James McAvoy goes back to the '80s
Special to amNewYork
James McAvoy is on a winning streak.
Last year, the young Scottish actor played opposite Oscar-bound Forest Whitaker in 'The Last King of Scotland.' Before that, he had a turn as a faun named Mr. Tumnus in the box-office hit 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.'
His latest film, 'Starter for 10,' a smart, eccentric British college comedy opening on Friday, gives the classically trained actor a chance to tackle broad comedy.
"I did probably fall over in at least 20 scenes of this film," McAvoy says. "And they've all been cut out."
'Starter for 10' shies from the lowbrow humor of many American college movies.
"It's a teen comedy set in a college that's not gross-out comedy or [about] people having sex," McAvoy said. The humor owes more to the John Hughes comedies of the '80s that McAvoy ingested as a young man: "All my film references [were from the] '80s," he says.
"To be able to go and play a teenager in the '80s, where all my references were from, was kind of cool."
Rather than frat-hazing rituals or late-night debauchery, 'Starter for 10' follows Brian (McAvoy), an Essex lad, as he heads to college and struggles with love and the expectations of his friends back home, who can't cope with change.
"I had a really similar situation," McAvoy says of his own experience at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. "I had quite a traumatic split up from my two best friends because I was off doing my acting thing and they didn't quite understand why I wasn't around as much."
He may or may not be the new Hollywood 'It' boy, but like fellow Scotsman Ewan McGregor, McAvoy is proving himself a solid crossover star. On the horizon is 'Penelope,' an allegory about our celebrity-driven pop culture, and 'Wanted,' a new thriller with Morgan Freeman.
But like most actors, McAvoy does not have a strategy in place for picking his next project.
"If everybody could successfully strategize then everybody would be successful," he says. "[But] we're all not."
James McAvoy is on a winning streak.
Last year, the young Scottish actor played opposite Oscar-bound Forest Whitaker in 'The Last King of Scotland.' Before that, he had a turn as a faun named Mr. Tumnus in the box-office hit 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.'
His latest film, 'Starter for 10,' a smart, eccentric British college comedy opening on Friday, gives the classically trained actor a chance to tackle broad comedy.
"I did probably fall over in at least 20 scenes of this film," McAvoy says. "And they've all been cut out."
'Starter for 10' shies from the lowbrow humor of many American college movies.
"It's a teen comedy set in a college that's not gross-out comedy or [about] people having sex," McAvoy said. The humor owes more to the John Hughes comedies of the '80s that McAvoy ingested as a young man: "All my film references [were from the] '80s," he says.
"To be able to go and play a teenager in the '80s, where all my references were from, was kind of cool."
Rather than frat-hazing rituals or late-night debauchery, 'Starter for 10' follows Brian (McAvoy), an Essex lad, as he heads to college and struggles with love and the expectations of his friends back home, who can't cope with change.
"I had a really similar situation," McAvoy says of his own experience at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. "I had quite a traumatic split up from my two best friends because I was off doing my acting thing and they didn't quite understand why I wasn't around as much."
He may or may not be the new Hollywood 'It' boy, but like fellow Scotsman Ewan McGregor, McAvoy is proving himself a solid crossover star. On the horizon is 'Penelope,' an allegory about our celebrity-driven pop culture, and 'Wanted,' a new thriller with Morgan Freeman.
But like most actors, McAvoy does not have a strategy in place for picking his next project.
"If everybody could successfully strategize then everybody would be successful," he says. "[But] we're all not."
1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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