J is for James McAvoy - Blogging from A to Z April Challenge

There is absolutely no doubt that James McAvoy is nice to look at. He has lovely hair, intense blue eyes and lovely pink lips that just beg for many things :). When you hear him speak he also has the most wonderful Scottish accent.

However, it is not just these qualities that have made me want to share my adoration of this wonderful actor.

He is a fabulous human being

Not only does he do his bit for charity, but he's also a thoroughly nice chap. For example he hangs around in the freezing cold to sign autographs and say hello to all his fans even after he's been to a premier and then had a full on stage performance as well.

There was also a time in Heathrow airport where, when there were big flight delays and his plane was delayed by eight hours, he and his co-star from "The Last Station", Kerry Condon decided that rather than just sit around they would take muffins and water to other passengers. Here's the quote from James:

“Everybody was in really good spirit. Thousands and thousands of people were trying to get their bags out of a mountain of bags but it was hilarious.

“Kerry got a big box of muffins and I got a lot of water and calcium tablets and we went around finding children who were crying and really annoying their parents, so we were like, ‘Do you want a muffin?’”

This is also the man who was doing an interview for his new movie Trance (psychological thriller with amnesia) when asked:
"Is there a memory you have that you would never want stolen?"
replied
"Probably my baby boy sleeping on my chest."

He is also always so clear about how much he loves his wife and how much she means to him. How can you not love him?

He has a wicked and often twisted sense of humour

Here is a man who can rarely get through an interview without making a joke, who is often smiling a mischievous smile and who laughs with abandon. He's not shy about talking about sex or sexual appendages and often makes jokes about both. He is, in fact, a man after my own heart. He has an angelic face and a somewhat dirty mind :).

If you want to watch someone really having fun in an interview, watch some of the X-men: First Class interviews where he's with Michael Fassbender. They are hilarious. Here is just one of them:

He is the most amazing actor

Here is a guy who is 5'7'', which for an actor is definitely not tall. Yet I have seen him play romantic leads, actions heroes, geeks and the ultimate in dramatic parts. He can literally play any role as far as I can tell. He has the versatility to pick up a script and make it his own as well as having amazing chemistry with his co-stars. (The picture to the left is from Welcome to the Punch).

Let me introduce you to some of my favourites.

If you want a film that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure then you should see Inside I'm Dancing (aka Rory O'Shea Was Here). In this film James plays Rory, a young man in a wheel chair who has virtually no movement left and he's something of an arse and determined to live his life to the full. Rory befriends Michael, played by Steven Robertson) who has cerebral palsy and virtually unintelligible speech and Rory changes Michael's life forever. You will need a box of tissues handy.

Another one of my favourites is Children of Dune in which James plays Leto Atredes II. He does spend half the mini-series half naked, which is an added bonus, but he also brings the role to life. Children of Dune is the sequel to Dune the mini series and was made in 2003, so James looks very young and yet he brings a maturity to the role which belies his boyish features. I love sci-fi and I love the Dune books and these productions really bring the stories to a new level.

Then we come to Wanted with Angelina Jolie which is a role James didn't initially get. Originally they were looking for a traditional action hero type like Brad Pitt, but then they decided they wanted something of a more geeky individual. James goes from office keyboard jockey to kick ass hero during the film and I love this movie. It's contemporary sci-fi meets thriller and is based on a comic book, so it's real world, but the heroes have slightly superhuman powers. Guns, actions, stunts and big explosions.

James is also Professor X from the X-men movies. No, that's Patrick Stewart, I hear you say, which is correct, but James plays the young Professor X in the First Class films. From what I've seen in interviews he's really excited to be doing the next movie because he gets to work with Partick Stewart. James is a huge Star Trek fan. He's also a brilliant Professor X. I was never really a Professor X fan until I saw X-men First Class and James made him come alive. This is the role that really made me a fan and after I saw the film I spent several months collecting most of James' back catalogue.

James has two movies out at the moment, Welcome to the Punch, which is brilliant and I wrote a review of it here, and Trance, which I wrote a review of here. They are both well worth seeing. In fact both are worth seeing more than once.

Welcome to the Punch is a police thriller set in London, with a very slick, US blockbuster style of filming to it. James plays Max Lewinsky, a police officer on the hunt for his nemesis, a master crook by the name of Jacob Sternwood.

Trance is a psychological thriller directed by Danny Boyle and a complete mind f**k. James plays Simon, an art dealer turned art thief who double crosses his partners and then manages to lose his memory.

Now these are by no means James' only films, he's played a morally ambiguous doctor in The Last King of Scotland, a faun in The Chronicles of Narnia, a play boy gambler in Penelope, a young gentleman of society in Becoming Jane, a gardener in Atonement and so many more. He looks as fine in historical costume as he does in a leather jacket and jeans and he can carry them all off.

He's also been on stage recently as Macbeth and was stunning. I wrote a full review when I saw it in March.

James is undoubtedly one of my two favourite actors and ties in first place with Tom Hiddleston, who I will be talking about for T :). If you've never seen one of his movies, I can't recommend them more.

I'll let you into a secret, he's also the inspiration for one of my original characters, but I'm not going to tell you which one. It's kind of obvious if you go looking :).

If you would like to see what all of my posts will be about in advance, click here to see my theme post.
My twin and I are also doing the A to Z Challenge over at our fantasy erotica blog: http://fantasyboysxxx.blogspot.co.uk/