Eccentricity-Online

Ruthe Stein

Sunday, May 4, 2008

In person, Ewan McGregor looks even less as if he could be Colin Farrell's brother than he does onscreen. McGregor is tall but slight, with none of Farrell's potentially menacing bulk. But then Woody Allen, who chose Christopher Walken as Diane Keaton's brother in "Annie Hall" and Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey and Dianne Wiest as sisters in "Hannah and Her Sisters," never puts much store in physical resemblance when casting sibling parts, relying instead on clever acting to make you believe his characters are related.

In "Cassandra's Dream," McGregor plays Ian, the emotionally stronger of two brothers. When their wealthy uncle asks them to murder a business foe, he does the dastardly deed and gets on with it, while brother Terry (Farrell) falls apart.

George Lucas directed McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi in three "Star Wars" movies, and Baz Luhrmann had him singing and dancing in "Moulin Rouge." But, like many actors, McGregor's dream had been to work with Allen, and he badgered his agent about it for years.

Here McGregor tells what happened with the call finally came and what it was like to be directed by Allen in "Cassandra's Dream," being released this month on DVD.

Q: Did Allen call you himself?

A: No. Your agent calls you up and says, "Woody Allen would like to meet you in New York." So off you go, and you meet him for, like, 45 seconds. He comes in and says, "I like your work, and maybe I have a part."

Q: Does he answer questions?

A: No. He just likes to see you in the flesh. I go away, and then they phone up and say, "Look, Woody wants you to read the script," and they send it around.

Q: What is it about Allen that makes actors take enormous pay cuts to work for him?

A: He's just one of the very few grand-master filmmakers there are in the world, really. There's' nobody who has the (nerve) to shoot the way he does. He only does wide shots. Occasionally, he'll come in for a close-up, but really only occasionally. So you get this wonderful naturalism because, as an actor, you've played these very long scenes in real time in front of a wide frame, and that's it. You do two or three takes, and then you're moving on to another scene. So it keeps things really real. And the dialogue is lovely. Woody is so (self-effacing) about it. He says, "They're just words I wrote. Don't say any of them if you don't want to." It's kind of like jazz music written in a way to work around it. But it's so beautifully written, I wouldn't want to change a word.

Q: Really? So you didn't change a single word in the script?

A: Maybe there was something I changed because it sounded less British than it might.

Q: "Cassandra's Dream" is the third movie in a row that Allen has made in England. Do you think he gets the whole British thing?

A: I do think so, because his subject matter is so universal - murder, guilt, deceit.

Q: You and Colin Farrell play working-class blokes. Do you think Allen understands the whole class-distinction thing in England?

A: I think he invented it to fit the film. I don't think he has to get it right because, within working-class society in London, there are hundreds and thousands of different families. They all live in different-looking houses. So he created this one family, and I believe in them. Terry is a mechanic, and Ian runs a restaurant. The boys have been brought up well. But because of their flaws, and because of their circumstances, they end up doing this terrible thing.

Q: Was there any question about which brother you would play?

A: No. That's the way I was offered it.

Q: It does seem as if Allen had you in mind for that role by naming the character Ian. Also, I was fascinated to read that you have an uncle who has been very influential in your life. Talk about him.

A: I really do. It's so funny (because of the "Cassandra" script). He never asked me to kill anyone, honest. But he was my inspiration to go into acting. I mean, because we both come from very small towns in Scotland, and I suppose the possibility of becoming a successful working actor might not have seemed plausible (to anyone) except for my uncle, who had done it. He paved the way for me. In my mind, it became possible. So I just followed it. I wanted to be like him very much.

Q: By another coincidence, you have a brother named Colin.

A: Yes, I do. He's older and lives in Scotland, and I live in London, so we don't see as much of each other as we would like.

Q: Did you draw on this relationship in creating your character?

A: I guess I did. I'm not really aware of what I'm drawing on, but it's a lot of subconscious stuff, so I'm sure I must have done that.

Q: Ian and Terry are both very sympathetic characters. Was that in the script?

A: Yes. Woody always talked about them being nice guys. I thought that was the way to go with it. This terrible thing collides into their world and f- them up.

Q: When you were growing up, did you long for success you thought was above your station?

A: No, because my drive never was to be rich or have this car or that car. It was always to be an actor, and everything about my life was making that happen, really from the age of 9 onward. Ian just wants to be rich and wants the benefits of money. He wants a nice house and a great life. But he wants someone else's life.

