James McAvoy
Nice to change your look completely
Following the huge success of X-Men: Days Of Future Past in 2014, the heroes are back to face their biggest threat yet. In X-Men: Apocalypse, that will open in Philippine cinemas tomorrow, May 18, an ancient, incredibly powerful mutant once worshipped as a god awakens in 1983. Disgusted with what he sees of the current world, he decides our civilization must be torn down before a new one can be built.
This doesn’t exactly make life easier for Professor Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, who has finally got his school for gifted youngsters up and running and is trying to teach the next generation of mutants how to live in peace with the rest of humanity. James, the man behind the prof, talks about the family dynamic, off-duty fun and accepting the passing of the “baldy torch.” When we meet Charles in
X-Men: Apocalypse, he has rededicated himself to building his School for Gifted Children, as a safe haven for mutants learning how to control their powers. Within the context of Marvel’s universe, Kinberg sees Xavier’s school as a radical idea. “It’s a guy who takes a bunch of kids, trains them in a ‘Danger Room’ in his basement, plus they wear costumes, and go around the world stopping evil and injustice. Instead of shying away from that idea, we wanted to explore and embrace how radical the X-Men are,” he explains.
A powerful telepath, Xavier’s greatest gift, says McAvoy, is “his empathy and ability to teach. The events of the last film left him hopeful and more responsible.” Following is a Q &A of McAvoy on going fully bald on returning to the role in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Where do we find the Professor’s headspace this time?
”He’s quite chilled out, really, at least at the beginning of the film. He’s got himself sorted out, but he isn’t yet the leader that he’ll become. He’s just a teacher, and that’s how he sees the rest of his life; just being an educator. He’s not concerned about the rest of the world, he’s just trying to change it one kid at a time, really. I suppose the arc for his particular character — within the many arcs of the film — is how he goes from that into being a leader of what is essentially a paramilitary organization with an army of super humans in a basement. And somebody who is willing to fight, and potentially kill, by the end of the movie.”
From the sounds of it, he does go through yet another dark experience...
“Yeah, definitely. He literally gets drawn into the mind of Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) and all the darkness that is hidden in there. But Charles’ power goes beyond his telepathic ability. I think his power is that he has huge empathy for others and he uses that power to find hope. He can still do that among all the darkness, to find the goodness and the heart in others. Not necessarily Apocalypse… But those around him, and that’s reason enough to carry on. Even though he’s had to deal with so many terrible things happening to him in his personal life, it’s nothing compared to what’s been happening to Erik. (Lensherr, played by Michael Fassbender) He’s had so many family members killed and executed. Whereas Charles has been put through torture himself, but in a weird way it’s harder to see those you love go through it.”
How did Bryan pitch this one?
“What Bryan and Simon Kinberg spoke to us about initially was that it’s about family, really. It’s a big old crash bang wallop, and it’s a big superhero movie with potential armageddon (or apocalypse), but for us, it’s about a disparate and unconventional family having to put aside their differences and come together for the greater good of not just the world, but themselves as well. That’s the thing I like about X-Men: You’re doing these characters who’ve been living and working — some of them having sex — loving and hating each other, trying to kill each other, then trying to save each other and that’s families, you know? That’s the thing I’ve held on to all the way through, we’re not just a bunch of X-Men.”
Apocalypse is set in the 1980s, so does Charles go through a New Romantics phase? What style does he get into this time?
“Charles looks like he’s been watching a lot of Miami Vice this time, and he’s definitely trying to rock a Don Johnson kind of look. And I’m really glad we went for it because it’s one of the joys of being able to deal with these different decades, getting to explore the music and the fashion and the culture of the time.”
We now get to see Charles in his most iconic look. So how was the famous baldness achieved?
“I went fully bald. Shaved my own head. Luckily, Patrick (Stewart) was available for face-timing, so he was present digitally for the passing of the baldy torch. But it was cool to do it for real, we had some re-shoots where I had to have a bald cap for one scene and that was it.”
How was it?
“I like it! If I didn’t have to grow my hair back for my next movie, I’d stay bald. After 36 years of having hair, it’s nice to change your look completely.”
This one feels like it will be even bigger than Days.
“It is bigger. I know people always say that, but it’s on a global scale. You’re talking about the annihilation of the human race, really! But the thing that juxtaposes that is that it comes down to whether this family can get their shit together to stop that. It’s two polar opposites; it’s like a microcosm family drama and it’s also the end of the human race. That’s what I thought was exciting about it.”
‘I went fully bald. Shaved my own head. Luckily, Patrick (Stewart) was available for face-timing, so he was present digitally for the passing of the baldy torch.’