James McAvoy famous quotes

I take a lot of pride in being myself. I'm comfortable with who I am.
-- James McAvoy

#Pride #Who I Am #Being Myself

The better the script is the more you can commit,but you can only really commit with full confidence when you know the material is as strong as your level of commitment to it and it frees you up.
-- James McAvoy

#Strong #Commitment #Levels

I'm probably more dangerous in a car than I am on a motorbike; on a bike I'm very mindful of the fact that if you make a mistake you're dead.
-- James McAvoy

#Mistake #Car #Facts

Playing somebody who's obsessed. Playing somebody who is transgressing, and who is really crossing moral lines and ethical lines. That's always interesting.
-- James McAvoy

#Interesting #Lines #Moral

Filmmaking is a miracle of collaboration.
-- James McAvoy

#Miracle #Collaboration #Filmmaking

That singular uncompromising nature I think is always quite attractive, not just for an actor to play, we're attracted to uncompromising people whether they're nice or not, because they're 3D, they're solid, you can define them, it's not wishy washy.
-- James McAvoy

#Nice #Thinking #Play

People come up to me and they're usually nice, but as it goes on you realise that some people aren't nice. Some people are not nice at all.
-- James McAvoy

#Nice #People #Goes On

The minute you start to strategize too much, the more you start to think you're in control of your own fate. And you're not, really.
-- James McAvoy

#Fate #Thinking #Too Much

Passing my motorcycle theory test gave me a disproportionate feeling of greatness.
-- James McAvoy

#Greatness #Feelings #Motorcycle

Distance is a bad excuse for not having a good relationship with somebody. It's the determination to keep it going or let it fall by the wayside; that's the real reason that the relationships continue.
-- James McAvoy

#Determination #Real #Distance

I think the most romantic thing you can do is just turn up. Turn up when its difficult for you. Travel halfway around the world or just up the road. Whatever it is, just be there.
-- James McAvoy

#Thinking #World #Most Romantic

I love Christmas. I never used to. I didn't hate it, but I could take it or leave it. But, as I got to the age of 25 or 26, Christmas became quite a big deal, and I love it now. I love the food, and I love sharing time with people.
-- James McAvoy

#Hate #People #Christmas Love

I did undergo hypnotherapy, and it didn't work! The guy couldn't put me under. I was very disappointed. I was very keen to be suggested, to have somebody tell me to run naked or cluck like a chicken or whatever, but it didn't work for me, I'm afraid.
-- James McAvoy

#Running #Guy #Naked

Shakespeare's stories are still very strong. He structured fantastic stories about things that were fundamental to the human being and psyche.
-- James McAvoy

#Strong #Stories #Fundamentals

I actually went to drama school at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in Glasgow, so I stayed in my home town the whole time. However, I see more of my friends now than I did then. It's strange.
-- James McAvoy

#Drama #Home #School

Film sets are a strange place, but an exciting place. I do love my work; I really enjoy going to work. But if you just spend all your time on film sets or even on stage, you can become a Michael Jackson figure, living in your own little universe.
-- James McAvoy

#Littles #Strange #Film

When I was 15 or 16 - I slept really well then. Now I sleep on a bed of anxiety-tipped nails.
-- James McAvoy

#Sleep #Anxiety #Bed

At the heart of every really good Christmas movie is the threat, I suppose, to Christmas. Something is wrong with Christmas, in all of these movies. In 'The Polar Express,' there's a kid that doesn't really believe, and that's the threat to Christmas. In 'Santa Claus: The Movie,' jealousy and greed are threatening to overrun his Christmas.
-- James McAvoy

#Believe #Kids #Heart

I kind of embarked on a fruitless search to find information about my character, Frederick Aiken. And it was fruitless, unfortunately, because there's so little about him.
-- James McAvoy

#Character #Littles #Information

I also really liked playing Mr. Tumnus in 'Narnia'. I got to play my favorite character in children's literature, which I loved. You don't get the chance to do that in other jobs.
-- James McAvoy

#Jobs #Children #Character

I was talking to one of my aunties at Christmas and she said she didn't think it was ever in my nature to go against the grain, that I was always a good boy. I think she was right - I did always want to be good.
-- James McAvoy

#Thinking #Boys #Talking

[Macbeth] is historically set in a place depicted by Shakespeare as brutal and violent, incredibly superstitious, and that's something that I do believe is Scottish.
-- James McAvoy

#Believe #Scotland #Scottish

I think I'm losing my hair finally. And, yeah, that's kind of all I know.
-- James McAvoy

#Thinking #Hair #Losing

Next year, if no one gives me any work, that's fine. I'm not going to do well anyway. I'm not an actor, I'm just exploiting this industry.
-- James McAvoy

#Years #Giving #Actors

That's the main thing that attracts me - characters who have big journeys. I like playing those people.
-- James McAvoy

