McAvoy’s awkward encounters
James McAvoy hasn’t enjoyed his many sex scenes with beautiful women.
James McAvoy hasn’t enjoyed his many sex scenes with beautiful women, said Mickey Rapkin in Elle. The Scottish actor has been filmed in bed with some of Hollywood’s most glamorous actresses, including Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, and Angelina Jolie. But the staged encounters in front of a film crew, he says, are always uncomfortable. “It’s so awkward,” says McAvoy, 34. “I mean, sex is a nightmare in real life until you meet the person you click with. When you’re pretending, multiply that anxiety by a thousand. You’re in the middle of a scene and you’re like, ‘Oh, no. Is my breath weird?’ Or, ‘Oh, no. She’s nice, but does she think I’m trying to cop a feel?’ I’m not, I’m just trying to do my job.” Growing up in Glasgow, McAvoy planned to be a Catholic priest, not an actor. “I wanted to be a missionary,” he says, “but girls [became] a bigger part of my life around the time I lost interest in the priesthood.” Even as a teen, he found that he knew how to woo women. “What I figured out—that my friends didn’t—was you have to talk to women like you’re not constantly trying to have sex with them. That seemed to work.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - March 30, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - strawberry fields forever, secret files, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 hilariously sparse cartoons about further DOGE cuts
Cartoons Artists take on free audits, report cards, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Following the Tea Horse Road in China
The Week Recommends This network of roads and trails served as vital trading routes
By The Week UK Published