James McAvoy Almost "X'd" Out of X-Men: First Class
Posted 08.29.10 by BrentJS
Fox’s prequel to its popular X-Men movie franchise, X-Men: First Class, doesn’t even go into production until August 31st, but already the lead actor of the movie, James McAvoy, is on thin ice with director Matthew Vaughn. McAvoy, who will play Professor Charles Xavier, aka Prof. X, the world’s most powerful mutant telepath and the founder of the outcast superhero team known as the X-Men, apparently got into a heated argument with Vaughn over the director’s endorsement of the closure of the UK Film Council, a private company funded by the National Lottery with the goal of developing the film industry in the UK. In a statement to the Daily Mail (via Express), Vaughn confirmed that the disagreement over the subject almost cost McAvoy his role in First Class.
James and I have discussed this. He's still in the movie... just. James is an actor and actors don't necessarily know what's best for them. That's on the record. But he's a brilliant actor and he'll be great in this film.
Many other stars, both British and American, have begun campaigning against the Council’s abolition, but Vaughn explained to the Daily Mail that the Council is flawed and needs to be restructured.
[The UK has] the two biggest franchises of all time: Harry Potter and James Bond. You can't get more British product than Potter and Bond. Shot in England. Made by the British. But all the money goes back to America.
Next Showing: X-Men: First Class opens June 3, 2011