James McAvoy | with Trump's Shrinking Crowds, GOP Backlash Over LA & San Diego Comments, El-Sayed's Dare: A Closer Look

0:02In a new interview in New England, Patriots quarterback Drake May said he was a little bit skeptical that the moon landing was real and added, quote, I'm not really sure 200 % if we went there or not. So take it with a grain of salt because he doesn't think percentages are real either.

0:23From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, please enjoy this podcast edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers. On today's show, Seth chats with actor James McAvoy. But first, a closer look.

0:41Donald Trump is making life more difficult for Republicans in the midterms as he hits the campaign trail in deep red states and faces backlash for his comments about L.A. and San Diego. For more on this, it's time for a closer look.

0:56Trump has been holding rallies in solid red states like Nebraska and Oklahoma and say what you will about the polls, but he's been very encouraged by the crowds at his rallies. Who the hell fills up an arena like this for a midterm? First of all, I wouldn't say filling up an arena is proof you should be president. If anything, it proves you should be a monster truck, and you would make a great monster truck. You're loud, you steamroll whatever's in front of you, and you often make a face that looks like your radiator overheated. But hey, say what you want about Trump. he can draw a crowd. I'm sure every seat in that arena was filled, and he wouldn't be immediately fact-checked by the camera cutting to the upper deck.

1:35Who the hell fills up an arena like this for a midterm? For a midterm.

1:49And what they do is, in the upper rows, you'll see it, they sort of migrate downward, and they all stay here by the time, We max out everything that you've ever seen. There's never been anything like it. I'm sorry, there's never been anything like totally average? We can see the empty seats and it's fine. It's still a decent crowd, but don't oversell it. You can't say there's never been anything like it because there has. It's, in fact, the most like an arena audience I've ever seen. And you can tell even Trump realized he was overselling it when he saw the empty seats and came up with this weird explanation.

2:26And what they do is in the upper rows, you'll see it, they sort of migrate downward, and they all stay here by the time. We max out everything. Sure, but the upper deck only comes down when there are empty seats closer to the stage. You can't move down if the arena is full. You would never say to a friend in the upper deck, hey, check it out, should we go down there and sit in their laps? And this wasn't the first time Trump's encountered a smaller crowd than he expected. Last week, he was in deep red Alabama and had the same problem. Here was the scene from inside the venue at Trump's big Alabama rally tonight.

3:03Trump couldn't even fill half the seats in the arena. For context here, that venue holds 10 ,000 people. And when Trump kicked off his presidential campaign in 2015, he was able to fill an arena three times that size in the exact same city. Now, you might say, hey, I bet every president starts drawing smaller crowds for their rallies the longer they're president, but the fact is, we don't really know because most presidents stop doing rallies. They don't have time because they're too busy being president. You should try it. By the way, one of the reasons, one of the reasons you probably had more people willing to drive out and see you in 2015 was because the average gas price was$2.43 that year.

3:47Thanks, Obama! Oh, wait, sorry, sorry, I said that wrong. Thanks, Obama. Also, you've been doing the same material for 10 years straight No wonder people are bailing I mean, who wants to see that? Everyone's very familiar with your riff on how toilets don't flush Or windmills kill birds Or most people don't know there's a B in the word dumb I mean, dude's got to get some new material Even Bob Dylan doesn't just play his greatest hits And Dylan is an apt comparison Because he's the only person who's harder to understand than Trump Like, seriously, we've all heard Trump say stuff like this Saudi Arabia and Russia You can easily imagine those words Coming out of Bob Dylan's mouth My voice was way closer to Bob Dylan's than that harmonica was to the way he plays harmonica.

4:53I was like, what I am doing is offensive to this legend, and then you guys made it 100 times worse.

5:01Blowing in the wind.

5:06Trump's been spending his time mostly in states like Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Nebraska, because Republicans in close races don't want him around. New York Republican Mike Lawler, one of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in Congress, was very blunt when asked if he'd like Trump to come to his district, a district that went for Kamala Harris in 2024. You need somebody who's going to stand on their own two feet. I've done it. Are there plans then for the president to come back and campaign again? No. Okay, all right. Not only was the no a diss to Trump, I'm wondering if he was also throwing shade with you need somebody who's going to stand on their own two feet.

