James McAvoy teases his Speak No Evil character was inspired by Andrew Tate
James McAvoy is among the cast of the thriller Speak No Evil, which follows a couple who reunite with another couple, whom they met on vacation, in the countryside
Film star James McAvoy has compared his character from the upcoming film Speak No Evil to Andrew Tate.
The 45-year-old actor stars as the sinister Paddy in the English-language remake of the 2022 Danish psychological horror film. He's now suggested that he loosely based his performance on the controversial 37-year-old social media influencer, who's known as the 'king of toxic masculinity'.
In an interview with Empire magazine, as reported by Bang Showbiz, James said: "The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he's a bit of a f*****g West Country Andrew Tate. He's like, 'I'm going to teach you what it's like to be a man again.' But there's a sort of polite face on it that isn't quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, 'I'm not one of those guys'."
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James said that Paddy is "challenging" people he interacts with, questioning if they have a "big enough d***" to have a drink with him, for example. He said, in quotes shared by the outlet, that additionally, the character's approach is it may be "too much" for others if they're "not real enough".
The X-Men: First Class actor is said to have blended a misogynistic outlook with the Australian slang term 'Bogan' - meaning an unsophisticated person, which James said can be "associated with a certain level of toxic masculinity" - and Mark Rylance 's character Rooster from the play 'Jerusalem', who was a social outcast.
The actor said he "wanted something a bit agricultural," before saying that he had "two big visual touchstones". He said that they were the term 'bogan' and the character Rooster, played "so brilliantly" by fellow actor Mark in the play.
James, who stars alongside Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis and Aisling Franciosi in the upcoming movie, had to put on a lot of muscle to play Paddy, although compared his somewhat relaxed demeanour to Ray Winstone 's character Gary 'Gal' Dove in the 2001 gangster picture Sexy Beast.
He explained that even though Paddy is "all masculine" and "throwing his d*** around," he's "just a bit softer". He compared him to Ray's character in Sexy Beast, teasing that he doesn't care if his "belly is sticking out" because that's "how comfortable a man" he is.
Speak No Evil is scheduled to be released by Universal Pictures on September 13.
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