James McAvoy does voice work for the soon-to-be-released animated film, Gnomeo & Juliet, which is an animated gnome version of Romeo and Juliet. Emily Blunt does the voice for Juliet, by the way. I keep seeing ads for the film (am I watching programming for children?), and I have to admit, it looks kind of adorable. Like, it might be a great way to introduce kids to Shakespeare. Anyway, James has a wonderful little interview with PopEater where he discusses the “harsh” death of a gnome, going commando under his kilt (sweet Jesus) and how Angelina Jolie might still have his balls.

When you first heard ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ was based on ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ did you think that the gnomes would kill themselves at the end?
Yeah, kind of. I thought, “But it’s a tragedy,” so how can you make it not a tragedy? Although Tybalt does die, which is kind of really harsh. I know he comes back at the end, so he can get super-glued back together, but for all intents and purposes at the beginning of the film he dies. I was very shocked. In a kid’s film one of the characters dies!

Did you grow up with garden gnomes?
I did actually. I think we had three in our garden. We had one little frog, and we had two others that were slightly naughty, kinky-looking gnomes.

What do you mean? Did they have their trousers down?
One of them did have his trousers down.

Was he showing any naughty bits?
No, just his bum and the other one looked very abashed.

Did you notice your character has rather thick eyebrows?
I didn’t notice that. I hope it doesn’t take away from the performance.

You’re the father of a baby boy. It must be exciting to think he will be able to hear your voice in a Disney cartoon movie.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I think that’s one of the things, in general, actors like to do. Something to show their family and their kids. I think it’s a big attraction for a lot of people to do these films. You want to tell stories that people appreciate, and if you can capture children, there’s something fantastic about that.

You worked with Angelina Jolie.
Aye.

She’s so tough. Did you feel emasculated?
Well, she did spend half the film kicking the s**t out of me, so yeah, it was kind of hard to not feel emasculated. But that was kind of part of it really, and it was fun. If you’re going to have the s**t kicked out of you by someone, then it might as well be Angelina Jolie. She’s very good at it, and she does get a kick out of it, I think, doing those fight scenes.

Ever wear a kilt?
When I’m at home [in Scotland], I never wear a kilt. I’d probably get mugged; I’d probably get absolutely torn to pieces. Every now and then, if Scotland’s football team is playing an international match, I’ll put my kilt on. I have worn my kilt once walking around my home in London, and I went through a period of about two days where I went, “Yeah, I’m Scottish, I can wear my kilt wherever I like.” I asked a friend of mine, “What do you think?” and he said, “Well you look like a dick.” So I stopped wearing my kilt.

Did you wear it properly, commando-style?
At all times.

[From PopEater]

Jesus, I love this boy. I just love his wording – “we had two others that were slightly naughty, kinky-looking gnomes” got me. As did “which is kind of really harsh”. I want to marry him. I want to marry him while he wears a kilt and nothing else. What is it about these Scottish bastards?

Oh, and I’ve been waiting all day to see James and Michael Fassbender in the X-Men: First Class trailer, but no one is releasing it in any kind of embed-able form. No Fassdong today!! Boo.

Note: James is wearing the same pants in every photo. Ridiculous. Buy some new pants, James!!! Or better yet, go without.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.