James McAvoy has claimed he was offered an “astronomical” fee to model for Pringle only to be turned down because he was too scrawny.
The Hollywood star was approached to star in an advertising campaign for the luxury Scottish knitwear brand while he was an emerging young actor.
He said he kept turning them down because he didn’t want to sell out but they kept coming back with higher offers.
McAvoy, 41, who is taking part in the up coming celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off, said the payday got so big that he felt he couldn’t turn it down.
But after a meeting with executives for the firm he said they changed their mind because he didn’t have the “right physique.”
The Glasgow-born actor said: “The Pringle fiasco was I had said no to styling Pringle when I was 22 or 23.
“Nobody knew who I was anyway, I don’t know why they were asking me to do it. I think they just thought ‘He’s on the up and he’s Scottish and we’re a Scottish company.’
“So I said no and my agent came back and said ‘They’ve put the money up,’ and I said no again. I said ‘I’m not a salesman, I’m an actor, I don’t want to be affiliated with a brand.’
“But they kept putting the money up and up until it went to this astronomical fee which I had never been paid for an actual job in my entire career to this point.
“I was like ‘Okay I know I will bow down to the advertising Gods for this amount of money, I know my price.’
“So they were like ‘Great send him in, we will meet him and give him some products and have a cup of tea to talk through what he’s got to do.’
“So I went in to meet them and they sent me off with a jumper that was too big and then got in touch with my agent and said ‘Do you know what, we’re not going to do it, he’s just not the right sort of physique for us.’
“I was like ‘Wait a minute, I now know my price and I’m not even getting the gig, I’m not going to get the money.’
“That taught me that I’m not a salesman, I’m not going to sell stuff, I’m just going to be an actor.”
McAvoy vowed to never accept an advertising job again after the debacle but agreed to take part in a campaign for Italian fashion brand Prada after deciding to donate the fee to charity.
The actor later bulked up his physique by adding 16 pounds of muscle mass for his role as The Beast in hit films Split and Glass.
The X-Men and Last King Of Scotland star was speaking in an online acting masterclass interview in aid of Edinburgh Youth Theatre.
Last year he donated £10,000 to the theatre to help ensure its classes can be accessible to all during the coronavirus pandemic.
They have also set up a James McAvoy Bursary which will be accessible to any potential or current student facing financial hardship to help reduce their fees to an amount manageable for their family.
McAvoy will join Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes and 16 other celebrities taking part in the The Great Celebrity Bake Off which is set to air in the Spring on Channel 4.
