James McAvoy has opened up about a terrifying experience that left him with a collapsed lung. Back in 2017, the His Dark Materials actor had a botched biopsy after being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, and ended up in the hospital after his surgery scar became infected and he woke up unable to breathe.
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Speaking about the experience, he told GQ: "I didn't get an epiphany of like, every day is so precious, I need to live it to the max. It's not like that.
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After three weeks in the hospital, he admitted he struggled with fitness which eventually changed his physique, explaining: "I couldn't run to the end of the road and back for like, four or five months. But weirdly, I could lift fucking 160 kilos... My neck and shoulders just stayed big."
James is set to return for a third and final time as Lord Asriel in the hit BBC series His Dark Materials. Speaking about season three, he told EW: "Not a protagonist, but he's definitely proactive.
James opened up about the experience
"What he's trying to do is a lot. You see him in full freedom fighter, rebellion mode. The scientist and the engineer are still there, but he's much more the fighter and the soldier this time, as well. He always had the air of a military man about him. The marshal part of his leadership is in full flow."
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He continued: "He sets up his own land, his own Republic of Heaven, his more egalitarian, possibly socialist kind of republic. His motive just becomes much, much clearer. You see him not as a warmonger, but as somebody who's committed to war. He is committed to sacrificing anything to get the job done."
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