5:43Have you seen how Trump is standing on his own two feet recently? That's how you turn your body when your feet are stuck in the concrete. We just poured the new White House driveway, and I came out to look at it first thing this morning. I was so excited, I walked right by a sign that said, wet cement. So Republicans and competitive racists don't want Trump around, which is why he's soothing himself with lies about his crowds and deep red states. But even Trump had to admit he is starting to worry about some of the closer contests. We're worried about Michigan. We're worried about Texas. We're worried about a few states.

6:18But it's all about 35 different contests. Not states, contests. And I'm going to just about all. I'm going to Alaska. That's how badly Republicans want to distance themselves from Trump. They're sending him to Alaska. The GOP has him doing his next rally on an ice floe in the Bering Sea. Get a load of that. Get a load of that. You know what that is right there? That's my graphics team trying to me. They think it's so funny to put Trump next to penguins, but then I get a week of YouTube comments saying, oh, actually, there are no penguins in Alaska. Get your head out of your ass, graphics department.

7:00You'd have a better chance of seeing a penguin in Michigan than Alaska. Republicans aren't sending Trump to closely fought swing states with lots of independent voters. In fact, Trump made that comment while he was campaigning in deep red Oklahoma. And for some reason, he called up some random dudes he saw on TV.

7:46Oklahoma studs. Look at these three guys. These are studs. Come on up here, fellas. Come here. Wow. Ah, yes, you know what they say about the Republican Party. It's the party of family values, fiscal responsibility, and thick, beefy studs. Just a reminder, if any of us behaved like Donald Trump, we'd never hear the end of it from Donald Trump. If I danced like this to the YMCA and then said, bring out the studs, he'd eviscerate me. And FYI, I got studs. I'll bring them out every night. I just don't make a big show of it. I mean, this week's been a stud parade. Affleck, Stan, author George Saunders.

8:29But Trump supporters don't care what Trump does. If he came out on stage in a studded collar and assless chaps, they wouldn't blink an eye. Now, I know what you're thinking. Hey, Seth, all chaps are assless. If they weren't assless, they'd be pants. Don't be like that. We're just trying to have fun. Sorry, I'm getting distracted. Well, let's get back to the rally. Let's see those red-hot studs. I think you said there were three of them, two of them, maybe they were twins. Come on up here, fellas. Come here. Wow. Come here.

9:18Thank you, President Trump, for all you do every day. You work harder than any American I know. Absolute honor of a life. Time to move the greatest president this country has ever had. That's the real deal. Thank you. No, I saw them on the... What do you think of Trump? It's like, those are real... Those are real people. Man. I like how after they came on stage, Trump downgraded them from big, strong studs to real people. He's like a DJ at a male strip club who started with, ladies, get your dollar bills ready, and ended with, put your dollar bills back in your purse. I forgot today was bring your dad to the strip club night.

10:01So Republicans are sending Trump to red states to limit the damage he can do. Notice he's not going to places like Maine or Michigan. In fact, Michigan Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, actually offered Trump a very gracious invite to his state. Donald Trump was asked today about his campaign schedule. Now, largely, he's been going to red states, deep Oklahoma. I think he's in Nebraska. Donald, come to Michigan. Yeah. Please, I'm asking you, come to Michigan. I think you are too afraid to come to Michigan because you know when I beat your candidate and you came, I'm actually beating you. So, Donald, welcome to Michigan.

10:34I dare you to come. It's so funny to dare Trump. It's so funny to dare Trump to do something he hasn't done. While you're at it, you should also dare him to read a book, ride a bike, eat a raw vegetable. Maybe he will go to Michigan. Who knows? Maybe Republicans will find a secluded spot for him to campaign where he can't do any damage. I'm coming to Michigan, and I'm holding a rally in the middle of the lake. Oh.

11:08But if Trump thinks he can retreat to his red state safe spaces, he's wrong, because even in Nebraska, he's getting tough questions about how his policies have hurt cattle ranchers. Mr. President, we're in cattle country here. This is the number one beef state in the country, and it was striking to see the universal condemnation across Nebraska for your choice to import 300 ,000 metric tons of foreign beef with no tariffs and try to sell it at a lower price. What message do you have to ranchers across Nebraska who are struggling to make a profit? Now, I think Nebraska used to be the number one beef state I'm pretty sure if you want that USDA prime rib now you get your beefcake in Oklahoma, yeah!

