James McAvoy reveals: “I drank half a bottle of whisky every night for film role”

HOLLYWOOD actor James McAvoy revealed how he downed half a bottle of whisky a night for his latest movie role — so he could wake up “feeling like a bag of smashed crabs.”
Donning a sharp black suit for a rare red carpet entrance at Glasgow Cineworld, the dapper Drumchapel man’s appearance was a stark contrast to the grizzly, unshaven character he plays in controversial film Filth.
McAvoy, who grew up in the Kinfauns area of Drumchapel, revealed he began drinking more heavily so he could become “more connected” to his boozy character Bruce Robertson.
“I drank a lot of whisky. About half a bottle a night — which is a lot for me,” James exclusively told the Post.
“Whisky also gets me quite angry so it was quite useful.
“I wasn’t being an alcoholic and I wasn’t drinking during the day but it was just useful to wake up feeling horrible, feeling not right. “The whisky helped me get a bit of a shake on, a little bit of a quiver. I didn’t have to drink — but it helped me feel like a bag of smashed crabs in the morning!”
James, 34, plays bipolar junkie policeman Bruce Robertson in the big-screen adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s 1998 novel Filth.
The film — also featuring James’ sister Joy, Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell and Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent — was launched last Tuesday (September 24) at the Glasgow cinema and Atonement actor James was among a plethora of star’s who turned out on the night.
The hype surrounding his latest film is yet another achievement for the former St Thomas Aquinas school pupil, who endured a turbulent early life living in Drumchapel.
When asked whether he felt people from his hometown might be able to relate to corrupt Bruce’s lifestyle, the Scottish actor said: “I don’t know, the film is a fairly surreal, fantastical, fun piece of entertainment as well as being scary, harrowing, emotional and all that kind of stuff.
“It’s not like a socially realistic, naturalistic movie. So if people can relate to Bruce — then I’d probably want to stay away from them.”
Author Irvine Welsh, meanwhile, predicted the film could become as big a cultural phenomenon as the adaptation of Trainspotting.
Irvine told us: “I was in quite a good place when I wrote the book because I’d just made Trainspotting. It was a great moment for me and I’m extremely confident Filth is on a similar path.
“James is a fantastic actor and I’ve never had any doubts about him playing Bruce. He completely made it his own.”
And when we asked James if he felt he was taking a risk by playing such a homophobic, racist, misogynistic character, he responded:
“Not really. If I’m bad in it and if the film was bad, nobody would ever see it and it would disappear. I’d just go and do X-Men anyway.
“For that reason it doesn’t feel like that much of a risk. Also, it’s a risk worth taking because there’s not enough risky, uncompromising scripts out there at the moment.
“I love extreme storylines with extreme people. That’s what I want to see as an audience and that’s what I want to do as an actor.”
“So when a film like this comes along and it happens to be born in my country, I love it.
“I’m just humbled that I got to play it and that I got to work with Irvine and his amazing, unique work.”