X-Men:Apocalypse Interview: James McAvoy

Following the huge success of X-Men: Days Of Future Past in 2014, the heroes are back to face their biggest threat yet. In X-Men: Apocalypse, an ancient, incredibly powerful mutant once worshipped as a god awakens in 1983. Disgusted with what he sees of the current world, he decides our civilization must be torn down before a new one can be built.

This doesn’t exactly make life easier for Professor Charles Xavier, who has finally got his school for gifted youngsters up and running and is trying to teach the next generation of mutants how to live in peace with the rest of humanity. James McAvoy, the man behind the prof, talks about the family dynamic, off-duty fun and accepting the passing of the “baldy torch”.

Where do we find the Professor’s headspace this time?
He’s quite chilled out, really, at least at the beginning of the film. He’s got himself sorted out, but he isn’t yet the leader that he’ll become. He’s just a teacher, and that’s how he sees the rest of his life; just being an educator. He’s not concerned about the rest of the world, he’s just trying to change it one kid at a time, really. I suppose the arc for his particular character – within the many arcs of the film – is how he goes from that into being a leader of what is essentially a paramilitary organization with an army of super humans in a basement! And somebody who is willing to fight, and potentially kill, by the end of the movie.

From the sounds of it, he does go through yet another dark experience….
Yeah, definitely. He literally gets drawn into the mind of Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) and all the darkness that is hidden in there. But Charles’ power goes beyond his telepathic ability. I think his power is that he has huge empathy for others and he uses that power to find hope. He can still do that amongst all the darkness, to find the goodness and the heart in others. Not necessarily Apocalypse… But those around him, and that’s reason enough to carry on. Even though he’s had to deal with so many terrible things happening to him in his personal life, it’s nothing compared to what’s been happening to Erik! (Lensherr, played by Michael Fassbender) He’s had so many family members killed and executed. Whereas Charles has been put through torture himself, but in a weird way it’s harder to see those you love go through it.

And for you, it’s a nice acting challenge through these experiences. Is it still draining?
Yes and no. Because the more challenging it is to play something, weirdly, I think the easier it is. When it’s not challenging, you’re just wondering, ‘what do I do, then?’ So the more complex and the more emotional stuff there is to get your teeth into definitely makes it more exacting, but is easier intellectually and artistically to approach it.

How did Bryan pitch this one?
What Bryan and Simon Kinberg spoke to us about initially was that it’s about family, really. It’s a big old crash bang wallop, and it’s a big superhero movie with potential armageddon (or apocalypse), but for us, it’s about a disparate and unconventional family having to put aside their differences and come together for the greater good of not just the world, but themselves as well. That’s the thing I like about X-Men: you’re doing these characters who’ve been living and working – some of them having sex ­– loving and hating each other, trying to kill each other, then trying to save each other and that’s families, you know? That’s the thing I’ve held on to all the way through, we’re not just a bunch of X-Men.

Charles wants to be with his friends, with Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), with Erik. That’s partly why he’s building a school and he wants that family that he never really had and he wants to be the father. He’s got that slight… he’s a good man, but he’s got a little bit of a god complex as well. He wants to be at the head of the table. It’s a good thing, but it’s his flaw as well.

You have some new recruits and new faces, such as Oscar. How was it working with him?
We were lucky in that we’ve got a really tight bunch. In the last movie, Hugh (Jackman) came in and Peter Dinklage, and it was like they’d always been there. And in this movie, we had Oscar, and he was great. He’s an awesome dude and a true professional. So he just fit right in, dead easy. When you’ve got somebody that good coming in for one movie, it gives everyone a shake up and they raise their game again. We’re lucky, really – the calibre of actors we’ve had in X-Men has always been really high and long may that continue! If they’re as good as Oscar Isaac, we’ll be laughing.

You have your new team as well. Did you have to become the father figure to the new X-Men? Or was it just lots of crazy nights out?
We have a good time in Montreal, we definitely do, but I would never presume to be able to teach anybody anything or to set an example. You set an example by the way you carry yourself and the way you work. Outside of that, you’re just trying to get home without getting too drunk…

On Days Of Future Past, you talked about fun times behind the scenes, including BB gun fights. Was there anything like that this time?
We had BB guns again; we had beanbag targeting games; we had a punching game, which didn’t get quite as out of hand in the previous film; and then there was a slapping game that was around for a brief time before that got a bit too dangerous! It was the usual X-Men fooling around.

Apocalypse is set in the 1980s, so does Charles go through a New Romantics phase? What style does he get into this time?
Charles looks like he’s been watching a lot of Miami Vice this time, and he’s definitely trying to rock a Don Johnson kind of look. And I’m really glad we went for it because it’s one of the joys of being able to deal with these different decades, getting to explore the music and the fashion and the culture of the time.

We now get to see Charles in his most iconic look. So how was the famous baldness achieved?
I went full bald! Shaved my own head. Luckily Patrick (Stewart) was available for face-timing, so he was present digitally for the passing of the baldy torch. But it was cool to do it for real, we had some re-shoots where I had to have a bald cap for one scene and that was it.

How was it?
I like it! If I didn’t have to grow my hair back for my next movie, I’d stay bald. After 36 years of having hair, it’s nice to change your look completely.

Did it change how you played him at all?
He’s a different person by the end of the movie, and he also happens to be bald. But it’s not because he’s bald!

This is Bryan’s second time as director with you guys. He’s been involved from the start, but is it still different working with him after Days Of Future Past?
One of the strengths of X-Men is that we do know each other so well, and the actors are similar in that we’re all quite professional and we all worked really hard to make it as good as we can, and we don’t mess around too much when we’re on set. But we have support for each other, and Bryan is definitely part of that. He shows a lot of love for everybody. And also nobody knows the genre and these characters better than he does as a director, so we’re with the right guy.

This one feels like it will be even bigger than Days.
It is bigger. I know people always say that, but it’s on a global scale. You’re talking about the annihilation of the human race, really! But the thing that juxtaposes that is that it comes down to whether this family can get their shit together to stop that. It’s two polar opposites; it’s like a microcosm family drama and it’s also the end of the human race. That’s what I thought was exciting about it.

How are Charles and Nicholas Hoult’s Hank this time? You two were a good duo before.
We’re like an odd couple rattling around in this mansion, supporting each other. I’d quite like to see a film like The Odd Couple just about Hank and Charles, to be honest with you, bitching about who makes the sandwiches for the kids and who washes all the dirty underwear. There’s an implication that we’ve come to rely on each other a great deal in the last decade.

So if Charles fancies himself the father figure, does that make Hank the mum?
No! I think Hank is the elder brother. Don’t tell Nick that!

This is the third film together. Do you guys know where the story goes from here? Will you come back if asked?
Simon has told us a lot about his various ideas for where the story could go, and some of them sound really interesting to me, so if they came back and asked me to be in another one, I’d take a look at the script and see if it was a part I wanted to play. But yeah, potentially it’s something I would love to do, because I love playing Charles, and Simon keeps writing interesting things for me to do. So if that continues, I’m in.

X-Men:Apocalypse is coming, his arrival in UK&Ireland will be  Wednesday 18th May (USA 27th May)