The James McAvoy movie that has raced its way into the number one spot on Netflix’s most watched movies has been compared to Hugh Jackman’s Prisoners.
The film stars McAvoy as Edmund Murray - a covert operative - who is searching for his seven-year-old son after he goes missing.
The movie, which was released in 2021, is based upon a French film by Christian Carion and also stars The Crown's Claire Foy.
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For McAvoy, the role was unscripted, with the actor revealing he wasn’t given script or dialogue - instead he was given a back story about his character and improvised the whole role.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, McAvoy said the whole film for him '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." he said.
"I had to learn what was happening next as I went along – it was crazy."
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If that sounds interesting, then you can watch the trailer for My Son here:
"The French director designed the whole thing to preserve the first take so whatever I did was as real, natural and truthful as possible." he continued to say.
"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.
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"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!"
Fair enough.
But it seems his stupidity paid off on screen with viewers rushing to heap praise on the movie on social media, where it's been compared to Jackman’s dark and twisty thriller Prisoners.
One fan wrote: “My Son - had a bit of a Prisoners vibe to it, this did.
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"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**king mad too, what a performance. Definitely worth a watch.”
Another said: “I put on something that was Netflix just as a whim bc it was the first thing that popped up and omfg it’s so f**king intense what the actual f**k. It’s called My Son and it has James McAvoy in.”
A third wrote: “Anyone looking for something to watch I saw My Son, with James McAvoy last night. It was brilliant. Watching him in Filth tonight.
"Such a great actor.”
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film
Claire Reid