James McAvoy Quotes

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

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

It's nice to be in a movie that hasn't been absolutely slaughtered by the press.

I judge people very quickly.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

A story about my life would be utterly dull.

Filmmaking is a miracle of collaboration.

Our intellect, our awareness, and our consciousness is the most powerful form of life on this planet.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

'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.

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.

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

In a love scene that's really advantageous because you don't have that horrible moment of: "We don't really know what we're supposed to be doing, we just know we're supposed to be snogging and then shagging." Then the director shouts "action" and it's like: "Should I feel her boobs? I don't want to feel her boobs!"

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

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.

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.

It's weird when you're watching yourself in a film - you can't really detach yourself from the experiences you've had that day. You're never watching the film as a proper punter.

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

I wanted to join the navy to get some perspective on the world and explore.

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.

The script is the most important thing for me. I'm advised that other things are important too, and they are. The director that you'll be working with is hugely important, and the cast that are with you is really important as well. But, for me, the thing that gets my heart excited and really makes me invested in something or not is just the quality of the script.

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.

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.

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.