‘Speak No Evil’ remake star Scoot McNairy was onboard when he heard James McAvoy was in it. Then he watched the disturbing original.

Scoot McNairy and James McAvoy in “Speak No Evil” (2024).

“Speak No Evil” is, in many ways, a cautionary tale about being too polite.

The new film centers on Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis), American transplants living in London with their daughter, anxious preteen Agnes (Alix West Lefler). The Daltons become friendly with a brash and free-spirited British couple, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), when they meet the couple and their young son Ant (Dan Hough) while vacationing in Italy.

Initially, the uptight Daltons, who are at a crossroads in both their marriage and their professional lives, find Paddy and Ciara to be a breath of fresh air and almost an inspiration for how they can fix their own problems. When they’re invited to the English couple’s country home, the Daltons (and particularly Ben) are eager to use it as an escape to reinvigorate their relationship.

Things quickly go downhill when it becomes clear that Paddy and Ciara’s interest in the Daltons (and their own relationship with their son, Ant) is far more sinister than it initially appears.

In a new interview with B-17 ahead of the film’s release on Friday, McNairy discusses how he came aboard the project, which is a remake of the 2022 Danish film “Gæsterne” (literally, “The Guests” but marketed in its Sundance Film Festival premiere as “Speak No Evil”), and what he thought of the original.

How McNairy joined the ‘Speak No Evil’ remake

Alix West Lefler, Scoot McNairy, and Mackenzie Davis in “Speak No Evil” (2024).

McNairy, an acclaimed character actor known for past roles in “Killing Them Softly,” “Argo,” and the AMC series “Halt and Catch Fire,” was intrigued by the project when he found out that filmmaker James Watkins was at the helm and McAvoy was attached to star. He was excited to collaborate with them both, and that prompted his interest in checking out the original movie, which B-17 reporter Eammon Jacobs previously named one of the best new horror movies of 2022.

“I watched the original before I even read the James Watkins script,” McNairy told B-17.

The actor said he loved the original. In particular, he appreciated its tone and the simplicity of its plot (noteworthy for its nihilistic and disturbing ending).

In fact, as thrilling as the prospect of working with Watkins and McAvoy was, “watching the original is what got me really excited about being involved in this franchise,” McNairy said.

How the ‘Speak No Evil’ remake came about

So, how did the remake, released only two years after the original, come to pass in the first place? It all started with Blumhouse, the production company behind the new film.

According to the production notes, producer Jason Blum got a call from an executive at Universal Studios who’d seen the Danish movie at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was disturbed by it. Blum, in turn, was “floored” when he saw the movie, and put it in Watkins’ hands, already familiar with Watkins’ work on “Eden Lake” and “The Woman in Black.”

While Watkins took the crux and themes of the Danish movie, equal parts social satire and thriller, his film is a significant departure from the original.

He changes key details in the lead characters’ identities (making the Daltons Americans, while Paddy and Ciara are country Brits), and retools the entire third act to propel the audience to a new conclusion that’s shocking in a different way.

The result is a worthy remake, grounded by McAvoy’s deliciously unhinged performance as Paddy and McNairy’s pitch-perfect haplessness as Ben, that tells a similar story with a slightly different point.