11:50Let's bring out the twins?

11:57The Trump must have known this question was coming He imported cheap mystery meat from foreign countries which undercut American cattle ranchers, and now they're furious. He did it in order to bring down high beef prices. They're hurting him in the polls. So I'm sure he was ready with a clear-cut explanation that put everyone's minds in Nebraska at ease. So I have been better to ranchers and to farmers than any president in history, but the price for the consumer has gone through the roof. So on a very short-term basis, I brought some in from a couple of different countries, I guess Argentina, Brazil, just a little bit.

12:30It really became unacceptable to the voter. and we do have to get elected. But don't worry, we're announcing a new program to help our cattle ranchers. It's called Farmers Using Cattle, Keeping Other Farmers Fed, a.k.a. F*** off. And Nebraska is not. Nebraska is not the only place where Trump is getting tough questions. He's also been getting grilled about his bizarre comment in which he mused about Iran nuking L.A. and San Diego, a comment he repeated at a rally on Wednesday. You want to see trauma? You want to see problems? And I said it the other day, Let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way.

13:08Let them hit. You want to see a horror show? You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles. And you want to see some bad things happen. You want to see a country that would be in free fall. We're not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country. We're not letting that happen. Okay, I get that you're spinning a hypothetical scenario by saying, what if they nuke L.A.? but throwing in San Diego makes it weirdly specific. You got something against San Diego, bro? You know, Wednesday's Close to Look, I compared you to Brick from Anchorman, but I'm starting to think you're actually Ron Burgundy.

13:44Go yourself, San Diego. Now, I think what likely happened is they showed Trump like a simulation of a nuclear attack on L.A., and someone said the devastation will reach all the way to San Diego, and he said, oh, good, I'll put that in my hypothetical, and they said, what hypothetical? He said, don't worry about it, I'm cooking up something, that I'm going to say on stage, it'll be super clear and won't freak anyone out. But for real, like, why are you even talking about this? No one wants to turn on TV and hear the president say the words, you want to see a horror show? I mean, are you the president or the kid from Stand By Me?

14:16Want to see a dead body? There's one in the Senate right now.

14:27I'm not dead. Ha ha ha, sure you're not, Mitch. By the way, if you're confused or alarmed by Trump's comments, you weren't the only one. Even Republicans had to come out and denounce them. Take, for example, Republican Jim Desmond, who's running to replace the retiring Republican Daryl Issa in California's redrawn 48th congressional district. Desmond immediately had to come out and condemn the comments about the annihilation of his potential constituents. Quote, I vehemently disagree with President Trump's comments. No American city is expendable And no American family should ever be treated as collateral damage Well, that's cool, man Thank you for clarifying you're against nuking L.A.

15:05and San Diego I'm glad to hear Republicans finally stand up to Trump On the issue of no American city is expendable You guys have been struggling to find a message for the midterms You should def slap that one on a sign Even Republicans felt compelled to denounce Trump's comments And he can't escape questions from reporters Usually, he has an answer for everything even if it doesn't make sense. So let's see him deftly parry this one. We're building hundreds of factories and plants all over. That's a great merger. I'm glad they let it go. What did you mean when you said let them take out Los Angeles and San Diego?

15:41Damn. You know it's bad when Donald Trump, of all people, stops talking. I didn't think that was possible. It's like going to Disneyland and seeing Mickey Mouse sad, just smoking a cigarette, refusing to take pictures with five-year-olds. He's like...

16:02-"Mickey, can we get a picture?"

16:16Republicans and close races don't want to be seen with Trump because he's more unpopular than he's ever been for many reasons. People hate high gas prices. the war in Iran, the corruption, even his renovations at the White House. Much like the East Wing, Trump has taken our entire government and stripped it down to the... Studs.

16:37This has been A Closer Look.

16:47I'm Kestidard, it's a very talented actor. You know from movies like Speak No Evil, Split, The Last Gang of Scotland, Atonement and the X-Men franchise. He makes his directorial debut and appears in California's Ski Man, which is in theaters October 9th. Please welcome back to the show our friend James McAvoy!

