James McAvoy has addressed the US version of comedy Shameless, an adaptation of the British series of the same name.
The actor played Steve McBride in the U.K. program, which ran from 2004 until 2013 and was set on the fictional Chatsworth housing complex.
A remake was made for American audiences in September 2018, with a cast led by William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum.
The 45-year-old has now opened up about how "weird" it was watching his alter ego's U.S. counterpart, portrayed by Justin Chatwin.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, released Friday, McAvoy said he was "glad" the hit show had been remade.
Seven minutes into the 43-minute instalment discussing his latest movie, Speak No Evil, talk turned to remakes, as his new offering is based on a 2022 Danish film.
Asked about his attitude towards remakes, McAvoy said: "I've been remade. I've been remade in America and I'm glad, because, although I made a TV show in the U.K. that everybody loved and was like a cult hit, and people went crazy for it, people in America weren't really going to watch that.
"To them, obscure... so British it was alienating to them, so the fact they remade it—it's Shameless that show—I was fine with."
He continued: "Was it weird for me to watch? Totally. There was a guy playing my part, I think he's the guy in The Bear now, and he was doing stuff that I improvised on the day.
"And you're like, 'Wow, they've really like taken it...' I think they then went off and did their own amazing stuff that was different to what we did."
He was referring to actor Jeremy Allen White, who played Philip "Lip" Gallagher, the oldest Gallagher son, for a decade.
McAvoy likened screen adaptations to taking on a play: "I've done Macbeth and I've done tons of plays—I did not remake them, they don't get remade, you just do your version of it and that's what we do in a film. We're telling the same story differently and we're going to tell it as our relationship, as our response to the material."
He went on to discuss Speak No Evil, a psychological horror written and directed by James Watkins.
He portrays Paddy opposite Mackenzie Davis (Louise), a couple invited by another pair to their country house.
McAvoy added: "This really great film didn't reach a massive worldwide audience unfortunately, and so there is still, I think, people out there who would enjoy this story who would not watch a foreign language film if they're in an English-speaking country."
He suggested it would also hopefully encourage people to go back and watch the original, which featured Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch.
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