Gabrielle Donnelly from the Daily Mail has written up a piece on James McAvoy and his reasoning for why he's always typecasted for period films. Take a read through the article. What do you think? Do you agree with James or do you think he's being too hard on himself?

Source: Daily Mail

The entire article can be found by clicking the link below.

James McAvoy: How I feel about being typecast

People sometimes ask me why I get cast in so many period roles - The Last King Of Scotland, Atonement and my latest film, The Last Station, which takes place in 19th-century Russia, have all taken place at various times in the past.

It may sound strange, but I think it's because I'm pale and thin.

If you look at most of the big Hollywood actors, it's getting harder and harder to find someone who has pale skin: they are tanned, they have perfect teeth and gorgeous buff bodies.

Me, I look like a malnourished urchin, and there aren't too many of us around.

I'm healthy, but I've never been a big guy, which is unusual for a Scottish actor, because, if you look at Sean Connery, Gerard Butler or Ewan McGregor, you'll see that they're big men, and I'm just a little, skinny, weak guy, and always have been.

The only time I've ever really put on muscle was for a film called Wanted, which I made a couple of years ago, about a clinically depressed guy who suddenly realises he has supernatural abilities, so you had to see him getting a bit bigger for that.

I did a lot of training for that film, going to the gym, eating healthy food and so on. But the moment I stopped training, the muscles just disappeared - it took me months to gain them, and about two weeks to lose them, which was very disheartening.

My appearance in so many period films has nothing to do with an interest in the clothes of times past.

My relationship with fashion is shaky and sketch at best - I manage, at the behest of my friends and advisors, to get a shirt and jacket on when I go to fancy events such as film festivals and premieres, but, if I was left to my own devices, I think I'd end up looking pretty shoddy.

I do have some very old clothes that I should probably throw away... but then again, perhaps it's because I'm so uninterested in modern fashion that I'm happy to wear old-fashioned clothes.

The funny thing is that I didn't really get noticed in the profession by playing historic figures - in fact, I didn't even get noticed by playing anyone human. My first big part was playing Mr Tumnus, a pointy-eared faun, in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

I loved making the film for professional reasons, but I'd never have predicted that it would have helped my career to play someone with furry legs and ears, and with more than a bit of goat in his DNA - and yet that was the part that got me taken seriously at last. I've got a lot to thank Mr Tumnus for.