James McAvoy has said a ‘toxic’ character he has portrayed in a new horror film was inspired by Andrew Tate.
The film called Speak No Evil is an adaption of a highly-praised Danish film of the same name released in 2022.
The Scottish actor explained in an interview with Empire (via Deadline) how he had used Andrew Tate as inspiration for Paddy, a father with a dark secret in the film.
He said: “The thing I thought I could exploit in the character was, he thinks he’s a bit of a… 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.’ [Paddy’s] challenging you, ‘Do you have a big enough d*** to have a drink with me?’, Or, ‘I’m sorry, this is too much for you because you’re not real enough.’”
McAvoy added: “You wanted something a bit agricultural, I had two big visual touchstones. The first was the Australian term ‘bogan’, which can be associated with a certain level of toxic masculinity. And the other was the character Rooster from Jerusalem, played so brilliantly by Mark Rylance.”
The 45-year-old described the the character as having “almost a Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast vibe: ‘I don’t mind if my belly’s sticking out because that’s how comfortable a man I f**king am.’”
In the original version the film follows a Danish family who on, upon taking a holiday in Italy, become amical with a Dutch family that invite to their home back in the Netherlands.
The Danish family accept the kind invitation, but upon arrival soon begin to fear not is all as it seems in the Dutch family’s home.
McAvoy’s version features a British and American family instead of Danish and Dutch, with the American family visiting the British family’s stately home owned by McAvoy.
Along with McAvoy, the cast features the likes of Mackenzie Davies, Scoot McNairy and Aisling Franciosi.
The film is set to be released 13 September.
Andrew Tate is one of the most divisive public figures in modern society for his often misogynistic views.
The former kickboxer is currently under house arrest in Romania for 30 days as with prosecutors investigating allegations of human trafficking of minors.
Andrew and his brother Tristan are currently awaiting a separate trial of human trafficking for which they were charged with last year.