20th Century Fox / YouTubeHair today, gone tomorrow for Professor X...
James McAvoy shaved his own head—gorgeous, flowing locks and all—for his role of Charles Xavier in X-Men: Apocalypse, as seen in a behind-the-scenes video posted Tuesday—and in front of Patrick Stewart, who originated the role of the bald character on the big screen!
"Come on, let's get follicularly challenged," McAvoy jokes in the video, which was shot on day 10 of filming, almost exactly one year ago.
This marks the third time McAvoy will play Professor X, the telepathic and telekinetic leader of the X-Men mutants. Stewart, who is bald in real life, played the role in the original X-Men trilogy and reprised the part in the 2014 time travel-oriented X-Men: Days of Future Past, the most recent film and the second part of a new series that focuses on the characters when they were younger.
"Well, I'm gonna have to shave my head for this movie at some point," McAvoy says in the video. "To be honest with you, it's something I'm excited about."
Stewart watched the proceedings via FaceTime.
"Why don't you save lots of it and send it to me—I can make some use of it," he jokes in the video.
McAvoy tells him he has shaved his head before, but this marked the first time he has done it sober.
"You look terrific," Stewart says. "How does it feel?"
"I'm finally understanding what it's like to be you," McAvoy replies.
"The difference is that I looked like that when I was 19," Stewart says.
McAvoy later said he felt like the actor was "handing the baton over, like handing the clippers over."
The video also shows director Bryan Singer using an iPhone to snap a photo of McAvoy with his new shaved head. He had posted the picture on Instagram last year, one the day the clip was shot.
"#Xavier reborn (in process ) #jamesmcavoy #XMEN #XMenApocalypse @xmenmovies," Singer wrote.
X-Men: Apocalypse also stars returning actors Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Lucas Till and Evan Peters as well as newcomers Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Lana Condor, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Olivia Munn and Oscar Isaac, who plays the main villain. The movie is set for release on May 27.