Interview

Ewan: “I’m Very Comfortable Being Naked”

February 2010 By Jeanne Wolf

Ewan McGregor is always ready for a change of pace on the big screen, from singing and dancing in Moulin Rouge to swinging a lightsaber in Star Wars. Now he’s teaming up with controversial director Roman Polanski in The Ghost Writer.

In the film, McGregor’s character is hired to complete the memoirs of an ex-British prime minister under fire for taking his nation into war. Parade.com’s Jeanne Wolf found out why a real-life prime minister may not be buying a ticket to see the film. Plus, why McGregor is more than ready to bare all on film.

Warning to Tony Blair.

“When I read the script for the first time I thought, ’Tony Blair is all over this character, even if he’s called Adam Lang.’ Polanski takes it a little farther because the ex-prime minister in the film is being charged with war crimes and he’s going to have to sit before a tribunal and explain his decision to take Britain into the Iraq War and whether Britain was responsible for torturing prisoners on behalf of the United States. If I’m in a film that says that’s what should happen, then I’m very happy. The man who held the highest power in British politics is going to be held accountable for his actions.”

I guess you could call him cynical.

“I’m not that interested in politicians. I don’t really believe in them very much. In Britain, anyway, they seem to prove over and over that they’re people that are not particularly trustworthy. I find them just to be fairly despicable people.”

Also high on his hate list...

“I come from a country where we’ve probably got the worst tabloid press -- all these publications based on people’s private life. It’s disgusting. It’s nobody’s business. As actors, we put ourselves on the screen and that should be enough, that’s exposing enough, without people routing around your dustbins looking for stuff. They’re making millions off people spying and following you around. It’s disgraceful.”

Don’t look for his autobiography anytime soon.

“I quite like people who write their autobiographies and people find them in the attic after they die. Then you discover that they’ve been horrible monsters or had 15 wives in secret, or something else terrible. I prefer they expose themselves after they’ve died.”

Speaking of exposure.

“I have done quite a few sex scenes in my career. But my wife has always been okay with them except when she was pregnant with our first daughter, Clara, and I went off to do the sex scene in Trainspotting. Hormonally, she was all over the place. We had a massive fight about it. But that’s the only time it’s ever been an issue. Look, it’s a weird situation to be seeing your partner in an emotional and sexual embrace with someone else in front of an audience of people. But it’s my job. And, ultimately, she’s completely cool with it.”

Ditto for on-screen nudity.

“I’ve never understood actors who have rules against nudity. I wouldn’t consider myself an actor if I had a list of things I won’t do. In my everyday life, I’m naked quite a lot of the time. And yet, the second we put it onscreen everybody has a heart attack. I really don’t get it. I’m not an exhibitionist. I’m just very comfortable being naked in movies because I think and I believe that movies reflect real life. I never thought that it was gratuitous.”

He’s his own biggest fan.

“I love nothing more than going to see one of my films for the first time. Without fail, the first thing I think is ’Is that me?’ You know, I’m sitting there, and then it goes dark and the projection starts and I go, ’Flipping heck.’ I say to myself, ’That’s me up there.’ I always dreamed of doing it, and I still can’t quite believe I’m doing it.”

And he knows where the buck stops.

“I don’t want to accept the fact that it’s all there, pre-destined and all laid out for us. Then every decision you make and all your choices don’t mean anything. I don’t like the idea of somebody else, or something else, calling the shots. I think we’re both God and heaven. I think every decision that faces you, or every choice you make, alters your path and will lead you to where you go. I think we supply the force of fate in our lives and, therefore, we’re in charge. Anything else is a bit of a cop out.” ( Interview published in Best of Ewan McGregor)