I think the most romantic thing you can do is just turn up. Turn up when it’s difficult for you. Travel halfway around the world or just up the road. Whatever it is, just be there. – James McAvoy
I don’t want to be all worthy about it, but I don’t do red carpets, I don’t do events and I don’t accept freebies that much. – James McAvoy
Girls didn’t really take much interest in me until I was about 14. But I knew how to talk to them very quickly. What I figured out – that my friends didn’t – was you have to talk to women like you’re not constantly trying to have sex with them. That seemed to work. – James McAvoy
I like playing a variety of characters. I feel like I’ve been able to play different kinds of characters – I’ve done a lot of period pieces – but I’ve never had to play the same type of character too much. – James McAvoy
I’ve seen beautiful actresses get spat at or just someone trying to get a rise out of them so they can get an extra hundred bucks for a photo. It’s really rough. – James McAvoy
I remember that it was never that difficult for me to get a director to look up and pay attention to me. Mind you, I don’t know if that’s necessarily charm. But I’ve played roles where my character has to be charming and I’ve found it quite easy to do. I think some of it is in my bones, but some of it is more deliberate. – James McAvoy
I don’t think I’m ever going to get to the point where people run across a freeway to take a picture of me. I really don’t see it getting to that level of hysteria unless I have an affair with the Queen of Sweden or something like that. – James McAvoy
When I started acting, I thought if I got one or two jobs a year I’d be lucky. So yeah, my career has gone so much farther than I ever suspected it would, and as such I feel lucky for everything I get. I feel thankful and grateful. – James McAvoy
Shooting films in Britain is always difficult, because we’ve never got enough money to make them. – James McAvoy
Because technically actors are just public servants really. They just tell stories because people need to be told stories. That’s all it is. And yet we get treated as though we’re important. – James McAvoy
I’ve never worked as hard as when I was at drama school. It’s the most professional environment I’ve ever been in. – James McAvoy
I like cooking, but I don’t think I could be a chef. Everyone from the ground up does terrible hours, whether you’ve just walked in off the street and you’ve got no experience, to whether you’re the head chef. You can work 14 or 15-hour days. It’s really, really intense. – James McAvoy
As an actor sometimes you can be a bit emotional and forceful, and that’s not always the way to be. – James McAvoy
Shakespeare’s stories are still very strong. He structured fantastic stories about things that were fundamental to the human being and psyche. – James McAvoy
I look at the Christian Bale movies, the ‘Batman’ films, and that shows you that superhero movies don’t just have to be about men in tights. – James McAvoy
I don’t really… go to ‘the opening of an envelope.’ I don’t really turn up to all the events, you know what I mean? If I’m involved, I’ll go, and if there’s a good friend who needs support, I’ll go, but otherwise… I don’t go. I’m probably just a bit like my grandparents; I like staying in. – James McAvoy
I decided to give up the idea of being a priest before I decided I wanted to be an actor. I considered it for a couple of weeks, really. I’m a young Catholic, do you know what I mean. You’re going to consider it. – James McAvoy
I wanted to be a doctor at one point and I also wanted to be a pilot. I think if you grow up in a dodgy area, reality often beats down those ambitions as you get older. But with me that never really happened. – James McAvoy
For me, Charles Xavier is a monk. He’s like a selfless, egoless almost sexless force for the betterment of humanity and mortality. – James McAvoy
Since my worldview has expanded, I don’t consider myself working class anymore, and I’m attracted to playing characters who go through a similar evolution. – James McAvoy
I always believed that I never wanted to be an actor. I only did it because I was allowed to do it and I had to do something. – James McAvoy
Nobody can be whatever they want to be. No kid can do whatever they want to do. It’s a total lie. But they have the right to try and do whatever they want to do. That’s their right, to aim to do whatever they want to do. – James McAvoy
I don’t mind playing somebody who’s not likable, or makes the audience feel slightly conflicted. – James McAvoy
I’ve done enough for a while and people get fed up of seeing you, but apart from that, although I’m young, I need a bit of rest. You could say I have become a house husband. It’s not a new man thing, it’s just largely a boring man who doesn’t mind staying in the house thing. – James McAvoy
When I was 15 or 16 – I slept really well then. Now I sleep on a bed of anxiety-tipped nails. – James McAvoy
