Tobey Maguire explains why he chose to play the ‘creepiest, most depraved’ role in new film

Right now, you might be enjoying a lot of Christmas films, including new ones and some of the all-time classics.

But a film that has released in recent days, yesterday (23 December) to be exact, is comedy drama Babylon.

The Damien Chazelle film tells the story of the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity, just as Hollywood was starting out.

The film features a bunch of famous faces in its cast, including Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad, Margot Robbie as Nellie LaRoy and Tobey Maguire.

Maguire's role in particular has been much talked about in the buildup to the movie, with the Chazelle revealing that he got to choose what character he wanted to play.

Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo

He settled on James McKay - a drug-addled version of the mythical Charon - very different from the usual superhero-like characters we've see Maguire play.

As per Entertaiment Weekly, director Chazelle recalls Maguire picking out the character.

He said: "It's sort of funny now looking back, it was actually Tobey who picked out of this range of options this character, McKay, which was sort of the creepiest, the most depraved of all of them.

"I don't know what that says about Tobey, but that's what he picked."

Entertainment Weekly spoke to Maguire to get his side of the story as to why he decided to pick James McKay.

When asked by the outlet why out of all the roles in Babylon he chose that particular one, Maguire said: "Oh, that's a good question- I don't know.

"There was something kind of appealing about playing James, because he was unusual and I really liked the character.

"I liked the role that he plays in the story, and where he comes [into play], hoisting the film and these guys into that underbelly, into that world. It seemed like fun.

PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

"And I didn't have a really clear vision of what I would do, which was kind of exciting.

"There was just a lot of possibility in the characterisation."

Maguire admitted that there were other roles he could have taken instead that 'looked fun' but he knew that McKay was the one for him.

He said: "I just got pulled to McKay. And it's funny, too: Obviously once things are done, and you're looking at what other actors did in the other roles that were possibilities — and they're just so good — you go, Oh, I couldn't imagine anybody else having done that."