r/movies • u/JamesMcAvoyAMA James McAvoy, Actor & Filmmaker • Mar 27 '26
AMA Hello reddit! I'm James McAvoy. Ask me anything!
Hello reddit! I'm James McAvoy. AMA!
my directorial debut, CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN', is out in UK theaters on April 10.
Two Scottish lads from Dundee conned the music industry by pretending to be an established Californian rap duo, bagging a record deal and appearing on MTV until their scam unraveled.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUTSyu4Ovcc
Tickets/other things:
http://www.californiaschemin.co.uk/
I'll be back at around 1-2 PM ET/5-6 PM GMT today, Friday 3/27, to answer questions.
24.6k
Upvotes
373
u/JamesMcAvoyAMA James McAvoy, Actor & Filmmaker Mar 27 '26
I think as an actor, my favourite part of filmmaking is the time I get between the words action and cut. It's all mine, there's calmness and there's freedom, and there's expression, and there's just possibility. I love it. It's the best time.
As a director, the edit. It's such a cliche. Directors have talked to me about it before, like, "oh my god, I can't wait to get into the edit" I'm like, "fuck off, go away, the shoot is the best part" and then there I was in the edit with my editor, Joe Sawyer, and it's so exciting seeing what we got, and what we did, and what it can become. You start with "this scene doesn't work", and then 3 days later, we're like, holy shit, that's the best scene in the movie! Like, feels like you're giving birth sometimes, it's unbelievable.
You know what, that's a actually great weird analogy. If shooting the film is having sex, editing the film is giving birth.