James McAvoy on the X-Men: First Class Shoot, His Co-Stars, and Superpower Envy
Posted 01.22.11 by BrentJS
The fact that X-Men: First Class is only five months away from being released in theaters and director Matthew Vaughn still filming pick-ups and re-shoots has left many wondering how the movie will possibly be ready in time. Even actress January Jones, who stars in the movie as Emma Frost, the mutant telepath with the power to make her skin diamond-hard, recently admitted that she had "a lot of questions" about how the movie would be able to make its release date.
Now, actor James McAvoy, who stars as Charles "Prof. X" Xavier, the founder and leader of the X-Men, has also weighed in on the time-crunched First Class shoot. In a recent interview with Collider, McAvoy said that being rushed is nothing new in the movie business and offered an explanation of how the movie will be able to be completed on time, also commenting on his co-stars and his movie superpowers.
I don’t think I’ve ever made such a big movie, in such a short period of time. It’s nuts, really. But, we’re getting it done. No movie has ever got enough time. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, and it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve not got. You never finish on time. You’re always up against it and you’re always working up until the end....that’s what it is with every single movie I’ve ever been on. It just feels like the usual. It’s more about whether they can get it ready in time for the release date. They’re working on the editing now, and they’re working on the special effects now. They’ve got a big department working 24/7 on it.
The "best part" of the whole production for McAvoy has been working with the rest of the First Class cast.
The cast has just been incredible. We’ve had a lot of fun, actually. I’ve loved working with [Michael] Fassbender. I think he’s great. I’m so glad that we got to collaborate on something. But, just from top to bottom, the cast is amazing. Having Kevin Bacon play your baddie is great. It’s a great, slightly left-field piece of casting as well. I don’t think anybody expected that. Hopefully, that’s a clue as to what the movie will be.
McAvoy said that playing the world's most powerful telepath may sound fun, but he admitted to having a bit of superpower envy.
The toughest part is probably that I’ve got a great superpower and, if you had it in real life, it would be amazing, but in a movie, everybody else is bouncing off the walls and shooting f*cking beams of light out of their chest and doing crazy stuff and making things fly around, and I’m [putting my finger to my forehead]. It just feels a little bit like, "Oh, god!" But, what’s nice is that it means I have less CGI and stunt work to do, which means I have more time in my bed. That’s the thing. I look at all the other people using their superpowers and I’m like, "That would have been fun!"
McAvoy went on to say that he plans on "doing something a little smaller" after First Class, possibly even doing "some theater," but that he hasn't made any definite plans. He said that he has "a couple movies in the pipeline," but nothing that has been "solidified" or that he cares to comment on at this time.
Next Showing: X-Men: First Class opens June 3, 2011