James McAvoy 'taken aback and proud' to be in Samuel L. Jackson's phonebook

James McAvoy considers being in Samuel L. Jackson's phonebook to be "one of his biggest achievements" in life.

The Scottish actor starred alongside the Pulp Fiction legend in M. Night Shyamalan's 2019 thriller Glass and the pair have maintained a friendship ever since.

While he was thrilled to work with Jackson, McAvoy admitted to Empire magazine that he's even prouder of the fact that they still text each other seven years later.

"I'm so glad I got to work with Sam and I'm so genuinely kind of taken aback and proud that somebody like Sam still f**king texts me," he said with a laugh. "I don't get starstruck much and I don't get starstruck with Sam because he's so lovely. But I do get slightly struck sometimes. Because he f**king lets me in, he accepts me, and it blows me away sometimes.

"I mean, he's one of the highest-grossing movie stars in the world. For somebody like him to have his joy and his enthusiasm and his commitment is just really inspiring."

The X-Men: First Class actor shared that getting to know the real Jackson behind the public persona is "a badge of honour".

"(Knowing him) is one of the few sort of badges of honour I take seriously," he added. "I don't think about awards much. But the fact that I'm in Sam Jackson's phonebook is one of my biggest achievements. And I'm not joking, by the way."

Glass served as a crossover and a sequel to Shyamalan's previous films Unbreakable and Split. The cast of Unbreakable - Jackson and Bruce Willis - merged with the cast of Split - McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy - to tell a third story in the franchise.