Speak No Evil: James McAvoy Denies Andrew Tate as Inspiration for Serial Killer Role

James Watkins’ take on the Danish horror movie Speak No Evil with the James McAvoy starrer of the same name has been gaining momentum with each passing day. The movie also presented the Scottish actor in a darker tone, bringing back the same horror and fear-filled sequences from the original.

However, as soon as the viewers witnessed his serial killer character Paddy, there were several headlines stating that this character is apparently based on social media personality Andrew Tate.

The actor did mention Tate in one of his past interviews. But now, McAvoy’s new interview detailed how his comments were taken out of context.

James McAvoy Denies Any Similarity Between His Speak No Evil Character and Andrew Tate

James McAvoy, with his remarkable performance as Paddy in Speak No Evil, has gained a lot of appreciation from fans. His character, in particular, has been making headlines recently due to being compared to social media personality Andrew Tate. On the social media front, Tate is also known as the King of Toxic Masculinity.

While speaking about his character from the movie, McAvoy did mention the social media star. In a chitchat with Empire via Independent, McAvoy had added:

The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a f***ing West Country Andrew Tate. 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.

This sentence made everyone on the internet interpret it as the actor taking Tate as an inspiration for his serial killer character. The same question was asked to him at a recent appearance, and his first reaction was that his remarks were taken out of context.

Further, his character is not at all based on Tate. In a recently resurfaced Instagram snippet, he said:

I think that was a headline taken out of context that I never said, but it’s become a headline. So, I don’t wanna give it any more headlines. So, yeah, is the character I played toxically masculine? Abso-f**king-lutely. Is that person (Andrew Tate) the inspiration for this character? Absolutely not.

Speak No Evil is the American adaptation of the 2022 Danish movie of the same name. While McAvoy plays Paddy in this one, the original, directed by Christian Tafdrup, had a killer named Patrick.

So, given that his character already had an original source material to look at during filming, the Andrew Tate comparison makes no sense.

James McAvoy’s Thoughts on Speak No Evil Straying Away From the Original’s Sad Ending

When Blumhouse and James Watkins announced the remake of the Danish movie, Speak No Evil, fans of the genre were quite thrilled. The intensity increased when James McAvoy got on board of the project. While the actor is quite famous for his romantic roles in the industry, after his participation in movies like Split and Glass, he’s established his footing in the horror genre as well.

In the recently released Speak No Evil, his performance as the serial killer Paddy has been widely acclaimed. But just as many adaptations, even in this one, director Watkins added his own take on the ending of the movie.

This, according to some, has presented the movie in a much softer side as compared to the sheer horror the original presented. On the same, McAvoy added in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

For the audience to watch me and kind of enjoy me as this objectionable character with the worst kind of chauvinistic, un-PC, medieval views, then the movie has to judge Paddy. The movie can’t validate Paddy by the end, otherwise, you’re validating those views, as well, I think. So, anyway, I think the movie had to end in a different way, but to be honest with you, I hadn’t seen the original movie until I finished our movie, so it was never in my mind.

In the remake, the Daltons walk out alive along with their daughter Agnes. But in the original, Bjørn and Louise are stoned to death by Patrick and Karin, even going as far as to cut Agnes’ tongue right in front of her parents.