Q: I've always heard that Allen gives hardly any direction. Did you find that to be true?

A: No. The change may have come from within him, but he directs more than he used to. I found his directions really specific. I'd heard that he doesn't call you by your name, and none of that proved to be the case with us. I found him to be really hands-on, especially compared with directors who really do leave you alone.

Q: Now that you got your wish to be in an Allen movie, do you wish it had been a comedy?

A: No. I liked the heightened drama in the story when the brothers are asked to do something terrible. You can't do that in a comedy.


To see a trailer for "Cassandra's Dream," go to links.sfgate.com/ZDDY.

E-mail Ruthe Stein at rstein@sfchronicle.com.

He hasn't been on the silver screen much lately yet Ewan McGregor has lost none of his appeal for movie-makers. Not only has the hunky actor begun talks to star in the prequel to hit flick The Da Vinci Code, he is also at the centre of a bidding war for parts in two new Scottish films.

First up is Angels & Demons, director Ron Howard's take on bestselling author Dan Brown's book. Producers are all poised to sign Star Wars actor Ewan as the Vatican insider who helps Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, reprising his role as hero Robert Langdon.

Meanwhile, fellow Scot Peter Capaldi is reportedly keen to secure the Crieff-born star for his new comedy, The Young Pretender. Ewan would play two roles in the film - the Hollywood actor portraying Bonnie Prince Charlie as well as the extra who replaces him.

There is opposition to the plan, however. Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson, fresh from success in period drama The Other Boleyn Girl, is said to be after Ewan to co-star with her in the remake of Mary Queen Of Scots. The 37-year-old would play Mary's third husband, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, in the £26 million flick. Both films are set to lens this summer. Ewan has been largely absent from the film world after taking time off to complete his Long Way Down motorcycle trip from John O'Groats to Cape Town last year.

Source | hellomagazine.com

Read more...

is a malicious, deceitful swine. He’ll whisper sweet words in your ear then stab you in the back. Even his so-called best friend is not immune to his lies.
Comment | Read Comments (1)
NO, scratch all that. Ewan McGregor - when he's playing Iago in the Donmar Warehouse's stage version of Othello - is a malicious, deceitful swine. The rest of the time, he is the same funny, easygoing, generous guy he has always been. Today he is being open and honest in a restaurant in St John's Wood in London - a boundary ball away from Lord's Cricket Ground, within hearing distance of Abbey Road and literally around the corner from his family home.

McGregor doesn't make a big show of an entrance. There is no agent, publicist or stylist in tow. Just the 36-year-old actor, dressed down in an old black pullover, black jeans and a battered leather jacket. A batch of good reviews for his stage performance lends him a certain Shakespearean distinction, but it will be back to business as usual in a couple of weeks' time when the run of Othello comes to an end. Besides, any sense of gravitas bestowed by his theatrical credentials disappears as soon as we start talking about Cassandra's Dream, the film he made with Woody Allen and which opens the Glasgow Film Festival this week.

"Every young boy wants to get a good Woody," he cackles, never one to knowingly miss out on a cheap innuendo. The film casts him as Ian, a cocksure young cockney who wants to break free from his father's small restaurant by investing in a Californian hotel empire. Meanwhile, his brother, played by Colin Farrell, is in serious debt after a losing streak at the poker table. The money comes, but at a price: cue guilt, despair and the death of brotherly love. Annie Hall this is not. It's as far from Allen's "early funny ones" as East London lock-ups are from the Manhattan skyline.

advertisement
McGregor, however, couldn't care less where the movie is set. "Having worked with Allen once, I'd work with him again in the blink of an eye. As an actor, you really have to raise your game. I wanted to work with him because there are only a few grandmasters of film-making, and he's one of them. Tim Burton is another person who completely understands how he makes films. Ridley Scott too. They know what they're doing, and it's nice to be along for the ride."

Working with Allen, McGregor found, meant quickly sorting out myths from reality. He was offered Cassandra's Dream after a rather brusque meeting in the director's New York office. "I went to the edit suite where he has cut every movie he's made since the 1970s," he remembers. "All his jazz records are along one side of the screening room and it's full of brown carpets. The place just feels like him, like Woody Allen, as it should be. All he said was, I'm making a film in London. I've seen some of your work. There's a part I think you might be good for. We're making the film this summer. I just wanted to see you in person.' And that was it. It was very clear that he was done and I should leave. So I did."

