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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 Chroni
cles of Narnia), a doctor to a dictator (last
year’s The Last King of Scotland) and Jane
Austen’s main squeeze (this year’s Becom
ing Jane). Now, Scottish actor James McAvoy, 28, has
Oscar knocking for the first time with his latest turn in
the big-screen adaptation of lan McEwan’s novel Atone
ment 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 appealing at the Venice and Toronto film fes
tivals earlier this year, critics on both sides of the pond
have McAvoy and Oscar cheek and
jowi in the same sentence. And such
buzz has quickly inked his name on
the unofficial Best Actor shortlist be
side such A-listers as Denzel Wash
ington and Johnny Depp.
Recently, McAvoy chatted on the
phone from his home in north Lon
don, where he lives with his wife, Brit
ish 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 T 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.
fSiSa *i* r '* K *+
24
USA WEEKEND • Nov. 30-Dec. 2,2007
QWell, 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 Ghostbnsters were my favorites. / d :
QNow 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] Baud of
Brothers , which was my first big TV’ gig. Later,
""" f
McAvoy and Keira Knightley star
as lovers in the drama Atonement,
opening nationwide Dec. 14.
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
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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.
QOne bright spot in Atonement
is your screen romance with
Keira Knightley, who called you the J
best kisser she'd ever worked with.
Did that surprise you?
It did, actually. I was sitting be
side her at a press conference w'hen
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.
QYour string of remarkable co-stars
continues in your next film, Wanted,
fairly stuff, like
and I'vh
iei;!
various stages of my life.
QWhat parts of Africa
do you know?
My experience of Africa is
really focused on Uganda, where The Last King of Scot
land was filmed. [Later,J 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. E 3
"Michael J. Fox
appeared in nearly
every movie
that I loved."
f.
Only $4.95
each,
plus s&h
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