The X-Men movies are a collection of some brilliant films and some pretty dire films, with messy timelines, questionable character arcs, but also some really fun characters and moments. James McAvoy, who played a younger version of Professor Charles Xavier in the latter stages of the superhero movies had one very unorthodox idea for his X-Men character that we kinda like, though.
While Patrick Stewart made the role of Professor X his own during the 2000s movies, McAvoy clearly wanted to put his own stamp on things when given the chance.
In an interview with GQ, McAvoy explained how he had an idea for the way Professor X should look in the movie X-Men: Days of Future Past and what his character might have been through in his early years living with superpowers.
“When I found out that Patrick was going to be in the movie, and look how Patrick does playing Professor X, I wanted to have long hair and look like I smoke a lot of weed. And maybe do a little bit of something stronger, in the ‘70s, set in my purple haze. Just to show how far that journey is going to have to be to make him into Patrick Stewart,” McAvoy said.
“I had such little hair at this point and we ended up doing an 18 hour hair extension session in one sitting… But by the end of it I looked like Professor X in Days of Future Past,” he added.
It actually makes a lot of sense. Most young folk in the ’70s would probably have experimented with drugs, and you’d imagine anyone who possessed the abilities Charles did would be keen to switch off at times. It also makes sense that McAvoy would want to establish a very different version of the character than the one Stewart would be playing in the time travel movie.
If you’re a fan of the X-Men, you’ll probably be very excited for the Deadpool 3 release date. Or, for more from McAvoy check out our guide to the His Dark Materials season 3 release date.