James McAvoy has confessed that he was petrified about filming s** scenes with Angelina Jolie for his latest movie, Wanted.

McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson, a 25-year-old account worker who is transformed from a loser into a dark superhero.

In the film, he shares a love scene with Jolie, but McAvoy revealed that filming s** scenes is uncomfortable and daunting.

He admitted to feeling paranoid that the actress would think he was getting off on her, and the nerves left him unable to feel any kind of stimulus.

Despite working with some of the most beautiful people in the world, McAvoy says he is not a matinee idol.

McAvoy, who has also appeared opposite Keira Knightley in Atonement, quickly dismissed rumors that Knightley had an eating disorder.

He revealed that he has “felt every part of her in many scenes in Atonement and she is fine.

There’s meat on those bones, I guarantee you.” Wanted marks McAvoy’s first action role, and he said the director, Timur Bekmambetov, was “nuts.”

“Wanted is a very weird and interesting big action flick, an adventure story and a big visual ballet. It’s a bit of wish fulfilment,” McAvoy said.

He went on to describe his character, Wesley, as a flawed hero, totally apathetic and nearly clinically depressed.

He wants to free himself from the manipulations of his family, work, and the government.

Despite his success, McAvoy revealed that he had a slow climb to fame.

He started with small roles and worked his way up to character roles before finally landing the lead in Atonement.

“I feel sorry for someone like Orlando Bloom.

“He was immediately a movie star and did not have the chance to do work where nobody really noticed him.

“I’m glad I’ve had a slow climb and was allowed to explore what acting is,” he said.

McAvoy’s film star status has taken him far from Glasgow’s Drumchapel housing estate, where he was brought up.

He got his first break after actor-director David Hayman addressed his school, and McAvoy offered to make tea on his next film.

Four months later, Hayman rang to ask him to audition for a part in 1997’s The Near Room.

The role led to a stint at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

McAvoy landed his first major TV role in Shameless, on which he met his future wife, actress Anne-Marie Duff, who is eight years his senior.

During Shameless, McAvoy struggled with self-doubt and turned to drinking and junk food.

“I thought I was a bit of a fraud because I felt I’d fallen into acting,” he said.

“It was Anne-Marie who taught me how to respect life, and it took my career to a whole new level.”

Although brought up by his grandparents and his mum, McAvoy refuses to meet his father, who walked out on the family.

“I can’t be bothered with it,” he admitted.

“Lots of people are brought up in slightly unusual circumstances.

“With the breakdown of marriage which has happened more since the Seventies, we’re the first generation that have really become normal with that.

“It’s not like we all need to go into rehab because of it. I had a fantastic upbringing.”

Despite his tough upbringing, McAvoy said he knows what made him and why he is the way he is.

Mixing with thespians on both sides of the Atlantic has all but rid him of his broad Glaswegian accent.

“It has chilled out a lot in the past eight years or so, when English people couldn’t understand me sometimes, and Americans just couldn’t get it,” he said.

“I’m from a working-class environment, but I am no longer working class.”

Wanted was a physically demanding shoot, but McAvoy and Jolie had a good laugh together on set.

He said of Jolie: “Her life is mad with all the attention she gets, but she still retains a really approachable air.

She’s lovely, actually.”

Although McAvoy is grateful for his success in Hollywood, he still considers himself a Scottish actor.

“I never set out to be famous or anything like that,” he said.

“I just wanted to act, and I was lucky enough to be given some great opportunities.”

In 2010, McAvoy reprised his role as Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

He also starred in Robert Redford’s historical thriller The Conspirator and voiced the lead character in the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet.

In 2011, McAvoy played a young Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class, a role he would reprise in several sequels.

He also starred in the British crime thriller Welcome to the Punch and the romantic drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby.

McAvoy’s most recent roles include playing a man with dissociative identity disorder in M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological horror film Split, a role he reprised in the 2019 sequel Glass.

He also played Lord Asriel in the television adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.