James McAvoy has claimed that his involvement in Split only came to fruition because Joaquin Phoenix abandoned it two weeks before filming.In an episode of podcast Happy Sad Confused, released yesterday (September 13), host Josh Horowitz brought up the fact that Phoenix was attached to the 2016 M.
Night Shyamalan film before he was replaced by McAvoy, who played the lead role of Kevin, a troubled man suffering from dissociative identity disorder.“I’m confident enough to think I’ll do it better [than him]” joked McAvoy, laughing. “He’s an amazing actor.
I think he’d give a very different performance to the one I did, but I think he’d give an incredible performance.”He expressed to Horowitz that “sometimes coming in last minute is the best way”.
The situation left McAvoy hurrying to prepare for the role. “I think he ditched it two weeks before they started shooting,” he reveals. “It was really last minute.” Watch the full episode below – the segment addressing Split begins at 25:13.Like Phoenix, McAvoy has taken to great lengths to prepare for his roles.
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