James McAvoy Explains How His New Thriller 'Speak No Evil' "Says Something About Society"

10 September 2024, 20:10

James McAvoy explained how his 'Speak No Evil' character Paddy explores toxic masculinity.

Split actor James McAvoy joined Capital's Jimmy Hill to chat all about his brand new film Speak No Evil, in which he plays Paddy who, in Jimmy's words, is a "nasty piece of work" with "depth".

Talking about why he enjoyed diving into this role, James said: "If it's a bad guy who's just a bad guy then its no fun, is it?

"But if it's a bad guy who's underpinned by something interesting to say about being - in this case - a male person, being a rural person, being someone who has not been given the opportunities that everyone else has, that becomes quite interesting."

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"Blumhouse do this again and again and again - Blumhouse is the studio that made this film and I've worked with them a few times - they make scary, scary films or quite unsettling films and they're proper entertainment, they're proper movies not just films but their always underpinned by something to say about society, and this one does that," James explained.

He went on: "It has a lot to say about masculinity and toxic masculinity versus when alpha masculinity is okay because there must be times when its positive and where is that line? [Paddy] is just playing with that line the entire film."

Speak No Evil is a thriller/drama that sees a dream holiday turn into a living nightmare when an American couple and their daughter spend the weekend at a British family's idyllic country estate.

James said his character is the type of guy he'd avoid in a bar: "When I meet blokes like that, I am like 'peace out Brussels sprout' and I'm gone in 60 seconds."

Speak No Evil hits cinemas Thursday 12th September.

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