They just worked together on the
almost great
X-Men: First class (we had
some niggles with it), and now according to
Variety, they're substituting for each other.
James McAvoy has apparently taken the previously cast
Michael Fassbender's place as Simon, the leader of a gang of thieves on
Danny Boyle new heist thriller
Trance, a remake of
a Brit t.v. film of the same named that aired in 2001.
Trance follows the story of an assistant at an auction house who masterminds an art heist, teaming with a gang of thieves, but suffers a blow to the head and wakes up with amnesia. He is the only one who knows where the paintings location is and after his continued failure to remember, the gang begins to suspect duplicity on his part and hire a female hypnotist to get into his brain.
Prof X turns evil and it'll certainly be interesting to see James McAvoy in bad guy mode having spent the majority of his career playing squeaky clean characters. I mean from the plot details we've heard so far, he would seem to fit the role of the auction house assistant more than the leader of a gang of thieves but I'm just typecasting there, he is a versatile actor. I'm still not sure if he has the sheer intensity and charisma that his First Class counterpart probably would have brought to the role but it's a Danny Boyle heist film with an intriguing central premise, which alone should whet the appetite. Shooting begins in London this September but don't be holding your breath on this one though. Remember Boyle has the Olympic opening ceremony to get out of the way first and won't work on post-production until after the event so Trance won't see the light of day until 2013.