James McAvoy Enjoyed Getting the 'S**t Kicked Out' of Him by Angelina Jolie

By Nicki Gostin Posted Feb 10th 2011 10:45PM

James McAvoy is a jack of all trades. He has wooed Keira Knightley ('Atonement') and Anne Hathaway ('Being Jane'), and had the stuffing knocked out of him by the most badass starlet of them all, Angelina Jolie, in 'Wanted.' He'll soon come to Robin Wright's defense in Robert Redford's historical drama 'The Conspirator,' and is hard at work filming the hotly anticipated 'X-Men: First Class,' in which he plays a young Professor Charles Xavier, opposite Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones and Nicholas Hoult.

The Scottish actor, who has a seriously adorable accent, is also voicing the titular garden gnome in Disney's 'Gnomeo & Juliet.' The 31-year-old actor talked to PopEater about whether he wears a kilt in the proper Scottish style (that's commando), the "slightly naughty, kinky-looking" garden gnomes he grew up with and why "if you're going to have the s**t kicked out of you by someone, it might as well be Angelina Jolie."

When you first heard 'Gnomeo & Juliet' was based on 'Romeo and Juliet,' did you think that the gnomes would kill themselves at the end?
Yeah, kind of. I thought, "But it's a tragedy," so how can you make it not a tragedy? Although Tybalt does die, which is kind of really harsh. I know he comes back at the end, so he can get super-glued back together, but for all intents and purposes at the beginning of the film he dies. I was very shocked. In a kid's film one of the characters dies!

Did you grow up with garden gnomes?
I did actually. I think we had three in our garden. We had one little frog, and we had two others that were slightly naughty, kinky-looking gnomes.

What do you mean? Did they have their trousers down?
One of them did have his trousers down.

Was he showing any naughty bits?
No, just his bum and the other one looked very abashed.

Did you notice your character has rather thick eyebrows?
I didn't notice that. I hope it doesn't take away from the performance.

You're the father of a baby boy. It must be exciting to think he will be able to hear your voice in a Disney cartoon movie.
Yeah, it's pretty cool. I think that's one of the things, in general, actors like to do. Something to show their family and their kids. I think it's a big attraction for a lot of people to do these films. You want to tell stories that people appreciate, and if you can capture children, there's something fantastic about that.

Watch the 'Gnomeo & Juliet' trailer:

You worked with Angelina Jolie.
Aye.

She's so tough. Did you feel emasculated?
Well, she did spend half the film kicking the s**t out of me, so yeah, it was kind of hard to not feel emasculated. But that was kind of part of it really, and it was fun. If you're going to have the s**t kicked out of you by someone, then it might as well be Angelina Jolie. She's very good at it, and she does get a kick out of it, I think, doing those fight scenes.

Ever wear a kilt?
When I'm at home [in Scotland], I never wear a kilt. I'd probably get mugged; I'd probably get absolutely torn to pieces. Every now and then, if Scotland's football team is playing an international match, I'll put my kilt on. I have worn my kilt once walking around my home in London, and I went through a period of about two days where I went, "Yeah, I'm Scottish, I can wear my kilt wherever I like." I asked a friend of mine, "What do you think?" and he said, "Well you look like a dick." So I stopped wearing my kilt.

Did you wear it properly, commando-style?
At all times.

Elton John produced this movie ['Gnomeo'] and did the music. That must have been fantastic working with him?
I'm meeting him today. That will be the first time I meet my boss and musical collaborator for this film. Shame we're not doing this interview in two hours, I could give you first impressions.

First impressions, what are you going to say? He's an arsehole? You're going to say he's great.
I'm always honest.

So, call me later and tell me what you really thought of him.
Will do!

Ed. Note: Sadly, James McAvoy did not call us back.

Tags: James McAvoy

Comments

(15)

Thursday 10 February

By ciciele.com

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

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Friday 11 February

By nnqing

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Finally, some stars on this site. Give it up. lets see more ian somerhalder,Channing Tatum,Jonathan Rhyse Meyers,Henry Cavill,Sienna Miller, Jude Law some STARS,not the usualy daily dose of.....not even going there.I love reading this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via age'lessmate.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends..

By Juanita

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I love James McAvoy. I love his acting and I would love seeing him in a kilt. I love him in all the movies I seen him in. Go James!

By M

@Nicki Gostin:
Calling an A-List actor like Angelina Jolie (who is well into her 30's & can open films on her name alone,IE: The Changling,Salt)a 'starlet' sounds lame. Would you call Leo DiCaprio a 'starlet'? Maybe Megan Fox or Lindsay Lohan,certainly not Angelina.

By jaydog249

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

Angelina Jolie is not an "A" list actor. All the movie roles she's in for the most part are the same and her acting isn't even that great. This movie was horrible btw.

By Lilly

jaydog you are clearly delusional if you don't think Angelina Jolie is an "A-list" actress. She's probably one of the most popular actresses of our time. Whether or not YOU think her movies are good is a matter of opinion.

excuse me - I meant to say NOT an "A-list" actress

By Bruno

Sorry, you may think Angie can "open" a film, but they sure don't stay in theaters very long. Most of them bomb by industry standards. She's an actress, and not a terribly good one. She is certainly not in league with Leonardo DiCaprio by any stretch of the imagination.

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Hmmm....'Gia,Girl-Interrupted,Beyond Borders,Lara Croft,Original Sin,Taking Lives,Mr + Mrs Smith,The Good Shepherd,Wanted,The Changling,Salt,The Tourist'...sounds like a lot of variety to me.
Get a grip & grow up jaydog249.

By Jason

Yea, so much variety ther what was I thinking. You're right I need to grow up. You seem to know what you're talking about.........Having one email "jaydog249"I have had since I was 13 doesn't help my case either. Angelina must also be so proud to be such a good rolemodel to every young girl out there too drinking her BF's blood and being in raunchy stupid movie roles every one she's in. It's blatantly obvious to anyone with half a brain too she thinks she's better than everyone else also. But yea all that is just MY opinion.

By February Featherstone

OK, all of you, including the author of this article need to get a grip. Why on earth would you interview one actor and then go on about another actress he worked with over 3 years ago? That's bad enough, but now you have all these idiots arguing about whether or not said actress is an "A lister". Well at least you didn't ask him about the Kardashians.

Saturday 12 February

By Tiffany

all I gotta say is "Amen to that!" lol

By Heartfull

By adrienne

sienna miller is not a star.angelina movies make a ton of money expect the last one.she is better than jennifer aniston who sucks a movie actress

Monday 14 February

By Lisa B.

Adorable Wee Scottish Lad!!!!!! Lovely actor too. *sigh*

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