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MOVIE FEATURE

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James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi

he explains, describing people who are unable to break character. “But I've worked with some brilliant actors, James being amongst them, and Fassbender and others, and they want to be loose. Because it's exhausting to be continually in that headspace.” On the topic of James McAvoy, we asked whether he was the first choice for playing the villainous Paddy, and if his mesmerising performance in M. Night Shyamalan's Split influenced his casting. “He was 100% my first choice. I'd seen Split and loved him in it, but it was his earlier movie called Filth , based on the Irvine Welsh book, where the character is so reprehensible, but he somehow finds some sympathy, and in lesser hands, the character would have just been a d-ck. That's the one for me that really made me say, 'It's got to be McAvoy. McAvoy or bust!” Like so many recent horror movies, the film was produced by Blumhouse Productions, and Watkins' take on their involvement echoes what so many others have told us before him. “They were great to work with. It was the conversation I had with them initially when they said, 'What we do is support filmmakers,' and they kind of knew what I wanted to do with it. “I'll give you a good example,” he pivots, while explaining the company's investment in creatives. “So, when my editor Jon Harris and I showed them the first edit, we thought it was good, but we thought, 'OK, we're showing this to the Americans', as we would say, so we put some genre music on it in places where it was a bit slow. "We didn't think it needed it, but being an American

Speak No Evil is an English remake of the 2022 Danish film of the same name, and anyone familiar with the original will know exactly how intensely disturbing it is. Words Glenn Cochrane A s with all remakes, there's trepidation that comes with it, as audiences can be sceptical of redoing

something that worked perfectly to begin with. In this instance, those concerns can be put aside because the film is directed by Englishman James Watkins, who's no stranger to this kind of material, having earned praise for his traumatising 2008 film Eden Lake . The story follows an American couple, portrayed by Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy, who befriend a British family while on holiday in Italy and reluctantly accept an invitation to visit the family's country estate in the UK. Their visit takes a sinister turn, however, when they discover that their new friends, played by James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi, are not who they claim to be. Our American couple is suddenly plunged into a nightmarish whirlwind of mind games and violence. We caught up with Watkins to discuss the new film, and kicked things off by suggesting that it's a worthy companion to Eden Lake . “It's great you say that, because I wanted to go back to that kind of world,” he says with gratitude. “That genre, a sort of social horror where it's not just jump scares, it's thrills, and a horror that explores the anxiety we all have about the world in which we live. And I thought that was a great space to scratch away at and explore.”

James McAvoy with director James Watkins

production we thought more is more, but Blumhouse were like, 'Why did you put that sh-tty music on it?' and I said, 'It's for you guys!' and they said, 'Come on, you know us better than that.' So they were great in that way.

James McAvoy is one of the great actors of his generation, yet he remains somewhat unsung. His remarkable performances in films like Split (2016) and My Son (2021) have showcased his unique, chameleon like talent. In Speak No Evil , he pushes his limits to new extremes, delivering one of the most terrifying characters in recent memory. Given the depths of depravity the film goes to while involving children amongst the cast, we were curious to know whether McAvoy was able to snap in and out of character easily or whether

• Speak No Evil is out Dec 4

he was more of a method actor. “Oh, like, in a moment!” says

Watkins. “There are some actors who are always in,”

DYK?

In the early 2000s, James McAvoy was roommates in London with Tom Ellis ( Lucifer )

and Aussie actor Jesse Spencer ( Neighbours, Chicago Fire ).

Alix West Lefler, Mackenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy

Xxxxxx

16 DECEMBER 2024

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