• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
It's Been Five Years Since James McAvoy's Incredible Performance In Split

Home> Film & TV

Updated 13:54 7 Feb 2022 GMTPublished 12:52 20 Jan 2022 GMT

It's Been Five Years Since James McAvoy's Incredible Performance In Split

In M. Night Shyamalan's film, the Scottish actor plays a character with 24 personalities. How didn't he get an Oscar nomination for this?

Cameron Frew

Cameron Frew

It's Been Five Years Since James McAvoy's Incredible Performance In Split (Universal)
It's Been Five Years Since James McAvoy's Incredible Performance In Split (Universal)

Five years ago today, James McAvoy became The Horde in Split. 'Let him show the world how powerful we can be.'

M. Night Shyamalan's scattershot filmography took a dip in the years following The Village. The Happening is among the worst movies ever made, The Last Airbender felt like a slap in the face of television legend, and After Earth was rightly dubbed a 'big-screen vanity project' for its father-son stars.

Advert

Then, in 2017, he returned to form with Split, a gonzo horror-thriller with a warped wit and electrifying central performance from McAvoy. It's a cardinal sin his work wasn't rewarded with an Oscar nomination, but awards are negligible when an artist's work is truly great. 'The broken are the more evolved,' after all. 'Rejoice.'

James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)
James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)

The Scot plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, whose past trauma led to the evolution of 23 different personalities to 'protect' him. This includes Barry, a fashionably-conscious wannabe designer; Dennis, an OCD-strained, sexually frustrated man; Patricia, an disarmingly warm mother figure with posture to die for; and Hedwig, a nine-year-old boy who loves to play and dance next to his 'window'.

He kidnaps three young women (Anya Taylor-Joy, whose steely attitude has its own harrowing reason, Haley Lu Richardson and Jessica Sula), giving them few details about their fate other than being 'sacred food'. We soon learn about 'The Beast', an impending 24th, superhuman personality.

Advert

James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)
James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)

Split is at its best when it revels in McAvoy's brute-force charisma; with three personalities mostly basking in the 'light', it's a fairly seamless triple-handed character study, wringing chills from every grimace, grin and growl, as well as the occasional laugh from Hedwig parroting 'etcetera'.

Yet, even as Shyamalan skips past the suspenseful persona-hopping for something more high-concept and daft, the star has our sympathies. The portrayal of dissociative identity disorder has aged like milk, but in this uniquely fantastical setting, it's remarkable how easily we still fear for a man who, deep down, knows his brain is in disarray. 'What did I do?' he asks with a knowing, heartbreaking quiver.

James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)
James McAvoy in Split. (Universal Pictures)

Advert

Ultimately, it's the Jekyll and Hyde schtick ramped up to 11; so basically, a dream come true for any actor. 'There was the opportunity to flex many muscles and employ all the dexterity you can muster,' McAvoy earlier told The Guardian.

'Sometimes you throw yourself in at the deep end and it just doesn’t work, and it’s a nightmare. But the great thing about being an actor is that even if it’s terrible it’s over in two or three months and you move on to the next thing. So what’s the harm in throwing yourself in there? It’s just your reputation.'

Speaking to Empire, Shyamalan said he believes McAvoy is 'the most courageous actor... I’m not sure his peers that are at his level of acting would have been as courageous. He almost doesn’t have a fear button'.

The Oscars come and go, and McAvoy has yet to bag a statuette. The spectacle of Split needs no awards affirmation; it's one of the definitive performances of the 21st century.

Advert

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Universal

Topics: Entertainment, James McAvoy, Film and TV

Cameron Frew
Cameron Frew

Entertainment Editor at UNILAD. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the best film ever made, and Warrior is better than Rocky. That's all you need to know.

X

@frewfilm

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 hours ago
7 hours ago
9 hours ago
a day ago
  • 2 hours ago

    Netflix subscribers have just days left to watch all three seasons of ‘must watch gem’ with 93% ratings

    'Just the right mixture of comedy, tender moments and serious issues'

    Film & TV
  • 7 hours ago

    Shocking reason why Ben Affleck is banned from playing Blackjack at certain casinos

    It all stems back to an incident in 2014

    Film & TV
  • 9 hours ago

    Furious Netflix viewers claim 'justice was not served' after watching new true-crime documentary about mother's death

    The murder has been described as 'one of Argentina's most infamous crimes'

    Film & TV
  • a day ago

    Netflix subscribers are binge-watching twisty thriller mini series all in one night

    The cast's performances have been highly praised

    Film & TV
  • Seth Rogen explained why he'll never work with James Franco again
  • Director of sadistic movie that caused walkouts and left people terrified reveals his top five horror movies
  • Movie banned in multiple countries due to extremely graphic sex scenes has been added to Netflix
  • Netflix viewers 'blown away' by 'sickening' footage in new documentary about Astroworld tragedy