James McAvoy gets candid on the moment he 'nearly died' after life-saving medical procedure went wrong

James McAvoy has opened up about the time he 'nearly died' and then had to dive into getting ready for a role which required some intense physical preparation.

Earlier this year, James McAvoy released his directorial debut California Schemin' in the UK in April and then later in the US on October 9 just passed.

The biographical musical film stars Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross as Scottish faux-American rap duo Silibil N'Brains, Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, based on Bain's memoir.

McAvoy's movie has obtained an impressive 93 percent tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, certified fresh.

Although, you probably recognise him best when donning the shoes of an actor - McAvoy highly praised for his role in Split and sequel Glass.

In the movies, McAvoy portrays a man who has dissociative identity disorder, subsequently taking on the characters of Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig, The Beast, Kevin Wendell Crumb, Barry, Orwell and Jade.

And in the sequel, it's The Beast which McAvoy embodies for the majority of the movie.

In an interview for Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, McAvoy opened up about the process he underwent to physically prepare for the role, not only putting on 16 pounds of muscle but in recovering from having a 'lung puncture' and nearly dying shortly before too.

McAvoy took to the director's chair in his latest film (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

The actor recalled: "I had a lung puncture because they needed to test... they saw a shadow in my lung. So they wanted to biopsy it to see if it was cancer. And it wasn't, so that was great. But that was botched and I nearly died.

"I was at home two days later and my lungs just collapsed in bed one night. And I was on my own as well. So it was crazy. So I spent like two or three weeks in hospital. They eventually, they tried everything to clean it out. Nothing was working. So they were like, 'We're going to need to cut you open big style. Go in with like soapy, dish soap basically and just like clean you out. Scoop it all up.'"

After undergoing the procedure, McAvoy had to then go straight into filming for one of The X-Men movies, in which he knew he would have 'four or five months to get ready for Glass' too.

"And Glass, unlike Split, I was The Beast like most of the movie and I was just outside in broad daylight as well. So you know, you don't have much cool studio lighting to give you like... So I was like I'm really going to need to go for it," he added.

McAvoy's 'botched' medical experience took place not long before he started preparing for his role in 'Glass' (Universal Pictures)

McAvoy requested a trainer, joking he needed one of the ones who 'make you look like a Greek figure from mythology'.

"The guy that worked with e was amazing and he came to Montreal where I was making the movie for X-Men. Magnus Lygdback. He looks like a Viking."

He helped 'regulate' what McAvoy ate and 'trained [him] just right' with McAvoy noting for the first four weeks after his hospital debacle, he 'basically rehabilitated' him.

"I could walk but I couldn't run, couldn't cycle, couldn't jog, couldn't anything," he added. "And I was on set every day as well doing crazy hours as Charles."

Following the 'functional movement,' the trainer then helped McAvoy 'put the pounds on really fast'.

However, the actor added a word of warning, noting he became 'addicted' to the level of exercise and how 'big' he got.

After he got another role in 2024, he stopped training in the same way, noting it wasn't as suitable for the character he was playing anyway.

Directing also meant he had less time to dedicate to working out as well, and given the response so far to California Schemin', it's a sacrifice that's certainly paid off.