Exclusive:James McAvoy comes home as Glasgow Film Festival celebrates his career

I’m the same age as James McAvoy and remember, fairly early on in his career, that people in Glasgow thought he was going to be a star. He had been a part of PACE Youth Theatre and then gone on to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 2000. When he started appearing on television, it was obvious that McAvoy was one to watch.

His role in Shameless was a breakthrough and he did some great work in the series, it was The Last King of Scotland and then Atonement that sent things into the stratosphere, two wonderful films. He returned to Glasgow today for an In Conversation event hosted by Edith Bowman at the Glasgow Film Theatre, followed by a screening of The Last King of Scotland, which he introduced.

James McAvoy also received the Cinema City Honorary Award, established last year to recognise filmmakers who have made an outstanding contribution to cinema.

On the red carpet, James noted that his first film screened here in 1995, The Near Room directed by David Hayman, “I remember minesweeping for drinks afterwards” he laughs. He was in Glasgow last year for the production of his directorial debut film, California Schemin’. Glasgow will stand in for Dundee and London he says. No release date yet but he is delighted with how things are going. He filled the Barrowland Ballroom with extras for a gig performance in the film, something he particularly enjoyed.

There’s significant media attention for this afternoon’s event. Rightly so. McAvoy returns as a conquering hero, 25 years of television and film success, taking him from Glasgow to Hollywood.

When he was a student, sitting after lectures in Trader Joe's, the pub across from the Theatre Royal in Glasgow that was populated by aspiring actors, I ask him, did he imagine this is how the next 20 years of his life would go?

25 years he corrects me. We are both getting on a bit. “No not at all. I thought I'd be lucky to get a few jobs and try and make ends meet, doing other things. My career has surpassed my wildest expectations, so I'm very aware and I do feel very grateful for all the luck I've had. I work hard and I think I'm good, but you need luck as well, and I've definitely had it. So I'm fully gratitude for that.”

He gets recognised most for Split and X-Men in the States; Atonement, still, at home. He’d like to work with James Cosmo or Richard Gadd if he had to pick Scottish actors.

Today he will look back at the first part of his film success, alongside an audience in his hometown.

I saw McAvoy in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Theatre Royal three years ago, close to where he studied acting at what is now the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow. It was an extraordinary performance. He richly deserves the accolades today as the Glasgow Film Festival looks back on the first act of his cinematic career, but I can’t wait to find out what comes next.