By In two weeks comes the release of “Speak No Evil,” an English-language remake of the 2022 Danish satirical thriller and a new and more serious version that hails from filmmaker James Watkins – the helmer behind “The Woman in Black” and the infamously brutal “Eden Lake”.
The film sees a family going on a holiday to another family’s beautiful country house, only for it to become a psychological nightmare.
James McAvoy stars as Paddy, the alpha male father of the home-owning family who starts out charming but, as seen in the trailer, traces of a snarling, sinister and brutal man emerge.
Speaking with Empire, McAvoy discussed the variety of inspirations for the role, the most notable being toxic masculinity’s ‘king’ Andrew Tate albeit with a softer and more approachable demeanour:
“The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a f—- West Country Andrew Tate. He’s like, ‘I’m going to teach you what it’s like to be a man again.’
But there’s a sort of polite face on it that isn’t quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, ‘I’m not one of those guys’. [Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough d— to have a drink with me?’, Or, ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.’
Even though he’s all masculine and throwing his d— around, he’s just a bit softer. Almost a Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast vibe: ‘I don’t mind if my belly’s sticking out, because that’s how comfortable a man I f—- am.’”
While the personality was Andrew Tate inspired, his visual look came from roughneck Aussies and the 2009 play “Jerusalem” which has been considered the greatest British play of the 21st century:
“You wanted something a bit agricultural. I had two big visual touchstones. The first was the Australian term ‘bogan’, which can be associated with a certain level of toxic masculinity. And the other was the character Rooster from Jerusalem, played so brilliantly by Mark Rylance.”
The film also stars Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Alix West, Aisling Franciosi and Dan Hough. It opens in cinemas September 13th.
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