EXCLUSIVE: Watch a 'Split' Deleted Scene Featuring James McAvoy's Creepiest Character
As one of the most successful films of 2017 so far, M. Night Shyamalan’s Split is widely considered a stellar return to form for the Academy Award-nominated writer/director, in addition to boasting a tour de force performance from its star, James McAvoy.
McAvoy portrays a man with 24 distinct personalities who has kidnapped three young girls – but being a Shyamalan film, not everything is what it seems. The film – a hit with critics and fans alike – walks a tightrope between humor and terror with McAvoy’s many diverse characters, particularly Miss Patricia, a stern religious woman with an unsettlingly calm demeanor.
Despite McAvoy also embodying the ill-tempered and obsessive-compulsive Dennis or the naïve child Hedwig, Miss Patricia was the undisputed favorite among the cast and crew.
“She’s a kinky nun and nuns are just terrifying,” McAvoy told ET earlier this year. “There’s something about their robes I find scary.”
“The funnest character to be around is Patricia for sure,” Shyamalan agreed. “When you’re in the room with Patricia, when James is playing Patricia, it’s hilarious and scary -- he plays her very severe and stoic.”
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“Patricia is also slightly kinky and that sort of unwavering faith – her faith is kind of misplaced as well,” McAvoy added.
Anya Taylor-Joy, one of the young girls held captive by McAvoy’s multiple personalities, undoubtedly agreed with them both.
“Patricia is just so desperate to be a part of the girls, that I think she has a sort of fascination with that, and it was creepy,” the actress said.
For audiences who also had affection for Patricia, fear not (or maybe you should?), there’s actually more of her that you didn’t get to see.
In ET’s exclusive deleted scene from the film, Patricia is at her creepiest while educating her young captors on “carcass feeding.”
“This is the scene that we found Patricia,” Shyamalan says when introducing the clip. “James and I were trying to figure out who is Patricia, what does she sound like, who is she?”
“He read this page as Patricia for the first time, so for me, this dialogue that you are about to see is always the birth of Patricia,” he adds.
This scene and other deleted moments can be viewed in full when Split is released on Blu-ray/DVD and Digital HD on Tuesday, April 18.