#Character #Journey #People

Leading man seems to quite often be an idealized figure.
-- James McAvoy

#Men #Figures

A cry-wanking scene is the struggle to live, in a single moment.
-- James McAvoy

#Single Mom #Struggle #Cry

The world seemed less scary and I started to like myself a little bit more.
-- James McAvoy

#Scary #World #Littles

I really liked 'Starter For Ten' because I grew up watching 1980s teen films like 'St. Elmo's Fire' and 'The Breakfast Club' and I've always wanted to play the underdog lead hero in a 1980s-inspired film.
-- James McAvoy

#Hero #Fire #Play

We're in a horrible, repugnant place now where kids are told it's their right and due to be hugely famous. Not good at their job, not good at anything, just hugely famous. This is not sane. Little girls think they'll be famous if they have vast breast implants and might as well die if they don't.
-- James McAvoy

#Girl #Jobs #Kids

I've never worked as hard as when I was at drama school. It's the most professional environment I've ever been in.
-- James McAvoy

#Drama #School #Environment

I'm 5 foot 7, and I've got pasty white skin. I don't think I'm ugly, don't get me wrong, but I'm not your classic lead man, Brad Pitt guy.
-- James McAvoy

#Thinking #Men #White

Fear is really powerful; it's really useful to me.
-- James McAvoy

#Powerful #Really Powerful

I am a nerd, but I don't dive head-first into any fiefdom of nerdiness, except for maybe 'Star Trek.'
-- James McAvoy

#Stars #Nerd #Firsts

For me, Charles Xavier is a monk. He's like a selfless, egoless almost sexless force for the betterment of humanity and mortality.
-- James McAvoy

#Humanity #Selfless #Monk

I always believed that I never wanted to be an actor. I only did it because I was allowed to do it and I had to do something.
-- James McAvoy

#Actors #Wanted

I don't know if anybody's ever ready for another award season. It's kind of like Christmas.
-- James McAvoy

#Awards #Kind #Ready

I don't mind playing somebody who's not likable, or makes the audience feel slightly conflicted.
-- James McAvoy

#Mind #Feels #Audience

I don't want to be all worthy about it, but I don't do red carpets, I don't do events and I don't accept freebies that much.
-- James McAvoy

#Events #Want #Red

I judge people very quickly.
-- James McAvoy

#People #Judging

I look at the Christian Bale movies, the 'Batman' films, and that shows you that superhero movies don't just have to be about men in tights.
-- James McAvoy

#Christian #Men #Superhero

I play football once or twice a week. I eat pretty healthy. I'm in fairly good shape most of the time.
-- James McAvoy

#Football #Play #Healthy

I think fear is one of the natural states of most actors, to be honest.
-- James McAvoy

#Thinking #Actors #Honest

I want to be like Matt Damon and do a hugely successful thinking-man's action franchise like 'Bourne.'
-- James McAvoy

#Successful #Thinking #Men

I'd like to have stayed in the Scouts beyond the age of 12.
-- James McAvoy

#Age

As an actor sometimes you can be a bit emotional and forceful, and that's not always the way to be.
-- James McAvoy

#Emotional #Actors #Way

Every time I do a movie, especially an animated movie, I just seem to scream and shout and hyperventilate for money.
-- James McAvoy

#Scream #Animated

Basically, every character I've ever played, I've based entirely on internal conflict. And I love doing that, because I think it's very human.
-- James McAvoy

#Character #Thinking #Conflict

As I get older, I want to do more films for kids because they're the best audience around. Just putting a smile on a kid's face is the best thing.
-- James McAvoy

#Kids #Want #Faces

I did 'Narnia' because it was a good opportunity and all that, but really? I wanted to play Mr. Tumnus because he's my favourite children's character. That was awesome.
-- James McAvoy

#Children #Character #Opportunity

I considered becoming a priest very seriously. I wanted to travel the world. By the time I turned 16, I realized I was only in it for selfish reasons. And, more importantly, I didn't want to sacrifice the ladies!
-- James McAvoy

#Travel #Selfish #Sacrifice

I always have a beard between jobs. I just let it grow until they pay me to shave it. People are quite surprised it's ginger. Sometimes they ask me if dye my hair and I always say 'Wow, no!' I'm 'trans-ginger.'
-- James McAvoy

#Jobs #Hair #People

Because technically actors are just public servants really. They just tell stories because people need to be told stories. That's all it is. And yet we get treated as though we're important.
-- James McAvoy

#People #Important #Needs

I don't know why I get cast in a lot of period pieces. Stephen Fry told me that I had a face for period, that I look like someone from 1920.
-- James McAvoy

