DATELINE HOLLYWOOD
INSIDE STORY
January 29, 2020
BRUSHSTROKES
January 30, 2020
Ewan McGregor celebrates two decades in the film industry
Richard Aldhous chats with an actor who says he’s a “lousy” star
“Now, the reality is that I haven’t read a film review for a very long time because I can’t take criticism – it upsets me too much"
Sex symbol, movie star, family man and Scotsman! These are the basic elements of the Ewan McGregor legend. The sex symbol reputation is merely because he enjoyed some full frontal exposure in his illustrious career – and he admits to being a “lousy” movie star.
For a long time, Ewan was best defined by his absolute commitment to his wife Eve and their four children. But the passage of time can do it for even the most accomplished in Hollywood. And when the pair separated last year, the 23-year-old mar-riage was destined to become another sad casualty of Tinseltown’s ability to turn comedy into tragedy in true Shakespearean bluster.
Regardless, over the years the handsome ever smiling McGregor has excelled in his dramatic craft with over 50 films in which time he was sculpted and swayed by notable directors such as Peter Greenaway, Woody Allen, Ron Howard and Ro-man Polanski. Although he earned healthy paycheques for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in three Star Wars films, some of his best work has come in smaller productions such as Beginners (with Christopher Plummer) and Perfect Sense (with Eva Green).
In recent years, Mortdecai – which is an action comedy co-starring Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow, T2 Trainspotting and TV series Fargo – have kept his star high. In 2014, he made his Broadway debut in The Real Thing in a revival of the Tom Stoppard play that was previously performed by Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close in 1984.
Of course, McGregor’s ability to escape the Hollywood machine has often been on the back of a motorbike. He admits to a continued fondness for motorcycles following his fabled cross continental motorcycle journeys many years ago, and spends much of his spare time tinkering and producing motorcycles in his garage. “I’ve never gone in for the whole Hollywood thing too much – it’s not the person I am,” he says, adding: “I would much rather be pottering about, keeping myself busy with little projects I have on the go and cultivating a simple life for myself.”
Not that he’s had much time even for that since of late. His new movie Doctor Sleep is a horror film in the mould of The Shining – in fact, it’s Stephen King’s own follow-up to the 1977 classic.
“I would much rather be pottering about, keeping myself busy with little projects I have on the go and cultivating a simple life for myself"
The character Danny Torrance is now an adult and still coming to terms with the trauma he endured as a child. He encounters Abra, a teen-ager who wants to work with him in harnessing her own extrasensory gift in defeating Rose the Hat and her followers The True Knot who are looking to recharge from the ‘shine’ of innocents in their yearning for immortality.
“It’s incredible to think that this film has not been made before now,” he says. “We are in an era of prequels and sequels, and I think the ex-pectation is that this is the treatment films should get. Whereas in reality, some films and certain storylines are best left in the past,” Ewan adds.
He continues: “The original movie The Shining is so iconic and such a statement piece of horror that you know you can’t go near it in terms of your approach or ability to reinvent. That’s really why Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep became a whole new story, tagging onto the reality of the old.”
“And that’s the way we have approached the film. The original story is untouched and every-thing that connects that desperate setting will stay as it is,” the star reveals.
Certainly, McGregor seems much less affected by the industry than he was in the past. He admits he craved too much at-tention and adulation whereas now, the credit comes solely from within. “In the case of film reviews, I used to hang on them so much and read them all,” he confesses.
“Now, the reality is that I haven’t read a film review for a very long time because I can’t take criticism – it upsets me too much. I can’t do it so I chose to eliminate it from my life. That’s how I’ve been for a long time and I’m happily encased in my bubble,” Ewan admits.
And he says with a laugh: “The only time I learn of a rubbish review is when I get a text from a friend saying: ‘Hope you’re doing alright; **** them, they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ And it’s only at that point I know I’ve had a bad one!”
For someone who has achieved so much in the industry, it’s perhaps surprising that McGregor is yet to taste Oscar success. The Golden Globe he won in 2018 for TV series Fargo is as close as he has got. He admits that it’s the directors he’s worked with who have kept him at the top of the tree. However, in recent times the desire to remain competitive seems to come from an inner need.
