Ewan McGregor And Gina Carano Shoot “Knockout” February 26 2010. Here are Gina Carano and Ewan McGregor shooting a scene for ‘Knockout’ . Actors Ewan McGregor and Michael Douglas on Thursday rolled scenes from the film 'Knock out', by Steven Soderbergh (director of 'Traffic'), at the Mirador de l'Alcalde de Montjuïc in Barcelona, according to informed sources close to the Europa Press shooting.
February 24, 2010
Ewan McGregor enjoys quirky writing and eclectic roles. The Scottish actor has played a number of different characters over the past decade, in films ranging from small British indies to international blockbusters.
McGregor tells Dave Davies that he knew he wanted to be an actor from a very young age, after hearing stories from his uncle, the actor Denis Lawson.
His breakthrough came in 1996 when he played a heroin addict in the film Trainspotting. To prepare for the role, McGregor says, he spent time with former heroin addicts who taught him how to hold a needle and portray withdrawal symptoms accurately.
McGregor also played a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second Star Wars trilogy. Ironically, his uncle — who had a bit role in the original Star Wars — advised him not to take the role, fearing McGregor would be typecast.
Since taking the role in Star Wars, McGregor has kept his resume diverse, playing a poet, an official of the papal court, and the male romantic lead in the musical Moulin Rouge, where he performed his own singing.
In his latest film, Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, McGregor plays an unnamed writer working on the memoirs of a former British prime minister, who is under investigation for committing war crimes.
McGregor says he enjoyed working with the “master filmmaker” on the thriller. “As a director, he was pushing us to look for the truth of a scene,” he says.
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)
60th Berlin Film Festival - "The Ghost Writer" Photocall & Press Conference - February 12, 2010
Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor are maden "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" (Paris, France) 1 february 2010
