James McAvoy likes different experiences. After playing thirteen characters in Split of M. Night Shyamalan, the actor accepted a new challenge to My Son by Christian Carion. He discovered as the filming progressed the ordeals suffered by the hero he embodies, father whose young son has disappeared.
If this pitch sounds familiar, it’s no wonder. The French director transposed to Scotland the enigma and the process that had succeeded him so well in 2017 to My boy in which he directed Guillaume Canet. “The idea of delivering an Anglo-Saxon version immediately stuck in my head”, explains the filmmaker to 20 minuteses and James McAvoy proved to be the perfect playmate.
Surprise effects
“Christian had given me the starting points on the life of this man and his relationship with his wife and his son,” says the actor to 20 minutes. The sequel was revealed to me little by little which was exciting because I had to react as my character would have done. Christian Carion filmed the story in chronological order to capture the facts and actions of the dad who quickly understands that his son has been kidnapped. The director believes he was the first spectator of My Son.
“For me, it’s not exactly a remake,” insists the filmmaker. I wanted to relive the experience with another actor and in another place. Highland rain is a character in its own right in this six-day thriller. “We had an incredible adrenaline rush,” says the director. I’ve never been so flushed out, in every sense of the word, because I had to watch James all the time. To predict what James McAvoy was going to do, Christian Carion benefited from a valuable ally.
“Claire Foy, who plays the hero’s wife, played Macbeth for a year at the theater with James, so she knew him by heart and helped me guess how he was going to behave. “Not quite all the same because the actor has squarely stuck his fist in the face of a partner during a scene of which we will not reveal the details. “The blood of the father that I am in life has only changed,” he admits. I apologized afterwards. “
My Son takes full advantage of the “raw” side of its system. The suspense grows around this hero in spite of himself who discovers a paternal instinct in the face of adversity. We let ourselves be taken in by Christian Carion’s diabolical game at the same time as him.