Here's Why James McAvoy Didn't Launch An 'Atonement' Oscars Campaign

James McAvoy answered a question many fans might have been wondering.

The 43-year-old X-Men actor delivered a critically acclaimed performance in 2007′s Atonement. However, when it was time to launch a campaign for the the Oscars, he refused to do so.

He explained the reasoning behind his decision in a recent interview.

Click inside to find out what James McAvoy had to say…

James told British GQ that he didn’t want to do jump through hoops the way he’d seen his The Last King of Scotland co-star Forest Whitaker do during his Oscars campaign.

“[With the Last King of Scotland campaign], it was made clear to me that I was doing it for the benefit of other people. And I was totally down with that,” he told the publication. “But by the time Atonement came along, I was 26 or 27, and I was just like, ‘I can’t do it, I’m not doing it, I don’t wanna do it.’”

“I didn’t want to play that part. I’ll push the film, I’ll try and get bums on seats. But the campaign, I felt… I felt cheap,” he explained.

Did you see James‘ biggest critique of the X-Men movies?