James McAvoy Played 'Oblivion' So Much That He Had To Burn The Disc

We all know it's easy to lose yourself in a great video game, and they don't come much greater than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. While not quite as famous as its sequel, Skyrim, Oblivion is still a sprawling, captivating RPG that one can quite easily end up losing days at a time to.

Incredibly, this is exactly what happened to actor James McAvoy. The star of such films as X-Men: First Class, and IT: Chapter Two, McAvoy recently appeared alongside Daisey Ridley and Willem Dafoe in the time loop adventure puzzle game 12 Minutes. This latest role is why he recently spoke to Forbes about his past experiences with video games.

But first, take a look at 12 Minutes in action below!

McAvoy revealed that he was always into adventure games and RPGs as a younger man, proving that he clearly has impeccable taste by rattling off a list of classics. "That was a kind of game I'd always been into as a kid", he said, "role-playing games, Zelda, Secret of Mana, all that kind of stuff. Like, I love fantasy role-playing games."

A love of fantasy action attracted him to Oblivion in the mid-00s, but his obsession soon became a problem. As an up-and-coming star, McAvoy was balancing his adventures in Cyrodiil with appearing alongside Anne Hathaway in the period drama Becoming Jane.

"I'm, like, having to go to bed at 10pm, because I'm getting up at 6am every morning," McAvoy said. "And I've got tons of lines, and all that kind of stuff. And I'm just staying up until four in the morning just playing Oblivion."

McAvoy's relationship with the Bethesda game reached its fiery conclusion when he finished one all night session at 5:35am - 10 minutes before the car was due to take him to set. Realising this couldn't go on, McAvoy decided to stick his copy of the game on the stove and... burn it. "I just put the disc on it and just watched it sort of, like, singe and melt a little bit. And I was like, 'Right, we're done, we're over, never again!'"

Thank goodness this was before digital copies were common, eh?

Topics: The Elder Scrolls, News, Skyrim, Bethesda