James McAvoy has been cast in Colm McCarthy's new film 'Escape'.
James McAvoy
The 'Split' actor will star as a professor who decides to stay in the war zone of Yugoslavia in 1992 to continue teaching but his opportunity to join his family is closing and has to fight his way out.
The script for 'Escape' has been written by first-time screenwriter Vanya Asher who based it around his own family's experiences in conflict-torn Sarajevo, the city where they lived until the country broke-up in 1992. Sarajevo is now the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Announcing McAvoy's casting, director McCarthy said: "Escape is the incredibly moving true story of Vanya's father and how heroic it can be for a civilian to escape from conflict for the sake of his family.
"The themes are so powerfully universal - how humour can keep people sane through hardship, how a father's promise to his son can be the strongest drive of all. I could not be more excited than to have James McAvoy join our team."
McCarthy's previous credits include 2016's post-apocalyptic zombie horror 'The Girl With All The Gifts' starring Gemma Arterton, TV drama 'Peaky Blinders', an episode of 'Doctor Who' and a 'Sherlock' story.
The filmmaker's new project 'Krypton' was picked up by SyFy following a positive reaction to the pilot.
This is not the first time McAvoy has starred as a professor in his growing list of movies having taken over from Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier in the 'X-Men: First Class' franchise.
McAvoy, 38, has a number of other projects set for release in the upcoming months including 'Atomic Blonde', and 'Subermergence' and potentially two more 'X-Men' movies due to start filming this summer.
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