Ewan McGregor article on IMDB.com

[silversolitaire]

Ewan McGregor

By Anna David

There are those that think Ewan McGregor may be too good to be true.

After shooting to stardom as the heroin-addicted Renton in 1996's Trainspotting, McGregor embraced his independent side (in movies such as Brassed Off, A Life Less Ordinary and Velvet Goldmine) before being catapulted into the public consciousness by taking on the Obi-Wan role for Star Wars. By the time he sang his heart out in Moulin Rouge, he could do no wrong. And, in case his acting credits aren't enough, he also formed a production company, Natural Nylon, with old friends and fellow superstars Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Jonny Lee Miller. Then there's the matter of his production designer wife Eve (whom he met when they worked together on a TV show called Kavanagh QC in 1994) and their darling daughters, Clara Mathilde and Esther Rose.

The picture seemed almost too perfect. Then, as these things will, rumors surfaced that he was the man who'd come between Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise's 10-year Hollywood union. As McGregor and Kidman attended Moulin Rouge ceremony after Moulin Rouge ceremony, there were whispers that the two friends looked mighty friendly, indeed. Alas for the sake of the gossipmongers, the rumors turned out to be false. Fact is, Ewan McGregor is just good enough to be true.

As he prepares for the homage to sixties films, Down With Love (also starring Renee Zellweger) to open, he chats about being able to embody his idol Cary Grant, having to persuade producers to let him sing and the swinging bachelor pad of his day.

Your Down With Love character, Catcher Block, is extremely suave and debonair. How were you able to tap into that type?

I think the whole process was about reliving the films I'd watched as a kid almost. I remembered them all - Peyton [Reed, the director] sent me all the films that are kind of referenced and I knew them all, I'd seen them all many times - so it was just about getting back in touch with that. And when I'd read the script, I knew exactly what it was all about. And then I was just given a chance to be all my favorite actors on screen - [especially] Cary Grant.

And you had all the [suave and debonair] tools - the martini glasses -

[Interrupting with a laugh] I always come with my own tool.

What was your process of getting into the character?

The process into it was really hard. I'm finding this more and more as I go along. It's become part of my process to not imagine I'll be able to pull this off. It's happening to me more or less every time I start something I think, "I can't fucking do this one." And I've had to kind of realize that that's part of it. And in a way, that's what makes it so exciting. Because hopefully a few weeks [after thinking that], you're pulling it off.

But in this case, I came off a film I made in Scotland called Young Adam, which was really the polar opposite of this, and they were really back-to-back. I got home to London on a Saturday from that and I started rehearsing this on Monday. The film in Scotland was a very low budget dark erotic introspective film about a loner, a guy who'd given up his moral self, if you'd like. And here I was playing not camp but the opposite. The film in Scotland was totally inward looking and my character hardly said anything at all, and here I was playing a character that demanded you kind of slapped it on from the outside, if you like. The comedy in these sort of sixties movies is much more played than the way we would play in a contemporary romantic comedy, for instance, where you don't play the comedy. That seems to be a rule that I've had since I started acting: don't play the comedy. And here I was on set really really fucking playing the comedy. And for the first week of rehearsals, I really couldn't get into it. Because it's a style that really hasn't been explored since the sixties. I was delighted to see [when I saw the film] that it doesn't look like it's hard work but it was.

Catcher seems like a misogynist. He really seems to just want to use women.

Yea, he uses them to the best of his ability I think. But that was the point of the character. If anything, he's been slightly torn down. And it's much more fun to be that way on a film set than to be that way in real life.

Do you relate to the character? Did you have your days of being a player?

Well, we've all had those days. I was never a playboy because I could never afford the suits and all that stuff when I was up to no good. But I had my day I suppose.

Did you have a bachelor pad?

I did have a swinging bachelor pad once. When I did my first job, a television series called Lipstick on Your Collar (in 1993), I was living in the very far outer reaches of eastern London. It was the first time I'd ever been paid to act. And I rented a small one bedroom flat in Primrose Hill and it was the kind of apartment where all parties would begin and end. And very often me and my friends would meet on a Friday and it would be off and then they would all leave sometime on a Sunday night. It was my version of Catcher Block's bachelor pad. However, it was much more like a kind of realistic New York flat than the one in our movie.

