McAvoy plays Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, an Edinburgh policeman with an unfortunate predilection for booze, drugs and sexually abusive relationships.

As Christmas approaches, Robertson is hoping for a nice long blow-out to indulge his various vices, but the matter of a missing wife and child and a racially fraught murder case soon complicate matters.

With a tapeworm Robertson develops serving as one of the novel’s narrators, the subject material is anything but conventional, so Scottish director Jon S. Baird will likely have his work cut out for him.

Source: Total Film

James McAvoy Talks ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

In the animated family film Arthur Christmas, hitting theaters on November 23rd, actor James McAvoy voices Arthur, the awkward but enthusiastic youngest son to Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent). When the ultra-high-tech Christmas gift delivery system fails, missing one child out of hundreds of millions, Arthur embarks on a rogue mission, with the help of his rather naughty Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and a giftwrapping-obsessed elf (Ashley Jensen), to deliver the last present before Christmas morning.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, James McAvoy talked about his desire to want to do more films for kids because they’re the best audience around, that he responded to the integrity and humor in the story, the challenge of voicing a character that is always so enthusiastic and nice, and that, if given the choice, he would likely go with the simple and classic ways of doing things versus the high-tech ones. He also talked about how freaky it was to watch even 10 minutes of the Showtime remake of Shameless (he starred in the original), his hopes for the X-Men: First Class sequel, which has not been greenlit yet, the amazing experience he’s had working with director Danny Boyle on Trance, for which he has one day left of shooting, how good the action-thriller Welcome to the Punch turned out, and shooting the fantastic but twisted script for Irvine Welsh’s Filth, starting in January 2012.

Source: Collinder

Portrait Magazine has posted an article on James and he is featured on the cover. You can read their article on their site: James McAvoy: 20 Things You Need to Know About the First Class Star @ Portrait Magazine.net

James McAvoy is reportedly in early talks to star in Danny Boyle’s Trance.

The Scottish star is set to step in for his X-Men: First Class co-star Michael Fassbender, who had previously been attached to the role of a shady gang leader, said Variety.

The gritty thriller – which is due to start production in September – would tell the story of an auction house assistant who masterminds a heist, but things don’t go according to plan.

Oscar-winning director Danny is expected to start work on Trance before taking time off to focus on his Olympic duties, where he is acting as artistic director for the opening ceremony at the London 2012 games.

James – who plays Professor Charles Xavier in Matthew Vaughn’s superhero prequel – is due to start shooting British crime movie Welcome To The Punch.

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk

James McAvoy has revealed he has taken lessons from one of TV’s most notorious failed actors – Friends character Joey.

The Scottish screen star has admitted his technique for crying on cue involved some tweaking in a sensitive area, copied from the sitcom.

James, whose films include Atonement, made his confession as he chatted to Graham Norton for the presenter’s BBC1 chat show, to be screened on Friday.

Joey – played by Matt Le Blanc – famously described in one edition of long-running US series Friends how he would pinch himself painfully in the nether regions to make himself cry.

Asked how he can summon the tears, James said: “Generally I can do it when I need to, but every now and then I’ve had to get the tweezers out and do the Joey Tribbiani trick.”

The star also said he used to pass the time while working in a bakery before he found acting fame by writing a wish list of girls he fancied.

“I worked in a bakery making fairy cakes. It was dull and I worked on my own so I used to write all the names of all the girls I wanted to sleep with in the cakes in jam. That got me through the night.”

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk