James McAvoy has become the spokesperson for introverts.
If you are an extrovert, consider yourself amongst the heavens’ chosen ones because life can be absolute hell for us introverts. When extroverts meet a new group of people their outgoing personalities shine bright and they are able to remain as charming as ever. When introverts are thrown into a new friend circle, our concentration is only on how not to sweat through our clothes. James McAvoy knows this all too well.
Speak No Evil (2024) | Credits: Blumhouse Productions
James McAvoy is doing great for himself in Hollywood. His new film, Speak No Evil, is currently running in theatres and he has two movies on the way. The actor also has an impressive collection of accolades to show off. However, he had to start somewhere, right? When James McAvoy was fairly new to the industry, he had the privilege of meeting the one and the only, Jennifer Aniston, though the encounter could have gone much better if we are being honest.
James McAvoy’s Meeting with Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston in FRIENDS | Credits: Warner Bros. Television
To promote Speak No Evil, James McAvoy showed up on Watch What Happens Live! During the conversation, he recalled an anecdote from his early days in Hollywood when he went to a party and met Charlie’s Angels actress, Lucy Liu.
Now, Liu was kind and welcoming and McAvoy was having a great time at the party. That is, until she dragged him to meet her friends, one of them being Jennifer Aniston.
When Andy Cohen asked him who his celebrity crush was and if he had ever met her, the actor revealed that it was Aniston and while he did meet her, the encounter “wasn’t great. Not because she’s not great.”
When Liu introduced him to the friend group, she was immediately pulled aside by an old friend, leaving McAvoy standing awkwardly beside his celebrity crush.
I was at a party when I was really young, I was like 22, in L.A., and I met Lucy Liu, and Lucy Liu was really, really nice to me, and she was like, ‘Come meet my friends.’ There was a big circle of her friends and one of them happened to be Jennifer Aniston. I got parked right beside Jennifer Aniston. And just as [Liu] was like, ‘Hey, guys, meet my new friend James,’ instead of saying that, she got pulled aside by a guy she went to high school with. She went away, and I was just left standing with all these people going, ‘Hey, what’s up, I’m new in town.’
An introvert’s nightmare, McAvoy blurted out the first thing that came to his mind: “So you’re Jennifer Aniston, and you’re in Friends. Reminiscing the awkward moment, the actor said, “It was rough, but she was lovely.” This right here is what nightmares are made of. No wonder McAvoy remembers the incident even after decades.
James McAvoy’s Speak No Evil Has Impressed Critics
James McAvoy as Paddy | Credits: Blumhouse Productions
McAvoy stars as Paddy, one-half of the immensely f*cked up British couple in James Watkins’ Speak No Evil. Paddy is the guy who seems normal at first but when you start to get to know him better, his subtle red flags soon turn into alarms blaring right in your ears, telling you to get out, run, and don’t look back.
Imagine going on a nice little holiday only to befriend a couple that seems, well, normal. But when you meet them again, things take a sinister turn. Without spoiling the film, just know that you’re in for one hell of a ride.
Speak No Evil is a remake of a 2022 Danish film of the same name. Still, it doesn’t seem like you are watching a re-run or your usual horror cliché. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 83% with the critical consensus reading,
Harnessing sick suspense from the glimmer in James McAvoy’s eye, Speak No Evil is the rare remake that hushes up concerns of ‘been there, done that.’
Critics also welcomed the film with open arms. In fact, The Guardian compared McAvoy’s performance and character to the serial killer Ted Bundy himself stating, “McAvoy’s performance is a neat nod to everything you’ve ever heard about the geniality and easy charm of Ted Bundy and his ilk; it’s true that manners don’t cost anything, but they also guarantee nothing.”
Read FandomWire’s review of the film here.
As of now, Speak No Evil has grossed $23 million worldwide. In its debut, it made $11.5 million and came only second to the performance of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Speak No Evil is currently playing in theatres.