#Looks #Pieces #Faces

A story about my life would be utterly dull.
-- James McAvoy

#Would Be #Stories #Dull

Marriage is an ongoing thing, man. You continue to work at it. But it's joyful. And joyous. I don't care if people are living without a marriage certificate. It's just about people, in some way, saying to each other, 'I commit to you. I will help you in this life.'
-- James McAvoy

#Men #People #Care

I love going to art galleries. The Tate Modern is one of my favourite things to do. But I don't invest in the history of it and I don't read up on it. I am a guy who would buy a print rather than buy an original.
-- James McAvoy

#Art #Guy #Modern

I like playing sport, and I like doing physical stuff. I like hiking and I like climbing and I like playing sport. I do a lot. But I don't like the term 'exercising.' I feel like with sport, you're playing games. But with exercise, you're literally just trying to stop yourself from dying too young. It's weird.
-- James McAvoy

#Sports #Exercise #Hiking

If a scene is three pages long, quite often people break it up and do a page, say 'cut' then move on to the next bit, they do it in cuts. I don't really like doing that; I like to go through it all in one organic run, then give notes afterward. A little bit more like theater.
-- James McAvoy

#Running #Moving #Cutting

I generally get challenged; I haven't been typecast, which is really, really, nice. It's not something that every actor gets, really. It's luxury. Most actors are capable of it, but they aren't afforded the opportunity to express their variety.
-- James McAvoy

#Nice #Opportunity #Luxury

I don't think I'm ever going to get to the point where people run across a freeway to take a picture of me. I really don't see it getting to that level of hysteria unless I have an affair with the Queen of Sweden or something like that.
-- James McAvoy

#Running #Queens #Thinking

I don't really... go to 'the opening of an envelope.' I don't really turn up to all the events, you know what I mean? If I'm involved, I'll go, and if there's a good friend who needs support, I'll go, but otherwise... I don't go. I'm probably just a bit like my grandparents; I like staying in.
-- James McAvoy

#Mean #Good Friend #Grandparent

I do find it strange, doing magazine shoots. Photographers always go, 'Why don't you like to have your picture taken? That's what you do for a living anyway. Just pretend you're acting. It's the same thing!'
-- James McAvoy

#Taken #Acting #Magazines

I think my recognizability ebbs and flows. I don't lead a particularly celebrity lifestyle or anything like that. I don't go to showbiz parties or red-carpet events, so it all depends on whether I've got a film out. I've not been very visible in the last year or so and as a result hardly anyone stops me in the street.
-- James McAvoy

#Party #Thinking #Ebb And Flow

I try to keep my life low key, and I don't like going to parties unless they're thrown by a friend of mine, or they're to do with a project I'm in, or it's because I've been nominated for an award.
-- James McAvoy

#Party #Awards #Keys

I wanted to be a doctor at one point and I also wanted to be a pilot. I think if you grow up in a dodgy area, reality often beats down those ambitions as you get older. But with me that never really happened.
-- James McAvoy

#Growing Up #Ambition #Thinking

I was brought up by my grandparents. So people go, 'Oh, what was that like? That must have been hard.' And you go: 'No, it wasn't.' It was just completely actually normal because the new norm seems to be whatever you make of it, doesn't it?
-- James McAvoy

#People #Grandparent #Normal

I've done enough for a while and people get fed up of seeing you, but apart from that, although I'm young, I need a bit of rest. You could say I have become a house husband. It's not a new man thing, it's just largely a boring man who doesn't mind staying in the house thing.
-- James McAvoy

#Husband #Men #People

I've seen beautiful actresses get spat at or just someone trying to get a rise out of them so they can get an extra hundred bucks for a photo. It's really rough.
-- James McAvoy

#Beautiful #Trying #Actresses

There's something about Michael J. Fox that I loved when he did all the '80s stuff. His way of performing all the physicality, which is why it's so tragic now, but the way he used his body so much as well, I loved.
-- James McAvoy

#Stuff #Way #Foxes

If you don't have the good fortune to work a lot then you take any job you get offered, whether it's a good job, fun job, a bad job, horrible job, whatever, you just take what you need to take. But I'm lucky in that - at the moment anyway and hopefully forever, but who knows - I get the chance to pick jobs for the kick of it and the fun.
-- James McAvoy

#Jobs #Fun #Forever

'St. Elmo's Fire' is one of my favorite films. I like the storytelling of those teenage American films. You don't get that now. Teenage American movies are all about sick jokes, puking a lot, arse jokes.
-- James McAvoy

#Teenage #Fire #Sick

The funny thing is, I've never really hurt myself in an action movie. I've done 'Wanted,' 'X-Men,' 'Welcome To The Punch,' even 'Trance' to a certain extent has little bits of action and stuff, but I've never really hurt myself at all - not even like a sprained ankle.
-- James McAvoy

#Hurt #Men #Funny Things