I enjoyed getting to go from comedic to horrific, charming to grotesque
THE set-up for psychological thriller Speak No Evil is one many of us can relate to.
Americans Louise and Ben Dalton are on holiday in sunny Tuscany with their 11-year-old daughter Agnes when they meet a charming British couple, Paddy and Ciara, who are staying at the same resort with their furtive, mute son Ant.
They think they’re a little odd, but become friends, bonding over the funny behaviours of other holidaymakers and enjoying the culture, cuisine and wines of Italy.
When Paddy, played by Scottish actor James McAvoy, invites the Daltons to their farmhouse home in the English countryside, the Americans are a little sceptical: their marriage isn’t in the best place, and they’re still trying to settle into a new life in London. Could a holiday with near-strangers do more harm than good?
Nonetheless, they go along for some fresh air and a change of scenery, hoping it will be a tonic for their woes. It’s a decision that results in a psychological nightmare as the truth about Paddy and Ciara’s idyllic rural family life unravels in ways the Daltons could never imagine.
In this reimagining of the 2022 Danish horror Gaesterne, James is joined by Blade Runner 2049’s Mackenzie Davis and Argo’s Scoot McNairy as Louise and Ben Dalton, and Game Of Thrones’ Aisling Franciosi as Ciara – but it’s the Split and Glass star’s character, Paddy, with his riveting charisma and alphamale mentality, that drives the narrative towards its terrifying climax.
“The thing I enjoyed the most was getting to go from comedic to horrific, charming to grotesque,” says Glasgow- born James, 45, of playing Paddy.
“That was my favourite thing to do for the whole movie, and play with the audience’s moral centre.
“One of the most horrific things about watching the film is that you make the audience kind of enjoy being with Paddy a little bit, and then you remind them that they should feel slightly guilty about themselves for enjoying that, because after making them feel safe enough to laugh along with
James as
Aisling as Ciara
No Evil him, he then delivers something that’s so despicably politically incorrect, or something horrible about gender politics...
“You’re just like: ‘Oh, f***, I was laughing at him a second ago!’.” Paddy introduces himself as a doctor, presenting a worldliness and moral centre which, combined with his family-man persona and endearing West Country accent, makes him appealing to the Daltons and cinema audiences alike.
Pinning down the accent was a key part of James’ development of Paddy as, he says, “we wanted something that sounded rural, but we also wanted something that sounded like... he’d worked in hospitals... Soft enough to make it sound like he’d been all over the world as well”.
“We definitely wanted a West Country flavour and burr,” he adds, “but we wanted it to sound like he could come from a lot of places at the same time.”
James’ performance deftly toes the line between charming and revolting, alluring and unsettling, as Paddy’s macho attitude devolves into toxic masculinity, his endearing hospitality morphing into an inescapable trap.
“It’s not even toeing the line, it’s like you’re tightrope walking on the line the whole time,” he says. “And on either side of the tightrope, there are multiple nets that you’re going to fall into.
“On one side, you’ve got politically correct, and then you’ve got politically incorrect, and then on a different level, you’ve got acceptable masculinity, and then toxic masculinity, and then you’ve got comedy and horror.
“[My] job, really, is to keep the potential alive for both and all of those things to coexist at all times and never fall off one way or the other...
“But that’s the most exciting place to be as a performer, on the edge of falling off. Because that’s the most exciting place for a viewer to watch a protagonist, an antagonist, when they’re on the edge of falling off something.”
What it means to be a man – a good father, a good husband, a good head of a family – is a central tenet of Speak No Evil. Ben is insecure in his masculinity, he’s worried about providing what his wife and daughter need, so when he meets handsome, hilarious and beguiling
Here’s Paddy: James in Speak No Evil
Paddy, it’s easy to see why he might get drawn into his honeytrap.
“You’ve got two men, two grown adult men, in the film, and one of them is definitely a product of modern society that I recognise, which is a person [for whom] not just their masculinity, but everything about their professional self, their sexual self, their domestic self and their masculine self, everything has been squashed.
“And maybe there’s responsibility on him for that too, it’s not just society doing that to him, but it’s definitely a person that I recognise,” says James.
“He doesn’t have an answer to the question: ‘What can I do to fix myself? How can I get out of this?’.
“And then he sees somebody like Paddy, and yes, right from the beginning, there’s a question mark over Paddy’s acceptability and who says he with audiences’ in his latest whether he’s a safe person, or whether he’s a toxic person or not, but the guy’s happy, and the guy’s capable of great joy, and he’s capable of spreading it.
“And what’s more, you’ve got this ‘good guy’ couple who have a relationship you would never wish on your worst enemy, and then you have this ‘bad guy’ couple with the kind of love that we all dream about and would be lucky to have. It’s a great juxtaposition.”
The theme of toxic masculinity in the film makes Speak No Evil a distinctly modern thriller – a distinctly believable one, at that – since it’s an admiration of the sort of man Paddy represents, which attracts Ben like a moth to a flame.
“In terms of that masculinity, as much as it’s toxic at times, I can see why certain people are sometimes attracted to it, because that uncompromising nature, it seems like, leads to happiness in this person,” says James.
“Of course, it’s way more complex than that, and it’s way more damaging and dangerous than that, but I can see why it would also be alluring to somebody like Ben, who’s so out of touch with his emotions, his instincts, his sensuality, his sexuality, his sense of self and his selfesteem.
“And here’s a person who seems to have all the answers.”
In terms of that masculinity, as much as it’s toxic at times, I can see why certain people are sometimes attracted to it,