#James McAvoy Won’t Get the Script for His New Thriller, So He’ll Have to Improvise

Split and X-Men: Days of Future Past star James McAvoy will be putting his talents to the ultimate test in an upcoming remake of the French thriller My Son. McAvoy has now signed up to lead the missing person drama, but, and here’s the interesting bit, the actor will not be given a script or any lines of dialogue, and will instead improvise his way through the movie’s narrative in real-time.

But, the intrigue does not stop there, as McAvoy’s co-stars, which includes The Crown and The Girl in the Spider’s Web star Claire Foy, will have received scripts and therefore know exactly where the story is going while James McAvoy blindly navigates his way through the plot’s many twists and turns.

The original My Son, titled Mon Garçon, which was released in 2017 had a similar approach, with lead actor Guillaume Canet finding himself in the same position as McAvoy is about to. The original, as with the remake, centers on a man, named Julien in the original, who travels constantly through work with his perpetual absence in his house leaving his marriage in ruins.

During a stopover in France, he receives a message from his very anguished ex-wife, Mathys, telling him that their seven-year-old son has disappeared. He begins the search for his son and will stop at nothing to recover his child. McAvoy will play the father searching for his son, while Foy will play his estranged ex-wife.

The movie was directed by French director Christian Carion, who is returning to direct the English-language adaptation for STXfilms. “We’re thrilled to be working with Christian to create My Son for worldwide audiences,” said Adam Fogelson, the chairman of STXfilms. “James will be doing the detective work of the film in real time, on camera, to create real tension for this thriller. We like to support bold and innovative storytelling like My Son, and Claire could not be a more spectacular or exciting choice for this film which is certain to thrill audiences.”

Thanks to roles on both the big and small screen in the likes of the X-Men franchise, Filth, Atonement, His Dark Material, and Split, James McAvoy has long been considered one of the most exciting young actors working in Hollywood today. Split in particular made a lot of people stand up and take notice thanks to the actor’s ability to switch between completely different characters and instantly depict all of the mannerisms and nuance that goes with them. Clearly, McAvoy is an actor that likes to challenge himself, and My Son should prove to be just that as he improvises his way through the narrative of this missing person thriller, hopefully resulting in a fearless performance.

Carion will produce alongside Laure Irrman, Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua, Rebecca O’Brien, and Marc Butan. STXfilms has taken the North American and other foreign rights to this remake, including in UK, Italy, Benelux, Latin America, Spain, Australia, and China. Production on My Son is slated to begin in Scotland sometime in November. This comes to us courtesy of Deadline.

Topics: My Son