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James McAvoy almost passed out shooting intense scene that fans are calling ‘the definition of a crash out’
Home>Film & TV
Updated 16:46 13 Jul 2025 GMT+1Published 16:57 20 Jun 2025 GMT+1

James McAvoy almost passed out shooting intense scene that fans are calling ‘the definition of a crash out’

It's amazing McAvoy didn't burst a blood vessel while shooting the movie which is now available to stream

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

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Featured Image Credit: Universal Pictures

Topics: James McAvoy, Celebrity, Film and TV, Angelina Jolie

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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James McAvoy is said to have lived out many retail workers' dreams with one intense scene in an action movie that really saw the star flex his acting muscles.

If you've watched anything with Scottish actor James McAvoy in the past 10 years, you likely have an appreciation for his acting chops on screen.

But before he was Charles Xavier in the X-men franchise or Dennis/Patricia/Hedgwig/The Beast (you get the picture...) in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split he had a rather fun role in an often forgotten action film which is available to stream now on AppleTV+ or Prime Video.

In the gun-toting movie that could rival The Matrix or John Wick, McAvoy starred alongside Angelina Jolie in 2008’s Wanted, a film where super assassins are able to curve bullets... while shooting them.

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The film was a lot more fun than it had any right to be (Universal Pictures)
The film was a lot more fun than it had any right to be (Universal Pictures)

Yeah, it might sound a little daft now, but I guarantee your teenage self would be losing your mind at some of the balls-to-walls nonsensical action scenes.

But funnily enough, one of the most memorable scenes has nothing to do with gun-play, but a scene where McAvoy’s character Wesley loses his s*** at his insufferable boss and his sleazy best friend, who is played by a young Chris Pratt.

The brilliantly memorable scene sees McAvoy pop a rather impressive vein at the top of his forehead, and the actor has previously remarked that he almost fainted from the effort.

Speaking to GQ back in 2022, the actor recalled some of his most iconic roles and revealed he ‘nearly passed out on that job just to do the scene where my veins were popping out my head’. He added that ‘they were gonna augment it with CGI veins anyway’.

The amazing scene has seemingly found a new audience on social media of late, with some calling the scene ‘the definition of a crash out’.

One fan remarked: “James is so talented he can also act with his veins, either forehead veins or neck veins or both, nobody is doing it like him.”

Chris Pratt's character also feels the full front of Wesley's rage (Universal Pictures)
Chris Pratt's character also feels the full front of Wesley's rage (Universal Pictures)

Another added: “I love that throughout this whole movie. This is just the one seen [sic] everybody points to and nothing else. Any other movie is not that great, but yeah, this one scene is that defining moment.”

A third joked: “I wonder if any manager in retail is aware that deep down, we all want to do this.”

With another simply saying: “The way his veins started pulsing ... insane acting!"

You can check out the vein for yourself by streaming Wanted now.

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