*James McAvoy at Comic-Con onJuly 27, 2024 in San Diego, California.*
*Courtesy of Katie Jones, Variety, Getty Images.*

Joaquin Phoenix has been in the spotlight recently, not just for ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ but for exiting Todd Haynes’ NC-17 gay-romance film 5 days before production.

James McAvoy added to the conversation and revealed his role in M. Night Shyamalan‘s 2016 thriller ‘Split’ was a “last minute” happening, after Phoenix left the production two weeks before filming began in Philadelphia.

“I’m confident enough to think I’ll do it better,” said James McAvoy jokingly on the on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (2024). “He’s an amazing actor. I think he’d give a very different performance to the one I did, but I think he’d give an incredible performance.”

The actor added: “Sometimes coming in last minute is the best way. I think he ditched it two weeks before they started shooting. It was really last minute. I had two weeks.”

‘Split’ synopsis: Though Kevin (James McAvoy) has evidenced 23 personalities to his trusted psychiatrist, Dr. Fletcher (Betty Buckley), there remains one still submerged who is set to materialize and dominate all of the others. Compelled to abduct three teenage girls led by the willful, observant Casey, Kevin reaches a war for survival among all of those contained within him -- as well as everyone around him -- as the walls between his compartments shatter.

“The script was well put together so a lot of it was pretty clear what I wanted to do straight away,” McAvoy continued. “There were a couple of characters that took a little bit longer to find. Patricia came real quick, Dennis came real quick. Hedwig took a little while. It wasn’t until the read-through for the table read which I was really nervous for… I’m sitting there like, ‘God, I’ve got to do all these 15 characters and be judged by everybody in the room, including Universal studio executives including Jason Blum, and I haven’t even found some of the characters.’ It just came on really quick.”

James McAvoy is currently promoting his latest release ‘Speak No Evil,’ in which he plays another antagonistic role.

The film also stars Mackenzie Davis as Louise Dalton, Scoot McNairy as Ben Dalton, Alix West Lefler as Agnes Dalton, Dan Hough as Ant, Aisling Franciosi as Ciara, Kris Hichen as Mike, and Motaz Mulhees as Muhjid.

The film holds a $15 million budget and released September 13, 2024 (USA).

MORE NEWS