James McAvoy admits he made ‘stupid’ decision while improvising in weird film that’s just landed on Netflix
James McAvoy admitted to making a ‘f**king stupid’ decision while filming one of his latest movies.
The 2021 flick, which has recently landed on Netflix and become the most watched movie on the platform, sees McAvoy playing Edmund Murray - a covert operative - who is searching for his seven-year-old son after he goes missing.
The thriller, which also stars Claire Foy, is based on a French movie by Christian Carion - and in an unusual move McAvoy’s role was completely improvised.
McAvoy wasn’t given a script or any dialogue - instead he was given a brief backstory about his character and was given free reign.
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And McAvoy went all in, so much so, that he almost got himself into a sticky situation and director Carion didn’t pull any punches when letting him know how he felt about it.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, McAvoy said: "The entire film for me was improvised – the rest of the cast and crew had a script and had all been rehearsing with each other and another actor playing me for weeks.
"I had to learn what was happening next as I went along – it was crazy.
"The French director designed the whole thing to preserve the first take so whatever I did was as real, natural and truthful as possible."
Check out for the trailer for the movie - titled My Son - below:
He continued: "Usually, we captured the first thing I did and moved on, but this one time a car came out of nowhere and I was scared so I decided I should hide.
"I climbed up a tree – and I went high. I felt really proud of myself, but when I got down the director said, ‘I need you to do it a different way, because how do you say in English? It is just a bit f**king stupid!"
But it all turned out fine in the end, with My Son seriously impressing Netflix viewers and drawing comparisons to Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman.
One said: “Anyone looking for something to watch I saw My Son, with James McAvoy last night. It was brilliant.”
A second wrote: “My Son - had a bit of a Prisoners vibe to it, this did. I wish it could’ve been longer and delved deeper into the story. It could’ve easily been a 3 hour film or a series. The fact McAvoy improvised his lines was f*cking mad too, what a performance. Definitely worth a watch.”
Someone else said: “I’ve seen it a long time ago but My Son with James McAvoy is definitely worth a watch. Good talent when you are acting without a script. It’s on Netflix now.”
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film
Claire Reid