New James McAvoy interviews: New York Times, Sydney Morning Herald

James was interviewed by Melena Ryzik at The New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend back in January, and now, finally, the audio interview is online. It's a really great interview so if you want to listen just head on over to The New York Times website.

There's also a new interview James did with Time Out Sydney (via JMMB) to promote The Last Station which opens on April 1 in Australia. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Your wife [Anne-Marie Duff] is in the film too. You must be excited to have a baby on the way.
Very excited! All the usual nerves, but we're very excited.

You've just completed The Conspirator. How was it being directed by Robert Redford?
The weirdest thing about Robert is that he forces you to call him ‘Bob'. It's a bit like calling Prince Charles ‘Chuck'.

Rumours are rife on the internet that you've been cast in The Hobbit. Are you Bilbo Baggins?
No, I'm not. I can tell you that for a fact. [Nick Dent]

Another interview with the Sydney Morning Herald:

McAvoy had been keen on the role for years, sticking with the project even as his own profile was raised significantly through not only The Last King of Scotland (2006) and Wanted (2008) but also Atonement (2007) and Becoming Jane (2007).

''It was one of those things that when the film finally came back and they said they had an opportunity to get it off the ground again, a lot of people expected me to say, 'No thanks, I've moved on in my career and I'm doing better now,''' McAvoy recalls. ''But there was no reason not to do it - it was a brilliant script and you shouldn't turn your back on good work.''

The work, adapted from a novel by Jay Parini, relies on the diaries kept by those who orbited Tolstoy.

''A lot of people might think that the high-strung portrayal of that household might be over the top or even made up but it really was like that,'' McAvoy says. ''It might not have been as funny as we portray it sometimes but it all went down like that. My character kept multiple diaries, so you could find an entry that reflected how your character felt in relation to a scene in the film.

''You knew that he wrote that down that very evening, just hours after the event.'' [SMH]