New James McAvoy interview

There's a brand new interview and a new photo with James McAvoy in the Los Angeles Times. James talks about working with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer on The Last Station. An excerpt from the interview is below for you to check out:

His character has the distracting habit of sneezing violently when nervous.

"It's a complete opposite of so much film acting, [which is] 'I know you're feeling uncomfortable now but stop indicating it; do it with a look.' Well, I'm not going to do it with a look; I'm going to physicalize it in the most overt, audible, unavoidable and most noticeable way I can. I loved that.

"I played Yepikhodov in 'The Cherry Orchard' when I was at drama school; he's the character with the squeaky shoes. He can't stop them: Squeaky shoes, squeaky shoes, squeaky shoes. As soon as I read that sneezing thing, I thought, 'I know how to do this!' "

McAvoy is delightfully sneeze-free now, having left that set behind as well as overcoming the swine flu mini-epidemic that swept through the Savannah, Ga., set of his upcoming "The Conspirator" (directed by "the one and only" Robert Redford). Sounding hale and broguing heartily by phone from New York, the actor says he's enjoying a weekend in "the Big Apple," revisiting "The Last Station."

"I'm not used to seeing biopics, historical period dramas, that are funny," McAvoy says. "I wouldn't describe it as a comedy, but I think it's got a bit of the works of Chekhov, you know? A Chekhovian sense of humor. High melodrama followed by moments of, essentially, high slapstick or broad humor."

Which brings us back to that sneezing: It turns out there's a blessing to it.

"There are a lot of times when he's very nervous and he doesn't sneeze -- I was like, 'I'd be in sepsis right now! I'd have snot all over!' But that ends up helping to chart the evolution, the maturing of the character," says the actor. "Which sounds very simple and reductive, but it's kind of a good marker along the way." [Michael Ordoña]

You can now also book tickets for the waiting list to The Last Station's red carpet premiere in New York on January 11, 2010. The event has already reached capacity, but you can sign up to the wait list in case seats open up. You can go here for more information.

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