17:07Hello, friend! How's it going? I'm well, thank you. Congrats on the film. What was that? That was a really lovely welcome. Thank you, guys. They're a very lovely group. And this is your directorial debut. It is. Congratulations. Based on a true lie I've heard it be told. Yeah, a true story, which was one of the biggest parts of the story is that the boys told a lie. It's about two guys from Scotland, which is my country, and they were wild into West Coast American hip-hop. But they did it in their own way. They did it with their own Scottish accents. And they answered this big, huge, open audition with a big, huge record label.

17:47And they got about 30 seconds through their first track, and they got laughed out of the room. and they were called the rapping proclaimers to their faces. And I know, I know. By the way, I am here for a rapping proclaimers movie. Yeah, same, same. And, well, they were devastated. They were kids, you know, super talented. They took the note, they went away, reinvented themselves, method acted these two Californian skater dudes and then later got a deal with the same label that discarded them. Hatched this plan to cut a record, get on MTV, And then when they go on MTV, they come clean and they embarrass and show up the kind of bias of the label.

18:28But then when they get that, they get to that point is whether they're going to do it or not. I mean, it is amazing that they pulled it off for as long as they did. But of course, there is that burden of, you know, succeeding, but also like having to live the lie. But also as well, like they did it. And the real story is like they did it for two and a half years and they were in character 24 seven, even when they were on their own. And I don't know if you know many method actors, but it's not that good for your head. No, it's not good. And I don't know any method actors who've done the full two and a half year.

19:00I've done two and a half months with method actors, and I feel like I need to go to a mental asylum. So the guys, it's a really fun, funny story. It's a crowd-pleaser movie, but the true story is that the ultimate price was paid by the guys, and it goes to quite a mortal place. But balancing those two things Was kind of the trick But I've got to say thank you to the real Billy and the real Gavin For trusting me to tell those stories Yeah, it's fantastic You had to show up and I'm sure you had a little bit of extra stress About your first day of directing And people maybe over the years said You know James, you would have an eye for directing And then this is how you showed up Down one eye Yeah You're going into your first day Of shooting, trying to like Have some authority and have some, like, you know, a bit of command with your cast, these young actors who are inexperienced and stuff, and I rock up, like, looking like Pirate Pete.

19:57Because I had this chalazian. I don't know if you've ever... Chalazian, yeah. A chalazian. It's like a... Kind of like a blocked tear duct, but slightly different. And it can really make your eyes swell up. Plus, I had to be in the movie, like, two weeks later, and I was like, geez, if I need surgery on this eye, because that's what happened the time I got one before. I was like, ah. So I got one of those hot pockets that you tear open the thing and they get hot for eight hours, slammed it on my eye and put an eye patch on. And I'm sitting there with these young actors going, so I just think that I want you to go deeper.

20:25I want you to go, I really want to feel you exposed. And they're just looking at me like I'm an absolute idiot. I was like, I really need to get rid of this eye patch. Being an actor, do you feel like you were good at giving notes to actors? I thought I would be. Yeah. I thought I'd be like some actor whisperer. I'd be like, come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That just looks like an actor tickler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not good. I think you probably lost him right there, yeah. I would go to that instead. That I understand. An actor tickler. So most of your time on set was with HR, is what I'm getting at.

20:57Yeah, I mean, if I was a director in the 70s, I'd be fine. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I thought I'd be great. And then I kind of quickly learned within about 24 hours that I should say less. Yeah. Because I was messing them up. Because you'd be like, okay, let's go again after I'd given them what I wanted them to do. And we'd go again. Action. and they just do it the exact same way. And I'd be like, what? But I told them. And then realized the more you tell, the more you speak, the less it's theirs. So I just left them alone. That's a good idea. They're both, they're amazing in the film. That's great.

21:26I have more to ask. We'll be right back with James after this commercial break.

21:33Welcome back. We're here with James McAvoy. Obviously, you're telling a Scottish story and you're shooting it in Scotland. And I was reading it. It was important for you to show maybe the Scottish neighborhoods we don't usually see on film. Yeah, look, I'm from what you guys call a project. We call it a council scheme, which is why it's called California Scheming. And this is set in Dundee, which is not my town, but, like, similar to it. But usually when you get things set, like in projects a year or schemes back home, you know, they're usually a bit gritty and a bit sort of, I don't know, down.

