Current:Home > FinanceJames McAvoy's positively toxic 'Speak No Evil' villain was 'a tricky gift'-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
James McAvoy's positively toxic 'Speak No Evil' villain was 'a tricky gift'
View Date:2024-12-23 18:57:29
James McAvoy has a new love for The Bangles.
In the horror movie “Speak No Evil” (in theaters Friday), his character Paddy invites recent acquaintance Ben (Scoot McNairy) and his family for a getaway in the English countryside. And on a jaunt in the car, Paddy wails “Eternal Flame” with wide eyes and gusto, leaving his guest at a loss.
Seriously bad stuff happens after that, and still it doesn’t ruin that 1980s hit for McAvoy. “It has even more significance for me now, I loved doing that,” the Scottish actor says. “I have a friend who will look into my eyes and sing an entire song at my face, like up close as if I'm singing it back with them, as if we are sharing this incredible moment."
Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox
In the remake of the 2022 Danish thriller of the same name, Ben (McNairy), wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and their daughter (Alix West Lefler) are on an Italian vacation when they meet the boldly gregarious and fun Paddy, his spouse Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and son Ant (Dan Hough). They get along so well, Paddy says they should visit his place, but the vacation takes a turn – as does Paddy’s personality – as the mercurial host’s sinister reasons for bringing them there are revealed.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“You've got this good-guy couple who you would never want to be and you would never want to have their relationship. And then you've got this bad-guy couple and you're like, ‘I’d love to experience a relationship as passionate and as loving as that,’ ” McAvoy says. “You're playing with the audience's moral center (and) their affections on multiple levels. That was a gift but it was a tricky gift.”
McAvoy, 45, has played heroes on screen, most notably as young Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” movies. He’s done villains, too, like the 24 personalities of Kevin Wendell Crumb in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” and “Glass.” But the actor says playing Paddy was a tightrope between terrifying horror and friendly comedy.
“You had to stay in the middle as long as possible, for like an hour and 10 (minutes) almost, to make both things potentially possible at all times,” McAvoy says. “Everybody's here for seeing something scary happen. How much can you make the audience wait before actually delivering something horrific?”
In playing “good” Paddy, McAvoy looked at friends who are “quite positive examples of masculinity” as inspiration. On the other hand, he doesn’t think that many people are as toxic as Paddy can be.
“The thing that I think was most important about Patty was not his toxicity (and) not his nefarious intentions. Those things are just like bad guy traits,” McAvoy says. “We recognize that and it's almost boring. It's upsetting. It's something we have to live with because there are people out there like that. But I think we can understand it.”
What makes Paddy interesting, though, is that he loves what he's doing, McAvoy explains. “It sounds kind of glib, bad guy having a good time, but it's a guy doing bad things who's really trying to enjoy his life and that's actually quite admirable. Some good people – good citizens, good partners, good parents – are not capable of even trying to enjoy their lives.”
“Speak No Evil” changes some aspects of the original film, but there’s one key line that writer/director James Watkins kept: When Paddy is asked why he’s doing what he’s doing, he coolly responds, “Because you let me.”
For McAvoy, one of the key themes of the movie is social compliance and “the things that we as individuals, but also as a collective society, allow the institutions that control us to do to us,” he says. “Why do they do it to us? Because we let them. We don't go on strike. We don't vote Democrat when we voted Republican all our lives, we just vote Republican. We don't make political statements (and) we don't take stances when we see injustice and wrongdoing.
"What is that? Is that laziness? Is that politeness? And I think it's both those things in this film.”
veryGood! (1)
Related
- Klay Thompson returns to Golden State in NBA Cup game. How to watch
- Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes Are Avoiding Toxic Gossip Amid Their Exes' New Romance
- Analysis: It’s uncertain if push to ‘Stop Cop City’ got enough valid signers for Atlanta referendum
- What we know about the legal case of a Texas woman denied the right to an immediate abortion
- Bowl projections: SEC teams joins College Football Playoff field
- Former Iowa deputy pleads guilty in hot-vehicle death of police dog
- Lawsuit challenges Alabama inmate labor system as ‘modern day slavery’
- Lose Yourself in This Video of Eminem's Daughter Hailie Jade Celebrating Her 28th Birthday
- Judge hears case over Montana rule blocking trans residents from changing sex on birth certificate
- Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Officially Becomes Highest-Grossing Tour Ever
Ranking
- South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
- Funeral and procession honors North Dakota sheriff’s deputy killed in crash involving senator’s son
- Donald Trump’s lawyers again ask for early verdict in civil fraud trial, judge says ‘no way’
- $2 trillion worth of counterfeit products are sold each year. Can AI help put a stop to it?
- Walmart Planned to Remove Oven Before 19-Year-Old Employee's Death
- Bear! Skier narrowly escapes crashing into bear on Tahoe slope: Watch video
- For The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift takes a lucrative and satisfying victory lap
- North Korean and Russian officials discuss economic ties as Seoul raises labor export concerns
Recommendation
-
NFL coaches diversity report 2024: Gains at head coach, setbacks at offensive coordinator
-
Funeral and procession honors North Dakota sheriff’s deputy killed in crash involving senator’s son
-
Ambush kills 7 Israeli soldiers in Gaza City, where battles rage weeks into devastating offensive
-
House set for key vote on Biden impeachment inquiry as Republicans unite behind investigation
-
Fighting conspiracy theories with comedy? That’s what the Onion hopes after its purchase of Infowars
-
André Braugher, star of 'Brooklyn 99' and 'Homicide,' dies at 61
-
White House open to new border expulsion law, mandatory detention and increased deportations in talks with Congress
-
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Officially Becomes Highest-Grossing Tour Ever