"You make good films all the time and they never see the light of day, so no, I didn’t think about that kind of thing. But I was very certain that it was a great performance."

Last King director praises James McAvoy - Jan 13 2007
Director Kevin Macdonald has praised The Last King Of Scotland star James McAvoy’s performance - and says he deserved his Bafta nomination.

The 28-year-old, who was named rising star by Bafta last year, received a nomination for best supporting actor, one of five mentions for the acclaimed film about Idi Amin.

"It’s particularly pleasing to see James get much deserved recognition for his performance - which has so often been over-shadowed by Forest’s extraordinary turn as Idi Amin - a more obviously ’awards friendly’ part," said Kevin.

"And to be up there with such films as Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed for Best Film - well you couldn’t ask for a better compliment to this small British film."

He added: "I couldn’t be happier to see Last King get so many Bafta noms."

Forest Whitaker also gets a Bafta nod for his role, as well as nominations for best film and outstanding British film.

James McAvoy’s star-struck secret - Nov 7 2006
James McAvoy has come a long way since Shameless - but the actor admits that he still turns into an embarrassed fan around his A-list colleagues.

The star of new movie Starter For Ten says: "Now and again, I get really star-struck. I just met Emma Thompson at the Toronto Film Festival and I got really shaky and quite silly and nervous," he confides.

And he says that Tom Hanks, who produced Starter For Ten, had a similar effect on him.

"Tom Hanks kind of always makes me nervous and I’ve met him a good few times now over a couple of different projects. He’s been my producer twice now and I still feel like a pr*** whenever I’m around him," the actor laughs.

It’s not just Hollywood royalty either - James says he was hugely excited to discover that Catherine Tate would be playing his mother in the new film.

But despite being a huge fan of her hit show, the actor made sure he kept his cool - and kept his impressions of her iconic characters to himself.

"Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t go down very well, so I stayed away from doing that," he grins.

See photos of  th UK premiere of ’Starter For Ten’.