22:06They're a bit, there's miserablism in it. And there's, like, a kind of pornography of poverty. Do you know what I mean? And I didn't want to do that. I wanted to do something that was, you know, entertaining and full of aspirations and hope. Because my life growing up in a council scheme and a project was full of adventure and opportunity and possibility and peril and chases and fights and sex and like everything, you know. And I wanted to portray that with the kind of harsher realities of it. But that was something that was really important to me. Speaking of fighting, is it true at the Toronto premiere of this, you got in a little dust up?

22:44Yeah, some guy reviewed my movie badly. No, um... Beware. No, I... Yeah, it was the end. I'd been there for, like, six days. It was the longest I've ever spent at a festival. And I was just sitting at the bar with the two producers, and we were just having a little round-up goodbye. Well done. We sold the movie. It's superb. And, um, this guy, apparently, was just getting ejected. He'd been really... He was behaving badly. He'd drank too much. And he was getting ejected by the bouncer. and as he was walking past me, I had my back to him. He was coming past. He just cold-cocked the first guy I could reach.

23:18And he smacked me as hard as he could in the back of the head. And I was like, I looked at my producer there, my producer there, and I was like, uh-huh, uh-huh. I was like, that was you, that was you. And then when I looked, I saw him going out, and I was like, uh-huh. And I went from zero to 90 in about 3.3 seconds, and I went flying for the guy. And then my two producers grabbed me, and by the time they grabbed me, I went from 90 to zero and was like, I need to go back to London. I need to be with my wife. and kids. Yeah. And if I'm with the police, it's not going to happen. So I went down. But he turned around and just saw me what looked like getting held back.

23:50Yeah. So then he was like, and he came at me. And he did this thing. I don't know if you've ever been in a fight. And like, it used to happen a lot when you were kids, but it still happens as adults, apparently. Which is, you're in a fight with somebody and they start telling you where they're from. They're not telling you, I'm going to mess you up. They just start going, I'm from, he was Mexican. He goes like, I'm from Mexico. And I'm thinking, how ridiculous. And then at the exact same time going, well, well, I'm from Drumchapel. It's just like, what's next, you're going to give your zip code and your postal address.

24:18It's such a weird instinct. I love how you really went down to your neighborhood. You're like, I'm going to give you... Yeah, I guess if you're from Westeros, you're like, for the Lannisters, for the Dothraki. And if you're from Drumchapel, you're like, I'm from Drumchapel. These guys, obviously, they had to lean into... They had to give up their Scottish accent. Did you ever have a time in your career where, you know, you had people recommend, like, maybe you should try to not have one. Yeah, definitely. It used to be much stronger. It used to be at acting school, they would knock it out of you.

24:51And so, the whole generations and generations of amazing Scottish actors who sound like they're in Downton Abbey. Yeah. Because they were told to lose it when they were 18. For me, it's slightly different. I mean, and also my job is about playing other people. Right, sure. But definitely, I mean, I've been acting for 32 years, and I think I've played, like, six Scottish parts. I remember I did a production of Macbeth once on screen, and I was playing the Scottish play, playing the Scottish king. So I played it Scottish, and the director said to me, every now and again, James, I'm just going to have to go like this.

25:23And I went... I was like, what do you mean, like, the volume? Am I being too loud? And he went, no, Scottish. And I was like... I mean, it really is actually kind of absurd and funny, but it's also like, you're just completely, like, just seeing my accent and nothing else. Look, there's worse kinds of bias. Yeah. Absolutely But it is reductive nonetheless Yeah well it's really great That we get to hear them all On this film Congrats again man Thank you Thank you Welcome to the World of Interactive It is now to go Everybody's California Skamers and theaters I tell them that

25:58Late Night with Seth Meyers Airs weeknights on NBC At 1235, 1135 Central Original music on the Late Night Podcast Is by the HE Band Don't forget to follow The handle Late Night Seth On social media And tell your friends To subscribe to the Late Night Podcast wherever they get their podcasts.