James McAvoy says ‘toxic’ new horror movie character was inspired by Andrew Tate

McAvoy plays a father of a family with a dark secret in Speak No Evil, a remake of a Danish horror film

James McAvoy has said that his character in the new horror movie Speak No Evil was inspired by the controversial and ‘toxic’ influencer Andrew Tate.

The Scottish actor plays Paddy, a father of a British family with a dark secret, in the new movie, an adaptation of an acclaimed Danish film of the same name from 2022.

Speaking to Empire (via Deadline), McAvoy explained: “The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a... West Country Andrew Tate.”

The 45-year-old said: “He’s like, ‘I’m going to teach you what it’s like to be a man again.’ But there’s a sort of polite face on it that isn’t quite Andrew Tate, enough of a sheen of, ‘I’m not one of those guys.’ [Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough d*** to have a drink with me?’, Or, ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.’”

“You wanted something a bit agricultural,” adds McAvoy. “I had two big visual touchstones. The first was the Australian term ‘bogan’, which can be associated with a certain level of toxic masculinity. And the other was the character Rooster from Jerusalem, played so brilliantly by Mark Rylance.”

McAvoy added that the character has “almost a Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast vibe: ‘I don’t mind if my belly’s sticking out because that’s how comfortable a man I f**king am.’”

The original movie focuses on a Danish family on holiday in Italy who befriend a Dutch family in Tuscany and are subsequently invited to their home in the Netherlands. After accepting the invitation, the Danish family quickly realise that not all is right at their Dutch friend’s abode and things soon turn dark.

Actor James McAvoy (left) and controversial influencer Andrew Tate (right), who McAvoy claims has inspired his new horror movie role (Getty Images/AP)

The remake switches the nationalities of the families to British and American respectively, with Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy’s family visiting an idyllic estate, home to McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi and Dan Hough.

The misogynist Andrew Tate, is currently under house arrest at his home in Romania, for 30 days, as prosecutors investigate a sprawling new case that involves allegations of human trafficking of minors and sex with a minor.

The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers and dual British-US citizens, are already awaiting trial in Romania in a separate human trafficking case along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year.