Allen shoots without rehearsals and with a minimal number of takes. To keep on the ball, each morning during make-up, McGregor and Farrell would run through the day's dialogue-heavy scenes together. Perhaps it's no surprise that the pair got on so well. Both are Celtic sons who gained a reputation for living it up and over-indulging on the trappings of fame once they hit it big (although McGregor, who reckons he worked his way up to being a borderline alcoholic, hasn't touched a drop for seven years).

"I adored Colin from the moment I met him," McGregor says. "I'd read a lot about him over the years and, because I used to be a big drinker, I recognised some of the things he'd said in myself. Because we were both in LA, I got in touch and asked him to our house there one Sunday. We were having lunch with the kids when he arrived in this great big Bronco truck, but he got out in his pyjamas. He was so lovely with my girls, he's such a sweet soul. Colin is a very quiet character now. He focuses on the work and has incredible commitment. He'd never falter on his lines while I was fluffing away."

As he talks, McGregor cuts into a fairly rare steak, leaving the side salad for later. I wonder if I should point out that almost every time he dunks his fries then pops them into his mouth, he drips hollandaise sauce on to his pullover. Instead, I let him get into full flow about that kid-in-a-sweetie-shop feeling that comes with the first rush of success. One minute he was a boy from Crieff studying drama; the next, as Renton in Trainspotting, he was the poster boy of the Britpop generation. International stardom came as he serenaded Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge and waved Obi-Wan Kenobi's light sabre in Star Wars.

"When Trainspotting came out, it was the 1990s, Oasis, Blur, Kate Moss, way-hay, f***ing unbelievable! But there were casualties there, people who didn't make it through. I'm lucky now to understand how to defend myself from it if I need to. The most basic thing is the work. If you can make that the centre of it all, then you're in good shape. As soon as any of the other trappings of it become more important to you, you're f***ed. The most obvious example of it in the world at the moment is with Britney Spears. She's not without responsibility for her actions - of course not - but the pressures of that amount of fame on her shoulders when she was 15 or 16? She was a child. And the whole part of being a child is that you shouldn't have to deal with those things yet. I feel sad for her because I look at those pictures of ambulances outside her house and there are hundreds of paparazzi photographers. It makes me sick."

So what is the work that's keeping him from a similar fate? Already in the can is Incendiary, in which he plays the adulterous lover of Michelle Williams, whose husband and son are killed in a suicide bombing at a football match. He shares the screen again with Williams in The List, this time playing an accountant who is seduced into a sex club then set up for a heist by Hugh Jackman. He has also done a voiceover role for stop-motion animation spoof Jackboots On Whitehall, in which the Scots save the English after a second world war German invasion. In April, he begins work on dark comedy I Love You Phillip Morris, co-starring as the prison lover of Jim Carrey. For this one, he's as excited about the script - written by Bad Santa duo Glenn Ficara and John Requa - as he is about shooting in New Orleans for the first time.

And then there is Othello. Night after night of transforming into Shakespeare's most morally complex, hard-to-fathom villain. Stepping into buckled shoes previously filled by Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen and Henry Irving. Mind you, that's probably nothing to the man whose last West End stage outing involved taking the Marlon Brando role in Guys And Dolls. But surely the theatre critics were sharpening their knives as yet another "Hollywood" star took a stage sabbatical?

"I believe in myself as an actor and I belong as much in the theatre as I do on the film screen," McGregor counters. "Although I don't do as much of it as I do filmmaking, it's still my job. This is the hardest thing I have ever done. To begin with, I found the process of it absolutely terrifying but it paid off. I don't concern myself with what people will say or that kind of pressure. The pressure is in playing the part itself."

Of course, acting isn't all that McGregor does now. Last year, he and best friend Charley Boorman set out on their second major motorbike tour, heading from John O'Groats to Cape Town. The route took them through the heart of Africa, which was fascinating in itself but not quite as satisfying for viewers of the subsequent television series as their earlier east-to-west Long Way Round trip.

"The rush of it upset me a bit," he admits. "I wanted to get to Cape Town on that final day because I had a holiday booked with my family, and after three months of not seeing them, I wanted to fly up to Kenya and spend two weeks sharing some of the Africa I'd learned about."

But his wife, Eve, came along for part of the trip - an unnecessary risk, surely, with three young daughters back home?

"I was worried when we were riding around in London behind her when we first started, because I suddenly realised how vulnerable she was," he concedes. "But not in Africa. I never understood why there was a problem about Eve coming - I still don't."

