever they want!
Gah, what can I say that I haven’t already said about the Mac?
I’m hopelessly devoted.
Very nice spin there with the drone trap. It’s not really dodging the question but he’s obviously not giving the reporter the scandal they were looking for. I’m starting to really, really like this guy.
Love him BUT does anyone else find it a bit tin eared to have a film about discrimination when most of the major players in the cast are white?(Yes I know Halle Berry makes an appearance as Storm) .
They could definitely use more diversity than the three or four people of colour they have (like most comic book movies, don’t get me started on Avengers!). However the metaphor works to show that it really is just a bizarre human characteristic to pick on any differences. If it’s not skin colour it’s ethnic background or it’s sexual orientation, or it’s even weight!
Also at the end of the day it’s a fun comic book movie with flying and shape shifting. I think there’s a tendency to take X Men too literally.
Honestly I don’t take the movie seriously it’s just that the quote is elevating the material to being about a grand concept yet it’s still just a status quo big budget movie about (mostly) white people saving the world with bland platitudes about how racism is bad. Although James personally isn’t casting the film of course pointing out the (empty) meaning seems like that classic self important Hollywood actor thing which I think is beneath him.
I was thinking the same thing! Granted, I doubt James had much power in casting or anything like that, but it would have been more impressive if the producers had actually followed the message of the movie and hired minorities to break casting barriers in Hollywood.
Well, it’s not like he’s such a big hot shot to dictate the studio who they should hire.
At least they tried to throw in some diversity – even though the parts are small – with Omar Sy, Fan BingBing, Booboo Stewart – first Native-American mutant. Blink’s not even Asian in the comics. So at least that’s that… The Avengers franchise is even worse at casting POCs actors/ actresses: aside from Sam Jackson and Anthony Mackie, it’s as white as it can get.
The problem is not just that the main characters are white, though you could argue that Mistique and Beast are stand ins for diversity, even though both characters are played by white actors but that there’s been a complete whitewashing of movies over the last couple of years. There’ve been no poignant POCs actors breaking through the glass ceiling. Star Trek whitewashed Khan. Peter Pan’s whitewashing Tiger Lilly. There’s a lot of white on the tv and cinema screens. Game of Thrones whitewashes a hell lot and so on and so forth.
African American are relegated to play the “black part”.
And no, 2013 is the exception to the rule despite popular belief.
I just want one night to do unspeakable things to him.
oh honey You’ve done a franchise superhero movie for the cash and that’s fine. you don’t really have to sell the crap to us that is a movie with a deep moral message. we’re not that dumb.
Well it was either general political correctness stuff or go into the politics of drone warfare which in all honesty, actors should avoid or sink themselves in a bigger than themselves hole (anyone remember the torture fiasco of Zero Dark Thirty). I mean what was he to say, “I think the President is killing innocent children in his targeting of militants just as the Sentinels kill mutants and humans alike – indiscriminately”. End of promising career right there.
Dude is like a fine wine, getting better with age.
•magpie•
I was going to post something very similar. He looks much more comfortable with his ‘sex symbol’ status and in his own skin these days. It’s fun to see and sexy as hell. 😃
There are dudes with baby faces like LeoD that get soft and gross with age. JM’s face (and body) get better with age! Lifestyle is a big part of it too.
I just caught the show and it was great entertainment, not too dragy, over CGIed or explosions everywhere like Bay. It just made me slightly uncomfortable that I supported a Bryan SInger movie. But then again he is innocent until proven guilty….and then again Hollywood is not exactly puritanical.
By the time we’d finish enumerating all the scums in Tinsel Town that are successful and get to work constantly, we’d be out of movies to see.
Exactly Clara.
If you stop to think about it, even Fassbender’s problematic which is why I always take him with a grain of salt.
But if working in Hollywood would be based on one’s moral compass, then people would hardly work. And just look how much play Woody gets. No one’s shunning him at all, the public is always warm to him and his movies and sexual assault against a woman tends to be just teensy bit more frowned upon than man on man assault. Either way, the victim always asks for it or is out to get money or fame or whatever PR spin the actors’ team can put out to the media.
Dang – I just Googled Bryan Singer. UGH!!! Funny, though, people you don’t expect turn out to be vile, making the people who appear vile to be much less vile. If you get me.
I gave up on him ages ago, career-wise. He’s kinda like a poor-man’s JJ Abrams.
Same… Arguably his only good movie remains The Usual Suspects in so far as directing goes.
With he XX-Men franchise he was just at the right time…. It would’ve been a hit no matter the director… When these movies are weak, it’s usually stems from bad scrips.
As far as Abrams goes, I find his Stark Trek movies, underwhelming. I dunno if it’s Pine and his lack of charisma or the underdeveloped female characters, the whitewashing. Some great visuals but not enough to keep me fully entertained. If Karl Urban would’ve played Kirk, that maybe… Overall, for all his secrety secret box of secrets, it’s more fuss than substance.
Loved Super 8 tho.
@Clara and Jade
See, that’s the problem…most people are like you guys; passive and indifferent.
“We’d be out of movies to see” – Exactly. Because that’s more important to you than actually giving up your comfortable habit.
At the very least don’t PAY to see the movies…but then you can’t see it on the big screen *boohoo*
F*ck we’re in trouble and no wonder with people like you in this world.
Sorry if tone doesn’t come out in print, but I was being sarcastic and really your type attitude is what puts people off. You can educate without making a process of intent or assign collective guilt.
In so far as my other statements go, those are just the reality on the ground. Just look how brainwashed some actresses are that “feminism” became a no-no word.
By “We’d be out of movies to see”, I meant the case in which all the trash in general came out,
Remember what Bertolucci did to Maria Schneider? He basically lead her to her early grave. And Fassbender is successful despite being a women beater or excuse me,”alleged” as they like to say.
Also one can like McAvoy and still skip the movie.
Thanks for clarifying, I misunderstood you and for that I am sorry.
There are a lot of demons in the industry, that’s for certain and that’s why I am vigilant with whom I support. I will never give my money to these people willingly.
No worries. You should totally do that. Thing is the audience and to a lesser extent, the actors don’t always have the opportunity to be informed or educated about the people they either end up inadvertently supporting or working with.
Hi NN, I applaud your vigilance and I do not disagree that there are a lot of demons in the industry. But there are also good, hard working and talented people working in their individual passionate fields which make up Hollywood. The thing is one may boycott one director or one producer easily, but the entire Hollywood machine is both directly and indirectly connected to or funded by rich or influential individuals and conglomerates who may not exactly be above ethical behaviour either. So how can I comfortably support all movies? I wouldn’t be able to unless I really stop watching tv and movies. I also added the point that Singer has not been found guilty yet. It does not mean in any way that I advocate rape and abuse. I have not watched any Woody Allen films because I don’t find them interesting, but hearing about the scandal made me even more determined to avoid them. And he wasn’t even found guilty technically. I just made a personal choice. I respect yours.