In 2014, the X-Men film series delivered a crossover of sorts with X-Men: Days of Future Past, which combined the casts of the then-current “First Class” movies and the mutant franchise’s original trilogy. As a result, young Professor X actor James McAvoy got to spend time with Patrick Stewart, who reprised the older Charles Xavier, and Ian McKellen, who reprised the older Magneto. During the sixth main X-Men movie’s production, there was a specific moment away from the cameras when McAvoy saw firsthand what made Stewart and McKellen “a different kind of actor” in his eyes.
James McAvoy appeared alongside fellow X-Men: Days of Future Past alum Elliot Page to speak with Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz a New York Comic Con. The discussion included Page’s work on The Odyssey and McAvoy sharing how the X-Men movies beat the MCU to the punch in a big way, but the latter also recalled the time when he got to spend “a whole afternoon” with Stewart and McKellen. McAvoy came into one of the trailers to see the former cooking and the latter “sitting with his feet up in the recliner,” which led to the following:
