James McAvoy felt like director Robert Redford was “slightly disappointed” he cast him in The Conspirator.

In Redford’s 2010 movie, the Scottish star played lawyer Captain Frederick Aiken, who reluctantly defends Mary Surratt, the only female conspirator charged in the Abraham Lincoln assassination.

Reflecting on the shoot on the Restless Natives podcast, McAvoy confessed that he and actor/director Redford had different approaches to his character.

“Nothing bad about him, he’s an amazing actor (and) great director, (but) I think he wanted the kind of performance he would give and he didn’t know how to get that out of me, probably because I didn’t want to do that,” he explained.

“There was never a clash, there was never anything bad, I think there was just sort of disappointment and frustration that I felt (from Redford while) working with him. Even when we premiered it, I still felt like he was just slightly disappointed that he cast me.”

The Split star explained that he always likes to “tell the story” instead of simply being “a truthful person on camera” and perhaps Redford thought this approach was over the top.

“I think he felt I was doing too much. This could be totally unfair to Robert Redford, but I think he felt I was just too dynamically active or engaged in the storytelling process,” he shared.

The Conspirator also starred Robin Wright, Evan Rachel Wood and Kevin Kline.

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