The sets in the movie are spectacular.

They were beautiful. When we were watching it the other day, both sets - my apartment and Renee's apartment - both got rounds of applause. It was kind of like the old days in the theater - when the curtains would go back and you'd applaud the set. I like that.

Do you sing in the movie?

We kept hammering the producers to let us do a song. I mean, I couldn't believe we were having to persuade them to let us do one. I was going, "Look, I did Moulin Rouge and Renee did Chicago, don't you think you should put a song in it?" And they were like, "Well, we'll see." And it's like, "You'll see? What the fuck are you talking about? Let us do a song!" So eventually we ended up persuading them.

Is there a certain character in history that you'd like to play?

I think I'm still fascinated by soldiers and I think one of the reasons I wanted to do Black Hawk Down was to discover what makes a soldier able to do his work and how a man or a woman can keep their head together and operate. I got a flavor of what that might be when we all trained with the rangers. And I'm reading [David] Hackworth's book about Vietnam at the moment, Steel My Soldiers' Hearts.

Why are you so fascinated by it?

I suppose because I can't imagine pulling it off. And my brother's in the forces - he's a fighter pilot. And when I was younger, I used to be dismissive of it. I was a drama major, you know, so I wasn't into the war, the older I get the more fascinated I am by it.

Being in Black Hawk Down must have made watching the war coverage a different experience.

Yes, my wife kept reminding me that I'm not a soldier. (Laughs)

What about the movie you just completed, Big Fish?

It's a wonderful father and son story and I play the father. I play the young Albert Finney and Billy Crudup is the son. Tim Burton directed it and it couldn't really have been directed by anyone else. There's that beautiful Tim Burton fantasticalness about the stuff that I got to do. Jessica Lange and Albert Finney play the older husband and wife and Alison Lohmann - who's a staggering actress - and I play the younger husband and wife. Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi and Helena Bonham Carter are also in it - it's quite an incredible cast.

Did you watch Tom Jones [to prepare for playing a younger Albert Finney]?

No, I was sort of expecting to watch a lot of Albert Finney movies and shadowing him and none of it happened. Because I leave [whether I do something like that or not] up to the director - it's his call, really. There was one specific mannerism that I copied and that was it. It was set in Alabama and we both did Southern accents.

When you have to do an accent for a movie, do you speak in the accent all the time?

No. I wish I had the guts to do that but I don't. I take my work very seriously but I can't seem to do that. So I work very hard on the accent and I use it when the camera's turning. But that's the way I work. There are actors who stay in character all day long and I admire them but I've never been like that.

Since taking on Star Wars, how has your life changed?

What's been interesting about it is that very little has changed - to my relief, I suppose. Because it was one of the things I wondered about before I decided to do it. I questioned it a lot because it's not my bag really, all that might have gone along with it. I certainly wouldn't ever like to get nailed down to playing one kind of part. I love being in the films. The only big thing that's changed is that children have seen me act and I don't think many of them had seen the films I'd made up until that point. [Laughs] I certainly hope not. And I love it when kids come to talk to me about Star Wars and ask me how my light saber works. I think the impression is that for six or seven years of your life, you're kind of Star Wars bound and if you're lucky, you get to do other jobs. I mean the reality that I spent four months making the first one and then three or four years later spent four months making the second one and I'm just about to start making the third one.

There was talk of bringing Moulin Rouge to Broadway. Any interest?

I'm very interested in doing theater, whether it be musical theater or not, I wouldn't know until I read something. I'm not sure I'd be interested in doing Moulin Rouge - I find the idea of going back, returning to a character, would be...I don't know what I would get out of it, seeing that I've already done it.

Article Copyright Celebrity News Service. All Rights Reserved.

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Comments

[siria.livejournal.com]

I could never afford the suits and all that stuff when I was up to no good. But I had my day I suppose.

Aww. *strokes him* Thanks for posting this!

[fosfomifira.livejournal.com]

thanks for posting the interview! I hadn't heard a word about the Tim Burton movie., very interesting stuff.-