Why would James McAvoy turn down an honour?
The Drumchapel-born actor says accepting a title would compromise his morals and the community he came from, and he has also sworn off awards campaigns.
James McAvoy. File photo. · Photograph: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Glasgow-born actor James McAvoy has said he would turn down an honour if he were ever offered one.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, in comments reported by The Times, McAvoy said accepting awards or titles that might look good or help his career would completely compromise his morals and the community he comes from.
Asked what kind of awards he meant, he said: honours and that sort of thing. He stressed he was not judging anyone who accepts them, saying he has no judgment of others but judges himself, and has to be able to look himself in the mirror.
Done with awards campaigns
McAvoy also said he no longer wants to take part in film awards campaigns after his experience promoting The Last King of Scotland in 2006, in which he played a Scottish doctor in Idi Amin's Uganda.
He said he could not do it again, explaining it was less a judgment of the awards machine, which he thinks has probably changed, and more about whether he could get through it in one piece.
Working-class roots
McAvoy, who grew up in Drumchapel, has often spoken about the barriers working-class people face in the creative industries.
Earlier this year, ahead of the premiere of his directorial debut California Schemin', he told The National he had been dying to see entertaining, mainstream films about working-class people with limited horizons and opportunities.