Current:Home > MarketsEthermac Exchange-James McAvoy's positively toxic 'Speak No Evil' villain was 'a tricky gift' -Blueprint Money Mastery
Ethermac Exchange-James McAvoy's positively toxic 'Speak No Evil' villain was 'a tricky gift'
Chainkeen View
Date:2025-04-11 09:44:37
James McAvoy has a new love for The Ethermac ExchangeBangles.
In the horror movie “Speak No Evil” (in theaters Friday), his character Paddy invites recent acquaintance Ben (Scoot McNairy) and his family for a getaway in the English countryside. And on a jaunt in the car, Paddy wails “Eternal Flame” with wide eyes and gusto, leaving his guest at a loss.
Seriously bad stuff happens after that, and still it doesn’t ruin that 1980s hit for McAvoy. “It has even more significance for me now, I loved doing that,” the Scottish actor says. “I have a friend who will look into my eyes and sing an entire song at my face, like up close as if I'm singing it back with them, as if we are sharing this incredible moment."
Join our Watch Party!Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox
In the remake of the 2022 Danish thriller of the same name, Ben (McNairy), wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and their daughter (Alix West Lefler) are on an Italian vacation when they meet the boldly gregarious and fun Paddy, his spouse Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and son Ant (Dan Hough). They get along so well, Paddy says they should visit his place, but the vacation takes a turn – as does Paddy’s personality – as the mercurial host’s sinister reasons for bringing them there are revealed.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“You've got this good-guy couple who you would never want to be and you would never want to have their relationship. And then you've got this bad-guy couple and you're like, ‘I’d love to experience a relationship as passionate and as loving as that,’ ” McAvoy says. “You're playing with the audience's moral center (and) their affections on multiple levels. That was a gift but it was a tricky gift.”
McAvoy, 45, has played heroes on screen, most notably as young Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” movies. He’s done villains, too, like the 24 personalities of Kevin Wendell Crumb in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split” and “Glass.” But the actor says playing Paddy was a tightrope between terrifying horror and friendly comedy.
“You had to stay in the middle as long as possible, for like an hour and 10 (minutes) almost, to make both things potentially possible at all times,” McAvoy says. “Everybody's here for seeing something scary happen. How much can you make the audience wait before actually delivering something horrific?”
In playing “good” Paddy, McAvoy looked at friends who are “quite positive examples of masculinity” as inspiration. On the other hand, he doesn’t think that many people are as toxic as Paddy can be.
“The thing that I think was most important about Patty was not his toxicity (and) not his nefarious intentions. Those things are just like bad guy traits,” McAvoy says. “We recognize that and it's almost boring. It's upsetting. It's something we have to live with because there are people out there like that. But I think we can understand it.”
What makes Paddy interesting, though, is that he loves what he's doing, McAvoy explains. “It sounds kind of glib, bad guy having a good time, but it's a guy doing bad things who's really trying to enjoy his life and that's actually quite admirable. Some good people – good citizens, good partners, good parents – are not capable of even trying to enjoy their lives.”
“Speak No Evil” changes some aspects of the original film, but there’s one key line that writer/director James Watkins kept: When Paddy is asked why he’s doing what he’s doing, he coolly responds, “Because you let me.”
For McAvoy, one of the key themes of the movie is social compliance and “the things that we as individuals, but also as a collective society, allow the institutions that control us to do to us,” he says. “Why do they do it to us? Because we let them. We don't go on strike. We don't vote Democrat when we voted Republican all our lives, we just vote Republican. We don't make political statements (and) we don't take stances when we see injustice and wrongdoing.
"What is that? Is that laziness? Is that politeness? And I think it's both those things in this film.”
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Police search home of Rex Heuermann, accused in Gilgo Beach slayings, for second time
- 'People of the wrong race': Citi hit with racial discrimination lawsuit over ATM fees
- Connecticut’s first Black chief justice, Richard A. Robinson, to retire in September
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- Pope Francis: Climate change at this moment is a road to death
- Scottie Scheffler's next court appearance postponed as PGA golfer still faces charges
- Federal jury rules against couple who sued Arkansas steakhouse over social-distancing brawl
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs owned up to violent assault of Cassie caught on video. Should he have?
Ranking
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- More companies offer on-site child care. Parents love the convenience, but is it a long-term fix?
- Gene Pratter, federal judge overseeing Ozempic and Mounjaro lawsuits, dies at 75
- Massachusetts Senate weighs tuition-free community college plan
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Horoscopes Today, May 20, 2024
- Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's daughter Violet graduates: See the emotional reaction
- Green Bay man gets 2 consecutive life terms in fatal stabbings of 2 women found dead in home
Recommendation
See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
20 book-to-screen adaptations in 2024: ‘Bridgerton,’ ‘It Ends With Us,’ ’Wicked,’ more
11 presumed dead, 9 rescued after fishing boat sinks off the coast of South Africa
Hawaii installing new cameras at women’s prison after $2 million settlement over sex assaults
NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
ICC prosecutor applies for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders
Bronny James leaves NBA draft combine as potential second-round pick - in some eyes
Coach John Harbaugh launches family legacy project: `It’s about my dad,’ Jim Harbaugh said