When casting an actor in a role, one would hope it’s the person’s ability that helps them land the job, but sadly we know the way a person looks will ultimately be a deciding factor – and James McAvoy knows this all too well.
The actor, who is 5’7″, has revealed he’s lost out on many roles because he was too short.
Speaking with the Telegraph, McCoy said, “As a shorter man, I sometimes get told I’m too short for a role. Or even when I get a role, I’m made to feel like, well, of course, we’re going to have to do something about that… because nobody would believe [the character] would be with someone like her. That was a kick in the nuts.
He didn’t reveal the person’s name, but said that a female co-star once implied he was much too short to be cast opposite her. This made their time together on set very challenging.
“I was like, ‘All right, now I’ve got to pretend that I really like you for eight more weeks. This is going to be really tough, because you’re so far up yourself.’ It got really interesting, that relationship. Sometimes you’re made to feel like you’re not good-looking enough to get a role,” he said.
There may be some studios that are worried to cast him because of his height, but McAvoy has certainly carved out a successful career for himself with roles in huge franchises including X-Men where he stars as Professor X and his amazing multifaceted performance as The Beast in Split and Glass.
He’s also proven he’s a great romantic lead with Atonement, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe (let’s hope the actress he was referring to wasn’t Keira Knightley, otherwise that changes that movie for us!).
The actor’s height certainly hasn’t impacted his abilities with the ladies with the star marrying Lisa Liberati in October following his divorce with Anne-Marie Duff in 2017.
Speaking with Radio Times about his role in HBO miniseries His Dark Materials, McAvoy revealed he wasn’t their first choice for the character of Lord Asriel, but in a lucky turn of events he got the job on a Friday and started on the Monday.
“It was actually very last minute – I happened to be chatting to the casting director, who’s a friend of mine, waxing lyrical about how much I love the books, and then they got let down by whoever else was doing it originally. So she called me up and said ‘Do you think you can start on Monday?’ That was on the Friday! I think they’d possibly been let down by a couple of people last minute.”
He added, “I know that character inside out, I know the books inside out, so I just hit the ground running. I was prepared for it without having to prepare for it. I have a vision of that character, and I have a belief or certain goals and beliefs for what that character should achieve, and what should come across. But I’m not just a fan – I actually deeply care about the books – so I would hate to watch this and go ‘Oh, that’s not the Lord Asriel I’ve always wanted to see!’ And I’m playing it!”
Guess sometimes not being the first choice works out?