From Premier Magazine. An interview with Ewan McGregor.
Star Wars: Ewan McGregor By Tom Roots
"People wanted
to touch my light saber. But I wouldn't let them. I got possessive."
Ewan McGregor is getting
killed. Hunched into a tight ball of concentration, he tries
desperately to defend himself.
With R2-D2 squealing
in the background, he tensely squeezes the trigger and fires
away at the barrage of incoming TIE fighters. But as his X-wing
fighter approaches the Death Star, he is quickly blown to bits
by enemy fire.
His sudden death signaling
the end of the video game, McGregor quickly leaps up from his
seat in London's Sega World mall and heads for a nearby escalator.
"I was pretty shit at that," he admits, laughing. "I
wanted to try and prove myself. Oh well."
Semidisguised by the
shaggy hair and full beard he's grown for his current role onstage,
in Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, McGregor
walks unnoticed through the throng of tourists and teenagers
in Leicester Square. Certainly he looks more like an iconoclastic
thespian than the star of the most anticipated movie of all time.
But that's to be expected when the part of the young Obi-Wan
Kenobi (the old Kenobi was played by Alec Guinness) goes to a
Scotsman known for bacchanalian roles (Trainspotting, Velvet
Goldmine), penis-waving (The Pillow Book), and a Hollywood-can-kiss-my-arse
attitude (His unsolicited opinion of actors who demand perks:
"They are getting paid a lot of money to do a very easy
job, so just get on with it").
McGregor, however,
dismisses the apparent incongruity. "I've slagged off big-budget
blockbusters in my time, but I see my wanting to be in Star Wars
as a very different kettle of fish," he says. "It's
not some shit like Independence Day or Godzilla. Star Wars is
like modern fairy tales and fables. It's a complete entity of
its own, and it so has to do with my generation."
And perhaps his participation
comes down to something even simpler: What boy wouldn't want
to be a Jedi Knight? "I went to choose my light saber, and
they brought out this wooden case with padlocks on it,"
the actor says, still sounding awestruck. "My breath was
taken away—there were eight or nine different designs of
handles. I picked one that had a little mauve button on it. And
it has a great, really sexy, violent-looking handle. . . . I
saw a clip of me drawing it and switching it on, and it was just
an incredible sight. I was like, 'Fawwwwk.' " He pauses.
"People would want to touch it. I wouldn't let them. I got
very possessive of it." |
(From Cinescape.) Ever since it was announced
that Liam Neeson would don the Jedi robes and play a venerable
knight of the famous order, Star Wars fans have clamored for information
about this mysterious character. It's since been learned that
his name is Qui-Gon Jinn and that he's an independent operator
who doesn't always get along with his Jedi superiors. My source
tells me that Qui-Gon is this way because he himself was once
under consideration for a seat on the Jedi Council. However, he
was passed over because he was considered too reckless and quick
to action. Furthermore, Obi-Wan Kenobi is not his first but his
third Padawan apprentice, as a Jedi learner is called. As seen
in the Phantom Menace teaser trailer, there is some conflict between
man-of-action Qui-Gon and his student. My source says this is
because Obi-Wan is a more reserved and thoughtful than his teacher.
