James McAvoy has starred in films including “Speak No Evil,” “Atonement” and “X-Men: First Class,” but he recently revealed the “only” film he still consistently receives residuals from is M. Night Shyamalan’s 2016 horror “Split.”
“You get the odd check for, you know, a couple 100 quid here or sometimes you get checks for, like, 25 cents and you’re like, ‘It literally costs more to post this than it did for me to cash it,’” McAvoy said during a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “But the only one that really consistently pays me is ‘Split.’”
“I think it was made for like $6 million or something like that? And let’s say they spent 30 advertising it. In our first weekend, we made 40, so we were in profit,” McAvoy continued. “Our first residual check came at the end of the first weekend. It was bonkers.”
In “Split,” three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities (McAvoy). “They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th,” per the film’s official description. Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula starred alongside McAvoy. The film, which cost just $6 million to make, went on to gross $138.29 million domestically and $140.16 million internationally for a $278.45 million worldwide total.
McAvoy also spoke about Shyamalan and his experience working with the director.
“I very consciously took from many of the directors that I worked with, and subconsciously as well, but the thing I took away from him is his preparedness,” McAvoy said. “He made that film, and [sequel] ‘Glass,’ on incredibly modest budgets, and very focused on how he would maximize his day and maximize his shots and maximize what he got out of the story by just being incredibly well-prepared and being able to share that and communicate that with the crew.”