James McAvoy may replace Michael Fassbender in the Danny Boyle film Trance

Brad Sturdivant June 23rd, 2011

James McAvoy (X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) is apparently in early talks to replace Michael Fassbender (X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) in the Danny Boyle directed film TRANCE. TRANCE is being pegged as a thriller and follows an assistant at an auction house who is behind a heist with a team of thieves. When the assistant suffers a severe blow to his cranium, he wakes up with amnesia which is a problem since he is the only person who knows the exact location of the painting that was stolen. The assistant is then forced to undergo sessions of hypnotism while the gang and their leader (McAvoy) suspect he is playing both sides.

The film is set to shoot in September, but then Mr. Boyle will be taking a break to work as one of the creative heads for the 2012 Olympics in London. After he’s finished with that project, he will go into post-production on TRANCE and then it should be released sometime in 2013. This is obviously a very rare occurrence in Hollywood and it’ll be interesting to see how the film comes out since there will be such a huge lapse between shooting and release. Oh well, I guess Danny Boyle has turned into one of those directors that can get away with these types of stunts and since he’s so talented and has such a specific point-of-view the film will probably turn out fine.

James McAvoy