James McAvoy Reveals Role He Took Over After Joaquin Phoenix Dropped Out at 'Last Minute'

James McAvoy revealed that he took over what would become one of his most recognizable roles after Joaquin Phoenix dropped out at the “last minute.”

The 45-year-old actor appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on Friday (September 13).

During the conversation, he revealed that he was recruited just a few weeks before filming began on his 2016 horror movie Split after Joaquin dropped out.

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James was asked if it was nerve wracking to take over so last minute, and he jokingly said “definitely not.”

“I’m confident enough to think that I will do it better anyway. I’m joking. I just like saying the wrong thing,” he said, adding, “Are you kidding? He’s an amazing actor.”

He continued, saying, “I think he’d give a very different performance to the one I did, but I think he’d give an incredible performance.”

It wasn’t all bad, though.

“Sometimes coming in last minute is the best way. I think he ditched it two weeks before they started shooting. It was really last minute. I had a couple of weeks,” he recalled. “The script was well put together so a lot of it was clear what I wanted to do straight away. A couple characters took a little longer to find.”

James recently revealed a very “rough” interaction with one of his celeb crushes.