'My Son': James McAvoy Will Improv His Way Through A Missing Person Thriller

James McAvoy (Split, The Chronicles of Narnia, Wanted) is set to star in a new version of My Son, a French missing person thriller which initially came out in 2017. Here's the interesting part: McAvoy won't be given a script or any lines of dialogue, so he'll essentially be blindly making his way through the narrative in real time on the set.The Hollywood Reporter brings word that both Claire Foy (The Girl in the Spider's Web) and James McAvoy will be starring in My Son, which has French filmmaker Christian Carion on board to direct this remake after he helmed the original movie, which was called Mon Garçon (French for "My Son"). McAvoy will play "a father whose son goes missing, leading him to travel to the town where his ex-wife (Foy) lives in search of answers to the mystery."

But just like in the original French thriller, which starred Guillaume Canet (Love Me If You Dare, Tell No One) in the lead role, the fascinating twist here is that Foy and the rest of the actors and crew members will know exactly what is happening (or what is supposed to happen) over the arc of the story, while McAvoy will be the only one wandering through the narrative and trying to solve the mystery one step at a time. Check out the trailer for the original version below:

As you can see, Canet was able to get into some pretty intense-looking moments involving flames and fight sequences, so presumably this won't be a purely exploratory process for McAvoy – one assumes he might explore an idea in an early take, and he'll collaborate with everyone to refine it and push it to its safest limits in future takes as the production progresses.

"James will be doing the detective work of the film in real time, on camera, to create real tension for this thriller" said STXfilms motion picture group chairman Adam Fogelson in a statement. "We like to support bold and innovative storytelling like My Son, and Claire could not be a more spectacular or exciting choice for this film which is certain to thrill audiences."

Carion will produce alongside Laure Irrman, Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua, Rebecca O'Brien, and Marc Butan. STXfilms has taken the North American and other foreign rights to this remake, including in UK, Italy, Benelux, Latin America, Spain, Australia, and China. Production is slated to get underway in Scotland sometime in November.