For his upcoming role in the Universal remake of the 2022 Danish thriller “Speak No Evil,” James McAvoy knew he needed to capture a very specific, toxically masculine energy. To create his ruthless patriarchal figure Paddy, McAvoy drew upon perhaps one of the most toxically masculine characters in the world today, social media personality and current criminal defendant Andrew Tate.
“The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a f— West Country Andrew Tate,” McAvoy said in a recent interview with Empire.
He added later of his character, “He’s like, ‘I’m going to teach you what it’s like to be a man again.’ But there’s a sort of polite face on it that isn’t quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, ‘I’m not one of those guys.’ [Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough d*** to have a drink with me?’, Or, ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.’”
The original film, directed by Christian Tafdrup, covers a Danish family’s vacation to Tuscany, where they meet and become close with a Dutch family. The Danes agree to visit their new friends months later in the Netherlands, but the trip isn’t exactly what they expected it to be.
The remake, directed by James Watkins, features “Halt and Catch Fire” stars Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy as an American couple who, along with their daughter (Alix West Lefler), travel to the lush country estate of a British family, played by McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi, and Dan Hough, for a getaway they all desperately wish they can get away from.
“You wanted something a bit agricultural,” said McAvoy of blending the character with his location. “I had two big visual touchstones. The first was the Australian term ‘bogan’, which can be associated with a certain level of toxic masculinity. And the other was the character Rooster from ‘Jerusalem,’ played so brilliantly by Mark Rylance.”
As the trailer and pictures show, McAvoy put on quite a bit of muscle to pull off the physically menacing appearance of his character. Nonetheless, McAvoy also tried to imbue him with a disarming softness.
“Even though he’s all masculine and throwing his d— around, he’s just a bit softer,” McAvoy said. “Almost a Ray Winstone in ‘Sexy Beast’ vibe: ‘I don’t mind if my belly’s sticking out, because that’s how comfortable a man I f****** am.’”
“Speak No Evil” will be released in theaters by Universal Pictures on September 13.
