James McAvoy has a busy year coming up with three new projects set to see the light of day. The actor, who has recently been receiving rave for reviews for his performances on stage in the Shakespeare play Macbeth, will be starring in Welcome To The Punch – a London cop thriller starring Mark Strong. Then he stars for Danny Boyle in the action thriller Trance, and then finally he appears in Filth, based on the Irvine Welsh novel.

McAvoy spoke to contactmusic.com about his upcoming role in Welcome To The Punch, and commented that he was drawn to the role because of “the fact that it seemed very determined not to be your usual geezer, gangster, "street", apples-and-pears London crime thriller.” Continuing, he added of the Eran Creevy-directed film “I've seen lots of them be great as well, but its willingness to not rely on gritty British realism is something that seemed refreshing. And although it is definitely taking strong points from the Hong Kong action genre movies and from Michael Mann, which Eran is totally open about, it felt quite fresh in terms of what Britain produces.”

James McAvoy

James McAvoy has a busy 2013 on his hands

Also in the interview, McAvoy spoke about the differences between performing in front of the camera and on stage, and admitted he found it hard to pick which of the two he preferred. “I think when you're in a really good play, there's nothing better” he said, “But put me in a bad production of a bad play, and please God get me to the nearest X-Men movie!”

Read the full interview here.

Check out the trailer to Welcome To The Punch.