James McAvoy Talks Tumnus

Actor James McAvoy speaks to the Daily Record about his experiences on the set of Narnia and playing the character of Mr Tumnus. You can read the whole article here at the Daily Record.

Certainly, the Scot had to put up with a lot to turn him into the Faun of the classic novel. He spent three hours in make-up and the prosthetics each day included a head piece with radio-controlled ears that move, horns attached to a skull cap, nose piece, forehead piece, hair pieces, including a wig, chops, beard, eyebrows and body hair.

From the thighs, down his character’s legs were turned by computer into the legs of a goat. He had to wear “lovely furry hot pants” on top of green tights which were to enable the computer team to erase the green and put in the goat legs. To achieve this James had to endure more – spending his days performing on tiptoe. He explained: “I tried stilts, stilettos and high-heeled trainers to make it easier to put goat’s legs on me, but the best way was for me to walk on my tip toes with my knees bent and hunched over.”

Howard added: “James and Georgie hit it off immediately and rehearsed their scenes together, but we never showed her Tumnus until we’d got the make-up right. On the first day as Tumnus we blindfolded Georgie until the scene began to get the real joy in her face when Lucy sees the faun. It was wonderful, we were all sobbing.” The film will also have the same effect on anyone who has read the books.