James McAvoy, 47, played Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class in 2011, and reprised the role in subsequent installments of the series, which were widely praised
James McAvoy has admitted he is still hurt by a scathing review of his performance in X-Men: First Class.
Although the 47-year-old actor has been widely praised for his role as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men franchise, he only remembers one particularly bad review. The cruel critique described McAvoy as “chubby” and, though it was published in 2011, it continues to affect the star.
But McAvoy, from Glasgow, was nominated for awards for his work in X-Men: First Class, which grossed some $353million (£262m) worldwide. Recalling the movie’s reception, McAvoy said this week: “I’ve received incredible reviews and the only thing I can remember is that one bad review. Isn’t it nuts?
“It got to me because it was personal. It wasn’t even that bad a review of my performance, but it described me as the Chubby McAvoy. And that’s all I remember of any review for X-Men.”
READ MORE: ‘Pale and shaken’ Nicole Kidman rushed to hospital during filmingREAD MORE: Netflix thriller Unchosen’s Sam star and where you have seen him before
Despite the savage attack, father-of-two McAvoy was asked to reprise the role in subsequent installments of the series. The actor agreed to this, and so starred in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014, X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016 and 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Days of Future Past, directed by Bryan Singer, was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year 2014, and the second highest-grossing film in the X-Men franchise.
Yet McAvoy told The Romesh Ranganathan Show podcast that the memories of the franchise are haunted by the 2011 jibe. The passage in question of the review read: “Meanwhile, chubby young Professor Xavier is played by James McAvoy as a nerdy, slightly CS Lewis-ish Oxford academic specialising in genetics, who lives with Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), a mutant whom he has been brought up with like a sister.
“Later, we are to learn that her remarkable genetic profile means that she won’t age much — unlike the guys, who will wind up looking like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
“Xavier and Lehnsherr are both recruited by CIA agents played by Rose Byrne and Demetri Goritsas, to track down the evil Shaw, who has himself engineered the Cuban missile crisis to enforce his own global domination.”
After McAvoy spoke out this week about the review, his fans jumped to the Scottish star’s support. One viewer posted on social media: “Very strange comment since James McAvoy has never been chubby. Especially not in X-Men: First Class.” Another said: “Seems a bit unnecessary.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
