SHOOTING PAIN
Star reveals how he broke his hand during scene. And kept on filming
James McAvoy’s latest role was a bit too near the knuckle – after he broke his hand on set.
Filming on Split was halted after the X-Men star was left in pain.
The 37-year-old Scot refused to go to hospital and carried on filming despite nursing a cracked bone.
The fracture happened when a stunt punch went wrong – and he missed his mark.
James plays a character with 24 personalities who abducts three young girls and locks them in a cellar.
The film – based on a real- life mental condition – is by Sixth Sense director M Night Shyamalan.
James, 37, said he was trying to “play it for real” when portraying the psychiatric disorder.
He said: “I was meant to punch a metal door but it had a little square bit in it which was soft, and I missed the soft bit and hit the hard bit. Night said he watched the take where I broke it, and he said you can see my face go white and I am like, ‘Zone it out, zone it out, man’, and I carried on with the take.
“There is a shot in the movie where I put my glasses on and my hand looks like a boxing glove – people will go, ‘He’s going through a transformation’.”
He was treated on set for swelling and did not go to hospital, instead carrying on with shooting. McAvoy, who shot to fame in Channel 4’s Shameless, said he had struggled with portraying multiple characters.
He said: “Of the personalities I played, there were two that were very difficult.
“I was just trying to make it real, at the same time as trying not to be exploitative of a condition people live with, while using it as a fuel to tell a fantastic story, a fantastical story.”
Mental health campaigners have cal led for a boycott of Split for treating the issue in a “scary” way.
Care2 LGBTQ spokeswoman and author Sarah Rose said: “There are a lot of things inherently problematic about the upcoming Shyamalan film.
“We’re at a point in society where male-bodied people wearing dresses shouldn’t be portrayed as offensive, strange or scary.
“It paints mental illness as a horror movie plot and not a real issue that should be addressed seriously.”