I just read a VERY interesting post by someone in the IMDB messageboard today. I don't post there and have just recently started lurking. I wonder if it's one of you who posted this? Anyway, I just love this eye-witness account of James watching Anne-Marie acting on stage. I'll quote the whole post but the part about Anne-Marie is toward the bottom. What a sweet, sweet husband!
Long story: I hadn't really thought much about him at all until recently. I was aware of his work, and thought Last King of Scotland was frighteningly good, but that was really the end of it. But that was before he held the door open for me.

This summer, I went to see Shaw's Saint Joan at the National Theatre here in London. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/Saint%20Joan+24406.twl I was reading a little interview with Anne-Marie Duff, who I had heard good things about in theatre gossip, but never seen. It mentioned that she was married to McAvoy, which I thought was vaguely interesting, and then promptly forgot.

So on August 2nd, off my friend Elizabeth and I go to see Saint Joan, and it is incredible. Really breathtakingly good. Anne-Marie is truly a furious, incandescent talent, and I finally understood why so many people have been excited about her work.

During the interval, I scramble for the bar to snag a couple of glasses of wine before it becomes a complete scrum, and as I whip through the crowds, I notice a fellow leaning against a railing about ten feet away. He looks familiar for some reason, but I can't quite place him. Oh well. Wine clutched in both hands, I go out onto the balcony overlooking the Thames, and it's a beautiful warm summer evening, a rosy glow over the river. Elizabeth says to me, "You know, I think that guy from Starter for Ten is here," and it clicked. Ohhhh, of course. He's married to...right. Aw, sweet. He's come to see her.

And at that very moment, he comes out onto the balcony, and, standing about three feet away, he's chatting to some guy and having a lovely little ciggie in the fading pink light. I have to keep my back to him to stop myself from staring. He looks quite normal. A bit scruffy, but in a nice way.

When we go back to out seats, we realise that he's sitting across the aisle from us. I'd been completely oblivious before. Typical.

And oh my God, it was when I glanced over at him occasionally during the second half that I fell in love. He was just so mesmerized by Anne-Marie. He didn't take his eyes off her for a second. When she came out to take her bows, he leapt up and was the first to give her a standing ovation. The pride just radiated off of him; he couldn't stop smiling. Totally flipping adorable. Elizabeth and I both agreed that we wanted to pinch both of their cheeks and eat them up. And then we wanted them to go home and make lots and lots and lots of babies.

Oh, and he's quite gentlemanly: he very patiently held the door for me as we left, even though I was about ten feet behind him, talking distractedly about the play, and he probably wanted to make tracks before the crowd surged. And they say chivalry is dead...


~Theresa~
Just *slightly* obsessed with JM

image