2024’s Speak No Evil, a remake of the Danish film of the same name, faced an uphill battle to justify its existence. Directed by James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Eden Lake), this Blumhouse-produced retelling comes just two years after the original movie premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Not only did Blumhouse’s rendition have to keep the premise feeling fresh to those who have seen the original, but it also had to engage a new audience. Thankfully, Watkins assembled a more than competent cast to bring his rendition of the terrifying story to life. In addition to the capable American wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis), being the one to ground things in reality, Speak No Evil features Narcos: Mexico star Scoot McNairy, who strikes a delicate balance between pathetic and vulnerable as her husband Ben, and famed Scottish actor James McAvoy as the monster that tears them apart, Paddy.
Paddy, the British husband who invites the main married American couple to a getaway at his countryside home, which isn’t what it seems, is perhaps the most essential piece of this carefully constructed puzzle of a remake. Former X-Men star James McAvoy is no stranger to the horror or thriller genre, best known for his multiple personality role in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Glass. As Paddy in James Watkin’s Speak No Evil, Paddy is a physically intimidating Andrew Tate-esque personification of toxic masculinity. McAvoy slips into the depraved role like a glove, transforming himself into an unassuming and friendly stranger at the start before slowly becoming something of an animal by the film’s end. The destructive and manipulative relationship between McAvoy’s and Scoot McNairy’s characters proves to be the main driving point of Speak No Evil.
DiscussingFilm had the opportunity to sit down with actors Scoot McNairy and James McAvoy to discuss Blumhouse’s 2024 remake of Speak No Evil. The actors talked about their dynamics with each other and the ironic consequences of overcompensating one’s masculinity. McAvoy also spoke about the potential return to comic book movies as a villain.
Exclusive Interview with Actor Scoot McNairy for Speak No Evil
Scoot, how did you approach the delicate balance between weakness and capability in your character? I feel like you had one of the more challenging roles in Speak No Evil, given that you have to show that you’re initially hesitant but then come into your own as the film continues.
Scoot McNairy: Great question. When we start with Ben, he’s already in such a rock bottom place of vulnerability, questioning all of his decisions, having a complicated marriage, and being distant from his daughter. And he doesn’t have a job; he’s unemployed. It really gives the character a place to go.
Working with James McAvoy’s character [Paddy] shows Ben the light on what direction to take and where to go. If he could just be more like Paddy, if he could be more charismatic, if he could be more masculine, everything in his life would be better. He would have a better relationship with his wife and daughter. Having me start with James Watkins and his screenplay really gave my character a long way to go, and he gave a lot of James McAvoy’s character room to play with and tow around as well.
Going into your dynamic with James McAvoy, what part of your character’s relationship with Paddy resonated the most with you? Also, how did your performance inform McAvoy’s and vice versa?
Scoot McNairy: Working with James McAvoy, he’s a beast of an actor. He brings so many different colors to every single scene. It felt organic. If I had to be honest with you, the writing was on the page, but to see how he played it, there was a lot of me following Paddy because Ben is trying and longing to be more like Paddy. So, it’s almost like an apprenticeship, that it’s more of, “Oh, okay. I do this. I do that.” Not knowing and not realizing that what Paddy’s doing is psychologically controlling Ben. But through that process, Ben learns so much about himself, only to learn that the person he’s trying to be is not who he says he is.
James Watkins, Scoot McNairy, & James McAvoy on the set of ‘Speak No Evil’ courtesy of Universal
And it ends up working against the character. I think it’s a very poetic character arc. My last question is, did any of your real-life experiences as a father of two shape your performance in Speak No Evil?
Scoot McNairy: Great question. Naturally, probably in some of the other roles that I’ve played, yes. But this was different. I’m pretty connected with my kids, but Ben is very disconnected from his daughter in [Speak No Evil]. I had to really play into that, and the things that I would naturally do, like comfort my daughter, I had to refrain from and resist because it needed to feel like he didn’t have a great relationship with his daughter, which is part of the tension that was built in Ben’s character.
Exclusive Interview with Actor James McAvoy for Speak No Evil
Blumhouse is known for its signature horror films that are full of twists and turns. So, when you read a script for the first time in the horror or thriller genre, is it easy to get engrossed in the story, or does it take more work to become invested in that material?
James McAvoy: No, the story’s really important to me, and I think that James Watkins wrote such a good script. The story flew off the page. When you’re getting carried away with the story, you’re like, “Yes, I’m in.” And as long as the character that I’m supposed to be playing or being offered has a key role in telling that story, like they’re not passive but an active player, then I’m usually in.
How was preparing for Paddy different from preparing for the various personalities you had in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, and did you take any of your work from those and apply it to your performance here in Speak No Evil?
James McAvoy: No. Every role is its own thing, and there’s no real process that I go through for the jobs that I’ve done. If I need to learn a specific skill, that’s different, but I didn’t in this one. By the time I finished reading the script for the first time, I already had 85% of what I wanted to do in my head. The rest is then working with the director and the other actors to find that other 15%, or more if that’s possible. You know, how can you go over 100% and get those marginal gains that will elevate the film?
James McAvoy on the set of ‘Speak No Evil’
Courtesy of Universal
Paddy has a lot of physical mannerisms in the movie that speak more to his intentions than his dialogue. What he’s doing is different than what he’s saying. How did you approach that aspect since it can be seen as a physical representation of toxic masculinity?
Credit: discussingfilm.net
