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James McAvoy Explains How Patrick Stewart Inspired His Professor X Look


James McAvoy is known for many of his prominent roles, and one of them happens to be the incarnation of Professor X in the X-Men franchise. Speaking with GQ, McAvoy shares how Patrick Stewart inspired his Professor X look. The actor admitted he basically wanted to look like he was ‘on drugs’ just so he could show the gap between his version and Stewart’s, story-wise. Check out McAvoy’s full statement below:

“When I found out that Patrick [Stewart] was going to be in the movie, and look how Patrick does playing Professor X, I wanted to have long hair and look like I smoke a lot of weed. And maybe do a little bit of something stronger, in the ‘70s, set in my purple haze.”

READ MORE: James McAvoy Breaks Silence On Whether He Got The Call To Return As Professor X In The MCU

McAvoy continues on to say how long his Professor X look actually took, seeing as he had to have thicker hair for the role, but they managed to pull it in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

“Just to show how far that journey is going to have to be to make him into Patrick Stewart… I had such little hair at this point and we ended up doing an 18-hour hair extension session in one sitting… But by the end of it, I looked like Professor X in Days of Future Past.”

Patrick Stewart as Professor X
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Patrick Stewart as Professor X

There is no doubt that James McAvoy definitely delivered a stellar performance, especially now that he has revealed how his initial appearance had proven to be great in foreshadowing his fate. After all, when McAvoy’s Xavier lost the ability to walk, this led to him losing control over his powers, which drove him to taking a drug that could lead him to use his legs again, while unfortunately weakening his powers. This eventually connects with Wolverine where the mutant finds himself in the position of having to be the one to bring Xavier back onto the right path, dealing a great narrative using the ‘drugged’ look.

There are no official announcements yet if James McAvoy will be returning as Professor X in the MCU, but we’ll be seeing Hugh Jackman returning as Wolverine in Deadpool 3, which is slated for release on November 8, 2024.

ALSO READ: James McAvoy Criticizes Fox’s X-Men Franchise

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