Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy tell us about humanising a monster and filming in front of those who knew the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy tell us about humanising a monster and filming in front of those who knew the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
"He is selfish and vain and arrogant and he should be shot."
Surprisingly, James McAvoy isn't talking about Idi Amin, the infamous Ugandan dictator played by Forest Whitaker in The Last King Of Scotland, but his own character, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan. Recently graduated, Garrigan arrives in Uganda full of bright-eyed energy to work at a rural hospital. Then he encounters new president Amin who, following an accident, needs first-aid.
Impressed by Garrigan's Scottish ancestry as much as his medical skill, Amin insists that Garrigan joins him in the capital Kampala as his personal physician. In the first of many moral missteps, Garrigan abandons the poor patients of the hospital for Amin's palace. How did McAvoy feel about playing a character that wasn't always sympathetic?
"I didn't want anyone to feel any sympathy for him because he represents the audience," says McAvoy of his charming bastard. "That was what worried me, that in the edit they would make him less culpable. They did do that a little bit at certain times and that's okay because if he's so outrageous the audience will stop empathising with him and essentially you stop following the protagonist of the film. And that means you have got a humongous problem. But, for around 85 per cent of the time, he's a bit of a selfish arsehole."
Next page • "I found Amin's sense of humour"
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