James McAvoy is opening up about his refusal to campaign to win an Oscar which led to him not scoring a nod for his work on Atonement (2007).
In an interview with British GQ, McAvoy said that he saw first-hand what it took for Forest Whitaker to land his leading actor Oscar for his work on The Last King of Scotland, a film both actors starred in.
McAvoy was seemingly not overjoyed with the way actors have to cozy up to members of the Academy to get a nod or a vote to win. “[With the Last King of Scotland campaign], it was made clear to me that I was doing it for the benefit of other people.
And I was totally down with that,” he told the publication. “But by the time Atonement came along, I was 26 or 27, and I was just like, I can’t do it, I’m not doing it, I don’t wanna do it.” Atonement went on to receive 7 nominations at the Oscars including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Saoirse Ronan.
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