James McAvoy Explains the 'Joys' of Doing 'Bad Stuff' Onscreen as an Extreme Villain (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

James McAvoy at the New York City premiere of ‘Speak No Evil’ on Sept. 9.Photo:Roy Rochlin/Getty

Roy Rochlin/Getty

Why isJames McAvoyso good at playing bad?

Speak No Evilstars the Scottish actor, 45, as a domineering husband and father with some sinister secrets. It’s the latest in a string of appearances in horror cinema for the burgeoning scream king, fromM. Night Shyamalan’sSplitandGlasstoStephen KingadaptationIt: Chapter Two.

“One of the joys of playing a part like this,” he tells PEOPLE, “is you are putting the audience in an uncomfortable position where they know you’re going to do some bad stuff.”

Audiences who have surely glimpsed the movie’s trailer “know it right from the beginning. They bought the ticket because they came for some scary stuff to happen.”

(Left-right:) Dan Hough, Aisling Franciosi and James McAvoy in ‘Speak No Evil’.Universal Studios

Universal Studios

But then, as McAvoy and writer-director James Watkins set out to do, he says, “you make them laugh a bit, or then you make them enjoy you a bit,” says the actor. “You’re playing with the audience’s moral center and they’re enjoying you doing that to them and with them.”

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TheX-Menstar adds that Watkins and the cast “had to walk a tightrope the whole time” to set the movie’s squirm-inducing tone.

As Paddy probes the limits of socially unacceptable behavior, he explains, Mackenzie and McNairy’s characters are caught in a more subtle trap than is typical in horror cinema. “Trying not to be judgmental, trying to be politically correct, makes us forgive a lot in this world,” McAvoy points out.

James McAvoy in ‘Speak No Evil’.Susie Allnutt/Universal Studios

Susie Allnutt/Universal Studios

Nevertheless, he relies on wifeLisa Liberatiand their two kids to find “an okay balance” and decompress. “Swimming pool with family, making a Sunday roast from scratch, friends hanging out, a couple of drinks,” he says. “Just some chilled time.”

Speak No Evilis in theaters now.

For more on James McAvoy, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now, or subscribehere.

source: people.com