Not even when it seemed to rock the two-men-together dynamic he had with Boorman?

"But Charley has known Eve for as long as he has known me. He has always known me with her. She's my wife, so I would put her before anyone else. So it's difficult for me to see the problem. We rode for a week, doing 1500 miles through Zambia and Malawi. She loved the freedom and adventure of it, stopping and meeting people."

There is talk of completing the motorbike trilogy with what could become Long Way Up, heading north through South America. But if that doesn't pan out, at least McGregor got the chance to visit Brazil for a shoot for men's fragrance Adventure by Davidoff. Celebrity endorsement of a smell?

The knife and fork go down, and lunch pauses for a moment. "The smell of adventure " McGregor is not easily offended by the accusation. "Yeah, we tried to make it smell like my boots from the bike trips. Actually, it's quite ehm I'm not really good at describing it peaty and earthy." But there is a slightly more serious and definitely more interesting side to his decision to become the face of a male perfume. And it says something about how he regards - and exploits - his public persona.

"It's not something I would have done in the past, but they said that the concept was completely based on Long Way Round and that experience of adventure. If Charley and I have inspired people to travel and see the world, then I'm very proud of that. In Africa, who's on the Oscars list bears no relevance to their lives because they've got no medicine or no food. It's good to remember that. Those TV shows are me - they're not some script and I'm not playing a part. So the Adventure fragrance does more directly relate to me as opposed to the image of an actor."

For McGregor, charity work seems to be more than your typical celebrity conscience-cleanser. A long-time supporter of Unicef and the Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS), in March he and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri will be reviving their now annual (but slightly postponed) Burns Supper in London, raising money for children's charities. ("I can do every line of Iago but I can't remember the Address To The Haggis," he admits.) In the footage from his two motorbike tours, it was the plight of children that most openly affected him. Maybe that comes of being the relatively young father of three girls - one just turned 12, one six and one adopted from Mongolia two years ago. Given his Britney Spears comments, it's not surprising to learn that this area of his life is strictly off the interview radar.

Nevertheless, McGregor is no soft touch when it comes to promotional events. There's often a personal, politicised-with-a-small-p agenda involved on his part. Like when he agreed to go to Iraq last October to present Staff Sergeant Michelle Cunningham, a bomb disposal expert, with a televised Pride Of Britain Award.

McGregor's older brother, Colin, served with an RAF Tornado squadron in the Gulf - which is probably why, although critical of the West's involvement in Iraq, the actor remains sympathetic towards the soldiers he met there.

"The place we flew to in Kuwait before going up into Basra was where my brother was based," he explains. "Since I made Black Hawk Down, I have had this fascination about soldiers and warfare, how people deal with it and how the human condition survives through it - if it does or it doesn't. I met the guys from the rifle division that had been holding Basra Palace, and you could see in their eyes that they'd been through it. They'd been getting mortared 16 times a day, really in the thick of it.

"It was an experience to land in a Hercules at Basra International Airport. Because of the possibility of someone firing an RPG rocket-propelled grenade at the plane, you come in very high and you can't do a normal landing. The plane goes into blackout, and you have to put on your helmet and your body armour. It does this dive with sharp turns to lose height, and then they just bump it down. In pitch black. My mum despairs. If I'm not riding a bike through Sudan "

The meal is over, the plates are cleared, and we're on to the coffee. It's time for McGregor to indulge in a more reflective mood.

"I'm happy, I really am," he says. "I'm more excited about my work than I've ever been. I mean, I could be going for another lead and thinking, shit, I'm not getting the parts that so-and-so is getting. But if you're chasing that sort of thing, I don't know that you'll ever be happy. This feels like another fresh start because I've had the trip, I've had the play, and I haven't been on a film set since this time last year. I really feel like it's time to get back to work. I'm inspired by having seen There Will Be Blood, seeing Daniel Day-Lewis's performance and realising that there are depths to this job that I do that I've yet to plumb."

Ah, but Daniel Day-Lewis isn't on a stamp. In America, Ewan McGregor is now part of a Star Wars postage set.

"But the thing is," he argues, "it's Obi-Wan Kenobi who is on the stamp, not me."

Nevertheless, people are now licking his backside.

"They've been doing that for years, love," he laughs. "They've been doing that for years."

