Scottish actor James McAvoy, best known for his roles in The Last King of Scotland (2006), Atonement (2007) and the X-Men series, is the latest face of online men’s lifestyle and shopping website Mr Porter’s Journal this week. McAvoy, who will next be seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological horror film Split, about a man with dissociative identity disorder, models some of the website’s latest looks in a photoshoot with Boo George.
The 37-year-old, who is known to physically transform for his roles, had to bulk up to play 20 different personalities for the movie.
In an interview with Mr Porter, he talked about how being an actor has allowed him to give back to the arts: There is a scholarship under his name at his alma mater, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
The initiative began after McAvoy was offered a Prada advertising campaign. He was about to shoot back his usual “no thanks”, but he credits his wife, actress Anne-Marie Duff, with making him get real.
“The money was incredible,” he says. “And Anne-Marie kept saying to me, ‘Are you going to turn that down?’ ‘Yeah I’m going to turn that down. I’m not a salesman.’ ‘You’re being ridiculous. Do something with it. Give it to charity.’ And I was like, ‘Ding!’ About four minutes after she said that to me I was on the phone to the agent. ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’”
He gave one third of the “incredible” fee to Unicef, one third to Retrak, a Ugandan organisation that helps street kids (he encountered the charity while filming The Last King Of Scotland in Africa), and one third to the new scholarship.
Would he take another ad campaign just to top up the scholarship funds?
“Maybe. Depending on what it is. I don’t think I would do a Nespresso,” he smiles.
For the full interview, go to mrporter.com. Split releases in the UAE on February 2.
