Issue Date: December 2, 2007
James McAvoy
The Scottish actor's latest movie generates kisses from Keira Knightley -- and Oscar buzz.
By Jon Tollestrup
He has been a faun (2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia"), a doctor to a dictator (last year's "The Last King of Scotland") and Jane Austen's main squeeze (this year's "Becoming Jane"). Now, Scottish actor James McAvoy, 28, has Oscar knocking for the first time with his latest turn in the big-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel "Atonement" opposite Keira Knightley. McAvoy plays a working-class chap living on a sprawling English estate before World War II who has a fateful affair with Knightley, the owner's eldest daughter.
After appearing at the Venice and Toronto film festivals earlier this year, critics on both sides of the pond have McAvoy and Oscar cheek and jowl in the same sentence. And such buzz has quickly inked his name on the unofficial Best Actor shortlist beside such A-listers as Denzel Washington and Johnny Depp.
Recently, McAvoy chatted on the phone from his home in north London, where he lives with his wife, British actress Anne-Marie Duff, about his early cinematic interests, Keira Knightley's kissing compliment and his healthy paycheck splurges.
Q: Before acting, you considered being a missionary. What was the appeal for you?
The idea was to go away and have adventures. But I realized how many years of training go into that before you're even selected to be a missionary, so I thought, to hell with it, I could get a ticket and just go. But I'm a Catholic boy, so I don't think it's out of character for somebody like that to at least entertain the notion.
Q: Well, it looks as though you answered the right call. What movies captured your interest during those early years? Michael J. Fox appeared in nearly every movie that I loved. Also, I loved all those Brat Pack movies. I used to watch a lot of romantic comedies, but the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "The Goonies" and "Ghostbusters" were my favorites.
Q: Now that you're in this industry, have you met any of the people that you liked growing up? I met Tom Hanks, which was weird, lovely and exciting. He directed [HBO's] "Band of Brothers," which was my first big TV gig. Later, he cast me in "Starter for 10," which he produced, and that was doubly exciting because now you're walking in his genre -- he has done more romantic comedies than I've had hot dinners.
Q: One bright spot in "Atonement" is your screen romance with Keira Knightley, who called you the best kisser she'd ever worked with. Did that surprise you? It did, actually. I was sitting beside her at a press conference when she said that, so I'm sure if Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom had been there, she'd have said the same thing about them.
Q: Your string of remarkable co-stars continues in your next film, "Wanted," in which you play the son of an assassin alongside Angelina Jolie. What did you two talk about on set? We both know different parts of Africa really well, so we talked about that. But other than that, it's all fairly normal stuff, like she's a parent, and I've spent time around kids at various stages of my life.
Q: What parts of Africa do you know? My experience of Africa is really focused on Uganda, where "The Last King of Scotland" was filmed. [Later,] I traveled into the conflict zone and visited Internally Displaced Peoples camps, hospitals and other sites all over the region with a cameraman and a couple of journalists. I was making a series of news packages.
Q: Since your career has taken off, have you used your paycheck to splurge on anything? I do buy posh food. I don't mind spending a little bit more to get a higher quality of carrot.
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