{"id":132553,"date":"2025-09-10T01:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/132553\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T01:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:07:06","slug":"james-mcavoy-attacked-by-stranger-at-bar-during-tiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/132553\/","title":{"rendered":"James McAvoy\u00a0attacked by stranger at bar during TIFF"},"content":{"rendered":"

James McAvoy\u00a0was assaulted by a random man at a bar during the Toronto Film Festival.<\/p>\n

The \u201cX-Men: First Class\u201d actor, 46, was sucker-punched by an intoxicated patron while out celebrating his directorial debut, \u201cCalifornia Schemin,’\u201d on Monday, Sept. 8, The Post can confirm.<\/p>\n

James McAvoy on \u201cWatch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.\u201d Charles Sykes\/Bravo via Getty Images<\/p>\n

James McAvoy attends the red carpet for photographs and interviews during Glasgow Film Festival on March 02, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. Getty Images<\/p>\n

People was first to report <\/a>the news, with eyewitnesses revealing the incident happened at Toronto bar Charlotte\u2019s Room around 11:55 p.m.<\/p>\n

The \u201cSplit\u201d star was caught off guard when he was struck by the stranger from behind. He tried to de-escalate the situation while others jumped in to remove the man from the late-night establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames was having a casual get-together with the producers of his movie and, as he later learned when speaking with the staff, there was a man who drank too much who was getting escorted out,\u201d a source close to the actor told the outlet, noting McAvoy\u2019s \u201cback was to him and the man just punched him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

James McAvoy at the CHANEL & Variety Women in Film dinner during the Toronto International Film Festival held at the Soho House Toronto on September 06, 2025. Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

James McAvoy backstage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall on February 16, 2025 in London, England. Getty Images for BAFTA<\/p>\n

He was not hurt from the punch.<\/p>\n

McAvoy stayed at the bar and later learned that bar staffers had asked the intoxicated man to leave before he took his frustration out on the star.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGlass\u201d actor had a good laugh about the incident with other patrons and continued enjoying his time at the bar, The Post can reveal.<\/p>\n

James McAvoy attends the \u201cSpeak No Evil\u201d New York Premiere at DGA Theater on September 09, 2024 in New York City WireImage<\/p>\n

James McAvoy attends BAFTA at Four Seasons Hotel Toronto on September 05, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. Getty Images<\/p>\n

James McAvoy attends Comic-Con at The IMDb Yacht on July 27, 2024 in San Diego, California. Getty Images for IMDb<\/p>\n

McAvoy\u2019s reps were not immediately available for comment. <\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia Schemin’\u201d<\/a> debuted at TIFF on Saturday, Sept. 6. <\/p>\n

McAvoy\u2019s musical biographical film is based on the true story of Silibil N\u2019 Brains, the Scottish hip-hop duo consisting of Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, who posed as Americans to fulfill their dreams of becoming superstars.<\/p>\n

James McAvoy of \u201cCalifornia Schemin’\u201d poses in the Getty Images Portrait Studio during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 07, 2025. Getty Images for IMDb<\/p>\n

James McAvoy arrives at the Prada fashion show during the Milan Menswear on January 14, 2024 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images<\/p>\n

S\u00e9amus McLean Ross plays Bain alongside Samuel Bottomley, who stars as Boyd. McAvoy also has a small part in the film. Other cast members include Lucy Halliday and Rebekah Murrell.<\/p>\n

McAvoy recently discussed his experience as a first-time director.<\/p>\n

Calling the task \u201cstressful\u201d but \u201camazing,\u201d he told People<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s the most creative thing I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n

James McAvoy seen attending Stranger Things: The First Shadow \u2013 opening night afterparty at Waldorf Hotel on December 14, 2023 in London, England. GC Images<\/p>\n

He said it was a refreshing experience to flip the script.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve loved telling stories as an actor for 30 years. It\u2019s an extension of that. I now love telling stories as a director because I get more tools with which to tell those stories. It was a privilege,\u201d McAvoy shared during the interview held at TIFF on Sunday, Sept. 7.<\/p>\n

He explained how his decades-long acting career helped him in the director\u2019s chair. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to give me them. And you can\u2019t tell somebody how to be them,\u201d McAvoy explained. \u201cYeah, they\u2019re playing a character, but really what I want is them \u2014 bare, open, vulnerable as a performer and as a person so the audience can see inside them. You can\u2019t direct them to that. So you\u2019ve gotta make the space to let them become that.\u201d<\/p>\n

James McAvoy attends day two of The Hollywood Reporter TIFF Studio presented by Canada Goose at 1 Hotel Toronto on September 06, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Scottish star also revealed how he knew this was the right story for his directorial debut. <\/p>\n

\u201cI realized I needed to tell a story about a hometown that felt like my hometown, an economic background that felt similar to mine,\u201d McAvoy said. \u201cPeople who had a lack of opportunities like the people in my neighborhood had, who had very confined, close horizons that you couldn\u2019t physically get out of. But art can get you beyond them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James McAvoy\u00a0was assaulted by a random man at a bar during the Toronto Film Festival. The \u201cX-Men: First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51709,49,48,361,75,14403,72242,2559,13853],"class_list":["post-132553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-assaults","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-fights","tag-james-mcavoy","tag-toronto-film-festival","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}