james mcavoy my son

James McAvoy reveals 'stupid' decision he made in new film My Son

The scene was unsurprisingly cut from the new film

TV & Film Editor
January 28, 2022

James McAvoy is set to join The Graham Norton Show on Friday to chat about his new film My Son, in which the His Dark Materials actor entirely improvises his role. However, James revealed that his natural reactions to filming didn't always go entirely to plan…

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Chatting about the film, he explained: "The entire film for me 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. I had to learn what was happening next as I went along – it was crazy.”

WATCH: James McAvoy improvised in the new film

"The French director designed the whole thing to preserve the first take so whatever I did was as real, natural and truthful as possible. 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.

Claire Foy also stars

"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 [expletive] stupid!"

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The film is already available on Amazon Prime Video, and viewers have had a mixed reaction to it, with one person tweeting: "#MySon the acting from Claire Foy + James McAvoy was outstanding, the scenery absolutely breath taking but sadly let down by an extremely poor script." Another person added: "#MYSON really has it all on @amazonprimenow. Great depth of characters and nicely developing story line with action too. JAMES McAvoy will always bring an A GAME."

Have you seen the movie yet?

So what is My Son about? The official synopsis reads: "Driving in the heart of the Highlands, Edmond Murray receives a call from his ex-wife, in tears. Their seven-year-old son has gone missing from a campsite. Soon, it becomes clear that the child has been kidnapped, and the parents give way to despair."

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