On the occasion of the broadcast this evening on TMC of Split, return on the preparation of James McAvoy who had to compose 9 different personalities.
The main character of Split suffers from dissociative identity disorder. A disease that causes him a tenfold of personalities. 23 to be exact. On the screen, 9 of them are presented to us, all very different from each other, both in behavior and in language. To play such a character, you needed an actor who had the shoulders. And the choice of production fell on James McAvoy.
Originally, the role had been entrusted to Joaquin Phoenix who was to meet the director M. Night Shyamalan for a third collaboration after Signs and The Village. Failing to find an arrangement on the terms of the contract, the actor finally gave way to James McAvoy, fresh off the set of X-Men: Apocalypse and immediately thrilled by the script: " I read the first 10 pages and thought to myself: wow, what is this stuff? I read the next 10 pages and thought: what is this story? I felt like I was constantly confronted with something new, unknown ".
In order to better slip into the skin of each of Kevin Wendell Crumb's personalities, the actor and the director worked hard on the definition of the different identities. " James is Scottish, but he played the majority of his roles with an American or English accent.M. Night Shyamalan explained to himself during the promotion of the film. I searched through his repertoire of accents and suggested an idea: What if Hedwig had a hair on his tongue? And James grabbed it brilliantly". It was also necessary to avoid certain pitfalls:" To interpret a child, most actors play a retarded adult", remarked the director." Hedwig is very smart, and it turns out he's 9 years old. I said to James, "You don't play a silly adult, that's not what we're aiming for. Use your eyes, you're very smart, but you're only 9 years old. This gesture that you use, you don't know what it means "."
For James McAvoy, the task did not seem so complex: " This film was no different from the others for me " he confided to our microphone. " It's about creating a character and playing it. It only took 9 times for this role. "His theatrical experience also allowed him to have a more conscious approach to these personalities and never to mix them up on the set. Free to improvise in his gestures, the actor was thus able to fully exploit his ideas, which does not did not fail to impress M. Night Shyamalan: " He made totally original game proposals. We have entered a formidable dynamic where what I consider sacred has not been altered but intensified ".
A paying investment since the performance of James McAvoy has garnered praise from the press and the public who will not soon forget this game lesson.