Cassandra's Dream opens the Glasgow Film Festival on Thursday and goes on general release on May 9

Source:

1 April 2008

Star of Moulin Rouge and Star Wars trilogy, Ewan McGregor, on fame and how he regrets his comments on Sean Connery


EWAN MCGREGOR, 37, rose to fame in 1996 playing the role of Renton in the cult British film Trainspotting. He has since established his reputation in movies such as Moulin Rouge, Black Hawk Down and the Star Wars trilogy. He lives in North London with his wife, Eve Mavrakis, and their three children Clara, 12, Esther, five, and adopted daughter Jamiyan, five.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Playing Iago in Othello on stage this year was the hardest thing. Learning the lines was so boring that I would often find myself thinking I would rather wash the car or walk the dog — and I don't even have a dog.

At least it meant I was better in rehearsals because I had done my homework, but then I had to overcome my fear. It's definitely been the biggest challenge of my working life so far.

What were your dreams as a child?

From the age of nine I wanted to be an actor like my uncle Denis Lawson (star of the film Local Hero). Whenever he came to see us it was a special occasion.

He would wear sheepskins and no shoes and it was all such a contrast to the tweed other adults generally wore.

Crieff in the Scottish Highlands, where I was born, was such a small town that it seemed to me he represented the wider world. I started getting into trouble at school and my parents saw me struggling and said I could finish my education early. So then I applied to drama school.

Would you rather be rich and famous or poor and anonymous?

There are negatives to both. When you become successful and start getting recognition it's easy to shut the real world out of your life. Acting is supposed to come from the real world, but if all you have to inspire you is your experiences on set it's not good enough.

That's one reason why I like going on bike rides round the world. Travelling on a bike I feel exposed to the elements.

You have only what you can carry and you have to make all the decisions yourself, which beats being on a film set.

Do you have any regrets?

I once did a terrible audition for Sense And Sensibility. I had to act with Emma Thompson for the part Hugh Grant eventually played.

It would have been a wonderful opportunity to work with Ang Lee, who is a terrific director, but I thoroughly mucked it up. I was so unprepared that I was garbage.

It got to the point where I was almost saying: 'Please, for God's sake, don't ask me to do this scene again — let's just make everyone's lives easier and send me home.'

What's your greatest fear?

All actors fear drying up. It happened once during a performance of Guys And Dolls.

Suddenly, I had no idea where I was in the play and what I was supposed to do. I started making stuff up and it was awful.

I tried to persuade myself it hadn't happened, and people were kind enough to say they hadn't noticed, but it really bothered me.

My friend Douglas Hodge said: 'Ewan, are you looking for re-assurance that this will never happen again? You won't get it — it's a part of acting and it might happen.' That helped me accept it.

What would surprise us about you?

I detest method acting. It means you have to work with people who might suddenly hate you for no reason just because they are doing a part where they have to be angry at you. You turn up early on set and say: 'Good morning,' only to find they seem p***ed off.

It would be a lot easier for everybody if, when you first met, they said: 'Hi, I'm a method actor, so if you ever find me acting strangely, don't worry — I'm just trying to get into the part.'

Have you had to change your life since you became a celebrity?

Yes, fame can be hard to deal with. After I made Trainspotting I tried to pretend nothing had changed, but it had. I could no longer meet people in an ordinary way.

Everyone already has an expectation of who I am and what I will be like. You have to learn to deal with it. It's not made easier by living in a culture in which the media wants to knock people down all the time.

And I resent it when people come up to me just to be rude about my work. Why do they feel the need to say: 'That film was rubbish'? It happens a lot in Scotland.

What is your greatest regret?

I've got a big mouth at times. It's not my greatest regret, but I'm sure I once said something stupid about Sean Connery. It was because he always talks about how things should be in Scotland but he doesn't live there — although it's not really my place to pass comment. I don't really know what's right or wrong for Scotland.

Who is your role model?

I think Michelle Williams (from Dawson's Creek) is a brilliant actress. I have done two films with her and I always have a great time. But the man I admire most is Jimmy Stewart -there's something very special about him.

Source:

Source: Hollywood Insider
Casting of Sony Pictures' Da Vinci Code prequel Angels and Demons is shaping up quickly (see yesterday's post about Ayelet Zurer). Ewan McGregor is in negotiations to take on the role of Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, the Pope's closest aide, who helps Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) with his investigation. McGregor, who will be seen in Fox's Deception, opening Friday, is currently filming I Love You Philip Morris opposite Jim Carrey. Angels and Demons is being directed by Ron Howard from a script by Akiva Goldsman. Brian Grazer and John Calley are producing. Filming is set to begin in Europe in June, with a May 2009 release date