James McAvoy is getting candid about what it was like filming “Band of Brothers” and why it wasn’t his best experience on a set.
During a recent appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” the actor was asked to rate his experience working on different projects, and when he was shown a picture of the show’s cast, he said he was bullied during filming.
“On my first day on set, there was a ton of actors,” he began. “It was one of those scenes with everybody in it, and we’re all at a bar, and 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.”
When the photo, which featured many of his co-stars from the show, flashed on the screen, McAvoy got up to get a closer look, confirming that a specific actor was in the photo.
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“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 said. “He got him and his buddies to just stand pointing at me and laugh at me for like three minutes.”
While he didn’t name names, the photo featured Donnie Wahlberg, Kirk Acevedo, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Adam James, Frank John Hughes, Philip Barantini and Ross McCall.
The “X-Men: First Class” star added that not everyone on set participated in the bullying, saying Dexter Fletcher and Robin Laing “took me aside, and they were like, ‘Come hang with us, man.'”
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He went on to say that he would give the overall experience on the show a nine out of 10 but noted “that day felt like a two.”
“Band of Brothers” is a 10-part miniseries that aired on HBO in 2001 and told the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. The show’s storylines were based on interviews with real-life survivors of Easy Company, in addition to letters and journals of real soldiers.
After his one episode on the show, McAvoy shot to stardom with roles in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “Wanted,” “Atonement” and in the “X-Men” franchise.
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When speaking about how he got the role in “X-Men,” McAvoy admitted to the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in September 2024 that when he was first approached about starring in the project, he and his wife had taken some time off after the birth of their first child.
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While he said they “weren’t penniless” and weren’t in debt, he admitted they “had pretty much nothing in the bank,” and he needed to get back to work. His main priority was staying close to home to still be there for his son, which, combined with the script, was a big upside when he heard about “X-Men: First Class.”
“There’s only like 60 pages of it at this point, and I feel like it’s good Jane Goldman did a great job,” he said of the script.
“It’s good, but it’s incomplete. Don’t really know where it’s going. But I was like, ‘This is a three-picture deal. They’re paying well. It’s 40 minutes from my front door. I’m a fan of the original material. I get to be young Charles Xavier.’ And I was like, ‘This is a no-brainer.’
“So, my agent phoned me, and she was like, ‘What do you think?’ and I was like, ‘It’s a work of genius. We’re doing it.'”