James McAvoy claims he was bullied by another actor during his first day as a professional actor.
The Scottish actor, 47, booked a one-episode stint on HBO’s acclaimed 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers fresh out of acting school, but his first day on set was marred by a bleak experience with one of his famous costars.
McAvoy reminisced on his Band of Brothers experience on the Monday, October 12, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. Host Andy Cohen showed a promotional cast photo from the Emmy-winning series, prompting the actor to take a closer look at the cast members pictured before confirming that his alleged bully was indeed in the shot.
“I’m not gonna tell you who it was,” the Split actor said, though he later confirmed “it wasn’t David Schwimmer” because “he’s not in that [photo].”
“On my first day on set, there was a ton of actors … it was one of those scenes with everybody in it, and we’re all at a bar,” McAvoy remembered. “I had a scene. And all these guys were in it for nine months, 10 months, and they get one line in one episode and one line 10 episodes later. They were all pissed. I come in for one episode, and I’ve got an arc and scenes. I’ve got tons of lines.”
“So, one of the guys in that picture decided to bully me — on my first day as a professional actor out of acting school,” he continued. “He got him and his buddies to just stand pointing at me and laugh at me for like three minutes.”
Thankfully, some of McAvoy’s costars on set that day took him under their wing.
“Dexter Fletcher, who now is a great director, and a lovely Scottish actor called Robin Laing, they took me aside, and they were like, ‘Come hang with us, man,’” he said.
Summing up his first professional acting job, McAvoy added, “I’d say apart from that day [my Band of Brothers experience] was a nine. But that day it felt like a two.”
Band of Brothers was created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and follows the exploits of a regiment of American troops during World War II. The show received critical acclaim and won both the Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Best Miniseries in 2002.
Actor Damian Lewis was also nominated for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film at the 2002 Golden Globes, while Ron Livingston was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
Since his role in Band of Brothers, McAvoy has starred in hit movies such as The Last King of Scotland, Atonement and Wanted, as well as several X-Men films as Professor Charles Xavier.
During a Monday, October 12, appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast, McAvoy recalled a health scare he experienced on the set of Split sequel Glass, which was released in 2019.
“I had a lung puncture because they saw a shadow in my lung, so they wanted to biopsy it to see if it was cancer, which it wasn’t, which was great,” McAvoy said. “But that was botched, and I nearly died. I was at home two days later, my lungs just collapsed in bed one night, and I was on my own as well, so it was crazy.”
