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James McAvoy has opened up about the bullying he endured on the set of Band of Brothers, 25 years after the movie came out.
The World War Two miniseries remains a widely praised staple of the genre to this day, with an all-star cast and standout storylines.
It was also one of the 47-year-old star’s early projects, but it seems as though the experience kicked off on a sour note, as he recalled it.
Appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the host showed a still of the ensemble cast from the series, sharing that he imagined the experience was ‘gruelling’.
James then shot up from his chair to look at the photo more closely and declared that the actor he was looking for was present.
Explaining himself, he said: ‘Alright so, I’m not gonna tell you who it was but on my first day on set there was a ton of actors. It was one of those scenes with everybody in it, and we’re at a bar.’
He reflected that several of the guys had had a few lines scattered throughout the episodes and were ‘all p***ed’ at their small roles, whereas the then 22-year-old and relatively unknown James arrived with a whole arc, scenes and ‘tons of lines’.
The Split actor continued: ‘And so, one of the guys in that picture decided to bully me on my first day as a professional actor out of acting school.’
According to the screenstar, the anonymous bully ‘got him and his buddies to stand, point and laugh at me for like, three minutes’.
Ruling out David Schwimmer as the culprit, he also shared that Dexter Fletcher and Robin Laing ‘took me aside, they were like: “come hang with us man”.’
The others in the photo included: Philip Barantini, Donnie Wahlberg, Kirk Acevedo, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Adam James, Frank John Hughes and Ross McCall.
This is not the first time James has opened up about his negative experience filming for the award-winning series. His character, Private First Class James W Miller, features prominently in one episode, by the end of which he is killed in action.
Earlier this year, he was asked on Reddit what some of his ‘fondest memories’ were from that time, calling it ‘incredible’.
He said: ‘It was a weird, incredible, humbling, and crazy experience. Too many guys though, not enough women. A lot of testosterone. Juvenile, young, male testosterone.
‘Literally hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of young male actors. Too many dicks, not enough chicks. It was a bad combination. So I was really glad that I was there for 4 weeks, and I was really glad that I wasn’t there for any more than 4 weeks.’