Quote behind James McAvoy landing Narnia’s Mr. Tumnus: “We can’t have a man do this”
James McAvoy lifts the curtain on the move that sealed his Mr. Tumnus casting in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The faun we met on screen was almost someone very different. Filmmakers behind The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had initially hired a seasoned actor in his mid-30s to play Mr. Tumnus, then reversed course when they zeroed in on what the character actually does in his first scenes with Lucy: he brings a little girl to his home, lulls her with tea and music, and plans to turn her over to the White Witch before his conscience kicks in. That shift led them to James McAvoy, who was in his early 20s but read much younger.
“As much as Mr. Tumnus is cute and they like they do become genuine friends. He is also somebody who’s kidnapping her,” McAvoy explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“we can’t have a man do this, right? And so they were like we need a boy.”
McAvoy has said he remembers almost nothing about his audition, but he distinctly recalls the reasoning that won him the job. He joked he looked about 14 at the time — harmless enough to sell the character’s conflicted kindness without making the setup feel predatory. The part also landed close to home for him: he grew up rewatching a taped BBC adaptation and rereading C.S. Lewis’ book.
First day, worst day
Long before Narnia, McAvoy’s first day as a professional actor was rough. On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, he said an unnamed co-star on HBO ’s Band of Brothers rallied a group to point and laugh at him for several minutes during a shoot — his very first day out of drama school. Looking back, he rated the overall experience a nine out of ten, but that specific day “a two.”
The incident happened during a crowded bar scene. As McAvoy told it, many actors had spent nine or ten months on the series for a line here and there, while he came in for a single episode with real dialogue and an arc, which may have stirred resentment. He made clear David Schwimmer wasn’t involved. McAvoy appears in the episode “Replacements” as Private First Class James W. Miller.