James McAvoy “stunned” Atonement was declared a hit by critics

Atonement star James McAvoy says he was stunned when film critics declared the Oscar-nominated movie a hit.

The Scottish actor says that he and co-star Keira Knightley knew they were working on something "special" but they didn't anticipate it's huge success.

McAvoy says: "We suspected we were doing something special.

"But that doesn't guarantee anything. So we were a bit stunned by the smashing reviews."

The 28-year-old made his comments during an interview with US magazine Parade.

He was promoting his new movie, Penelope in which he plays a gambler hired by a paparazzo to woo Christina Ricci who is cursed with a pig snout for a nose.

McAvoy says: "It's a fantastic film, especially in this climate where we seem to be celebrity-obsessed and where we chew people up."

The heartthrob has quickly gained popularity in Hollywood where his performance in the Oscar-winning film The Last King of Scotland was noted in 2006.

While he denies rumours that he is to play Kurt Cobain in an upcoming biopic of the tragic rock star as "just nonsense" he is in the action-adventure Wanted, with Angelina Jolie, which is out this summer.

Ironically, however, although McAvoy is Hollywood's newest find he insists that he is not familiar with the US.

He says: "In my entire life, I've spent maybe two weeks in the States.

"But I've always said New York is a place I'd love to work - on the Broadway stage if the timing worked out and the role was right."

At the moment, although he insists that he and wife Anne-Marie Duff - a fellow actor - don't "earn enough" to live in the posher parts of London such as Mayfair or Chelsea, McAvoy is happy with his lot in life.

"Everything is lovely," he says. "If I'd been told I'd be where I am now, I wouldn't have believed it."

By Nicola Pittam, Feb 01 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy