James McAvoy Archives

Angelina Jolie will star next alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in Wanted, reports Variety.

Wanted is an action film from Universal Pictures based on a graphic novel that Timur Bekmambetov will direct.

Angelina accepted the role after the script was rewritten by Dean Georgaris (Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) to tailor the character for her (script was originated by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas).

Angelina, 31, will play an assassin who trains a wanna killer (McAvoy) and will travel to Eastern Europe in May to begin shooting.

UPDATE :: Variety also reports that Brad Pitt will star in the Americanized version of the acclaimed British miniseries State of Play. Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) will direct.

Here are some more pictures from last night’s BAFTA Awards! Pictured (l-r): Daniel Craig with girlfriend Satsuki Mitchell, Penelope Cruz (with director Pedro Almodovar), Forest Whitaker, Thandie Newton, Eva Green, and James McAvoy. Kate Winslet is also pictured below.

Of note: Little Miss Sunshine picked up Best Original Screenplay. Happy Feet picked up Best Animated Feature Film.

In 1964, when “The Times They Are A-Changin’” first caught the nation’s ear, Bob Dylan was already being called the voice of a generation, and this sounded like the kind of song a voice of a generation would write. It seemed like it had been written by a committee: all bases covered. Pundits, politicians, parents — look out, the world is turning upside down.

And yet the song was too unpredictably written and compoed to surrender to its own cliches. You couldn’t sing along to it, as with “This Land is Your Land” or “Eyes on the Prize.” “Come Senators, Congressmen/Please heed the call,” Dylan sang — that was a trumpt blowing flat. But “Don’t stand in the doorway/Don’t block up the hall” instnatly raised the specter not of the people’s representatives but of the people themselves, a tide rushing through.

The song has never gone away. Its licensing for commercials — for a Canadian bank years back, for Kaiser Permanente today — has not deformed it, perhaps because the song never promised that the times were changing for the better, only that change was the rhythm of life — in politics and culture, style and ideas, images and sound. Today it’s less a promise than a challenge, to whoever might hear it, a flag waving for all that could change: could, should, might, won’t, must. [Greil Marcus]

• Ethan Hawke By: Julie Delpy
• Rachel Weisz By: Mike Meyers
• Keith Urban By: Elton John
• Alicia Keys By: Gladys Knight
• The One To Watch: James McAvoy

UPDATE :: Added the other two interviews!

• Shia LaBeouf By: John Turturro
• Catalina By: Walter Salles

To prepare for his role in the new film The Last King of Scotland, James McAvoy did nothing–well, close to nothing, which is what the film’s director, Kevin Macdonald, wanted. McAvoy plays Dr. Nicholas Garrigan, a fictional adviser and personal physician to the real-life murderous and bizarre former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin (played in the film by Forest Whitaker).

Based on the 1998 novel by British journalist Giles Foden and set in the ’70s, the movie follows Garrigan as the young doctor at first becomes part of the dictator’s trusted inner circle and then struggles to get out alive. “Kevin wanted me to be as naive as possible. We took that to the extreme: The only real research I did was medical research,” says the 27-year-old McAvoy, who exudes a natural bonhomie as Garrigan, a trait that takes on horrific connotations as his character turns a blind eye to Amin’s increasing abuses of power. “[The '70s] were a much more innocent time in terms of what we understood about world politics and what was happening in places like Uganda,” he explains. “I think Nicholas represents a microcosm of the West-Britain certainly: You know, go in, **** it up, leave with a bit of extra cash.”

Raised in Glasgow, McAvoy was working as a baker and considering joining the navy when he was accepted to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. After graduation, he moved to London (”It was a very crowded rooming situation-I lived with five people and a Chihuahua”) and landed a small part in the HBO World War II miniseries Band of Brothers (2001). He followed that with television appearances, played the title role in Rory O’Shea Was Here (2004). and achieved widespread industry recognition with the Christmas fantasia, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He’s currently working on several upcoming films including Atonement, the big-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s international best-selling novel, in which he’ll star opposite Keira Knightley. “I like constantly being challenged,” says McAvoy. “The process of storytelling has to change every time. Your understanding of storytelling has to change every time. I really believe you should never act in the same way twice because every story demands its own unique style.”

Above :: James McAvoy wears a coat by DIOR HOMME BY HEDI SLiMANE. Leslie Cafferty wrote about Caroline Dhavernas in the September issue. Above: James McAvoy wears a coat and sweater by BURBERRY PRORSUM. Pants by DOLCE AND GABBANA. Skin products by DERMALOGICA. Hair products by NICKEL. Fragrance: BURBERRY BRIT FOR MEN. Styling: JAMES SLEAFORD/ Ellison Lee. Grooming: ADIE HANNAH/Soho Management.

Becoming Jane Synopsis :: Jane Austen has a romance when she was about the age of 20 with a young Irishman named Tom Lefroy. His family disapproved of the match because Austen had little money and Tom was the oldest in the family and had quite a few people to support, so he needed to marry into money. So his family sent him away when it looked like things were getting serious between the two of them. A few years later she wrote the first draft of what turned out to be Pride and Prejudice–it’s believed she loosely based Elizabeth and Darcy on herself and Tom, but made Darcy rich enough that he could marry who he chose.

Dublin, Ireland :: Here are the first pictures of Anne Hathaway, 23, James McAvoy, 27 and Lucy Cohu, 36 in their period costumes on the set of the latest Jane Austen flick, Becoming Jane.  Hathaway plays the lead role as Jane Austen, James McAvoy plays Tom Lefroy and Lucy Cohu’s charater has yet to be announced. Aren’t you loving Hathaway’s Uggs and empire waist costume match-up?  More pictures in the gallery!

Lucy Cohu and James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus, the Faun in
The Chronicles of Narnia) walk to the set of Becoming Jane.