James McAvoy tells us about taking on the 23 personalities of a kidnapper in M. Night Shyamalans Split.
Den of Geeksat down with McAvoy in New York to talk about his roles inSplit.
Den of Geek: This is a great role, great performance.
I can do anything.
Im not going to audition for you.
How did Night approach you about this?
What did he tell you about the role or movie?
He was there, I think, sellingThe Visit.
I was there sellingX-Men.
All the X-Men guys were there, and we were all having fun.
Yeah, I totally do.
Hes like, Come over here and lets have a chat.
So he calls up and says, Ive got this script.
Keep an open mind and stick with it if you get confused or you think its a bit simple.
Just stick with it.
So I started reading it, and immediately Im like, What?
Is it going to be just a movie where a guy abducts three girls and tortures them?
Because I dont think I want to be in that movie.
I just thought it was a really, really good bit of storytelling.
Because Night has always been very secretive about his scripts.
Im surprised he gave you the full script.
He didnt tell you anything before he gave it to you?
Certainly if youre going to get an actor doing that role, youve got to get a full script.
I dont think you could make much sense of it in pieces.
I dont think I would have probably have accepted it unless I read the whole thing.
My agents didnt get to read it.
And I accepted it without them reading.
Hes just like, Nope, theyre not getting it.
What were some of the things that you knew youd have to prepare differently from other roles youve done?
Was there anything specific besides figuring out the different personalities?
The thing that was different was the amount of work I had to do.
So that was one thing.
Thats because they each personify a certain quality or qualities that Kevin has or had.
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Dennis is the only one that really talks about it.
I thought thats interesting.
That must apply through all of them.
What part or what facet of Kevins original character were they based on primarily.
And of course they grow and they swell, and they become much more well-rounded than just that.
Theyre not just one thing.
But it is their core.
Its their prime driver.
Unfortunately a lot of the reading that I could find was argumentative.
Really arguing with itself at times about whether or not it exists.
Whether its fake, whether its just people attention=seeking or whether its delusional people or what.
What I found really helpful was coming straight from the horses mouth.
Not looking at it medically but looking at it just from a first-person point-of-view.
In terms of people who live with the ID.
So reading peoples diaries was fascinating and really useful.
I mean, we dont actually have enough money for fucking food.
And by the way, shes here as well.
Let me introduce you two.
And they all have a moment to feel empowered and put themselves out there.
What was it like when youre shooting scenes with the girls?
Would you literally go off-set, put a dress on and come back?
I think it was pretty relaxed on-set, to be honest with you.
I needed it to be relaxed on-set.
I hope that was helpful to the girls.
Because we had a lot of fun.
They actually wanted to do the opposite.
They wanted me to be pretty rough with them in-between takes and just scare them a little bit.
Yeah, fucking weird.
I wondered if there were any times they didnt know what you would be doing.
Some of Anyas reactions seem like realistic surprises.
I dont think so.
There might have been a couple of moments, just a couple of moments.
Just to stay in that head rather than switching out.
Just to make them terrified for the scene that they had to do.
What about working with Betty?
What were your scenes with her like?
They seem very theatrical.
Its just very pure.
Just two actors acting.
Not really doing anything special with the camera.
Not really doing anything special with the music.
Not really doing anything special other than watching two actors act.
If thats theatrical, I always think the word theatrical sounds flamboyant.
Those scenes arent flamboyant to me.
Theyre very, for me, just pure; its just very raw and very stripped back.
I think of theatrical of scenes with just two or more people talking.
Theres no crashes, theres no bangs, the dialogue lasts more than one page.
Were you able to shoot those scenes with her in order at least?
I think we were able to shoot everything in order with her.
My first day was doing one of the big, 13-minute long scenes with her.
Which was jumping into the deep end, but it was fun.
It was real fun.
I love working with her.
The audience definitely seems to like Barry, but they absolutely love Hedwig.
Im not sure if youve seen the movie with an audience yet, but they really love that persona.
What do you tap into to play Hedwig?
Is nine-year-old James in there somewhere?
I think it was just that thing of, Hedwig is an interesting character.
His reason for being born was to take the place of Kevin when he was being abused I think.
So Hedwig has an innocence that is almost fake.
However, with him I think its really sad.
Whats Night like as a director?
I know hes very specific and he storyboards a lot.
They all storyboard a lot.
They dont necessarily stick to it.
He sticks to it.
Hes meticulous with it.
But Night is the exact opposite.
Its sort of like getting a model kit, and hes putting together the pieces every day.
Some of the veins are real.
They augmented the veins massively.
Like, theyre just swollen and popped up.
He just wanted me spread a little bit.
So I went off and power lifted for a month before I got out there.
Which really isnt a lot of time to put on any weight.
And ate like a fucking shit, I mean like six thousand, seven thousand calories a day.
Is that the most physical thing youve ever done for a role?
That was probably the most extreme thing Ive ever done was losing that weight that quickly.
Was kind of tough.
What was the experience like working with Wenders?
Hes a very kind, generous man.
Splitopens nationwide on Friday, Jan. 20 with previews on Thursday night.
Well have more interviews, including with Shyamalan himself, over the next week.
