Scottish actor James McAvoy has undergone a dramatic makeover for his role in the television adaptation of Frankie Boyle's novel Meantime. The 46-year-old star was spotted on set in Glasgow looking dishevelled, sporting a creased grey suit and beige shirt in one scene, and grey jogging bottoms with a beige knitted jumper in another.
McAvoy plays Felix McAveety, a Valium addict and aspiring writer who investigates the murder of his best friend Marina. The darkly funny crime novel, released in 2022, follows McAveety as he becomes a suspect and embarks on his own mission with neighbour Donnie, aided by mind-altering drugs.
The Sky adaptation, produced by Expectation – the company behind BBC's Alma's Not Normal and Amazon Prime Video's Clarkson's Farm – marks McAvoy's return to playing characters with complex mental health needs. He previously portrayed a man with dissociative identity disorder in Split (2016) and a drug-taking police officer in Filth (2013).
McAvoy, who like Boyle is from Glasgow, has also starred in The Chronicles of Narnia and X-Men films. He recently made his directorial debut with California Schemin', about a Scottish rap duo pretending to be American. Speaking to Empire, he said: 'I've got two acting jobs back to back now... Maybe after those two I'll be like, "Yeah, I don't want to act anymore." Or maybe I'll be like, "F***, I miss acting. I'm never going to direct again."'
