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Hollywood actor James McAvoy and the

Bow Drill in "Speak No Evil" 2024

During the summer of 2023 I had the pleasure of working with James McAvoy as a Bushcraft Advisor and Performance Coach on his latest feature film "Speak No Evil".

I was asked by the OSCAR and BAFTA winning Production Designer James Price (Poor Things, The Iron Claw) to act as the bushcraft, friction fire and foraging instructor for cast and crew.

It was a thrilling experience working with James Price and helping him and his team to realise the Director’s vision.

I worked with the Production Design, Art, Greens, Props and SFX departments to set up an authentic woodland camp scene with a working fire, pot hangers and pots.  This scene involved the cast - Aisling Franciosi, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNair and Alix West Lefler, sitting around the camp and being taught by James McAvoy's character, Paddy, how to make a fire by friction, using the bow drill method. 

My role involved teaching James how to do the bow drill for real, on camera, with no special effects tricks or cheating in the edit. I also prepared an authentic bushcraft camp scene, for which I set up a 'Lazy Person Tripod' system with a few Billy cans hanging on pivot pot hangers.

I was also responsible for providing a realistic rucksack with kit for James’ character, which contained pots and pans, an axe and a bow drill set.

The foraging scene was trickier to accomplish, mainly due to the fact that filming was taking place during the summer months, while the scene being filmed was set during Autumn. However the props department did an amazing job at creating an authentic Autumn scene where I advised on what would be available to forage in this setting.

It was an excellent experience working with the cast and the crew. The talented Director James Watkins was very obliging, and it was great to meet the Producer Paul Richie and Cinematographer Tim Maurice-Jones. 

On the day of filming the camp fire scene at Eastnor Obelisk in the Malvern Hills, I only had a limited amount of one to one time with James to coach him with the bow drill friction fire method and how to convert the ember into flame with a tinder bundle. My main concern was that it may not be enough time for James to master the skill sufficiently for the cameras.

I started by showing James how the bow drill works and explaining the component parts - bearing block, spindle, hearth board, ember pan and bow. I demonstrated the kneeling position, supporting the spindle arm and bowing technique, all of which are critical in producing an ember which then must be placed in a tinder bundle and blown into flame. It’s a difficult task for anyone on their first attempt, and I knew time was short for James to practice and then accomplish it on camera!

What reassured me was how quickly and proficiently James picked up all the skills of creating friction fire using the bow drill. On his first attempt, he produced an ember and blew the tinder bundle into flame. Achieving this with such proficiency on a first attempt is an awesome achievement.

When teaching the bow drill it's important to watch, offer advice and instruct with verbal commands. Little did I know that James was memorising them to use as his own dialogue in the upcoming scene. 

"Start slowly to build the heat, only when you start to see the smoke you need to speed up slightly. If it squeaks you need press harder, and when you see the black coals gathering in the notch you need to go as fast as possible while applying more pressure with the spindle."

He remembered every single word I said, which he then delivered, verbatim, on camera.

James then went on to produce an ember and flaming tinder bundle four more times on four different takes without any fails!

It was a real pleasure to watch him make five successful friction fires in a row - once in training with me and then four more times on camera. I was on standby behind the camera to leap in and offer advice or conclude the bow drill, fortunately I did not need to, as my coaching had done the job.

Thank you James for being so quick to learn a new skill and allowing me to teach you, what a great experience I had.