Patrick Stewart Offers Head-Shaving X-pertise to James McAvoy for 'Apocalypse'
James McAvoy returns as Prof. Charles Xavier in X-Men: Apocalypse, the new installment in Fox’s long-running X-Men franchise arriving later the month. Unlike his prior outings, however, McAvoy’s third go-round as the telepathic leader of Marvel’s mutant superhero team is the first one that’s required him to fully embrace the character’s iconic chrome-domed look. To get himself ready, he enlisted the aid of an expert in this particular area: Sir Patrick Stewart.
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A new video lets us peek at McAvoy on the set of Apocalypse alongside his director Bryan Singer, who tagged along to watch the Scottish actor shave his head for the Fox blockbuster. To really link the present with the past, they were joined via Facetime by Stewart, who gave birth to the character on the big-screen in 2000’s original X-Men, and then reprised the role in five subsequent X-Men and Wolverine efforts.
Surprisingly for a star about to lose his long, flowing locks, McAvoy wholeheartedly relished this opportunity to finally, truly become the mutant mentor – in part because, as he says, he feels like it’s a moment in which Stewart is passing him the baton (or “the clippers,” as it were). And as Stewart says upon gazing at McAvoy’s newly shorn noggin, “The difference is that I looked like that when I was 19.”
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You can check out the entire video above. And you can see McAvoy in all his shiny-headed glory in X-Men: Apocalypse beginning May 27, 2016 (and in the trailer below).
