James McAvoy on how his Xavier differs from the original.

Screen Rant chats it up with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS star James McAvoy, who plays future X-Men mastermind Charles Xavier in the film. The actor discussed how they’re tackling his performance compared to that of Sir Patrick Stewart.

“I looked at all of the things that [Stewart] did the hardest. I looked at all of the things that came out the strongest in his performance and we said we have to go the opposite way. Simply to validate why we were making this film, because if they were just the same there would be no reason to make it, we have to show how different he is. We have to show a journey – so he clearly has to start in a different place.

The main things that we looked into are the fact that he is ego-less, selfless, a very good person, he’s sexless – he’s sort of like a monk. We thought of what the opposite of all of those things would be – so now he drinks a lot, chases women quite a lot, and doesn’t mind sort of abusing his power to get ahead. He’s definitely got an ego, and he’s definitely a little bit selfish. So that’s where we start with him, and so he’s now got to grow towards Sir Patrick.

There’s also a new interview with McAvoy on Cinema Blend where he talks about the reshoots/ pickups that are currently taking place in L.A.