Ewan McGregor Drives McLaren MP4-12C at Goodwood Motor Circuit
May 12, 2012 By MR
Hollywood actor Ewan McGregor has stopped by the Goodwood Motor Circuit this week to have a drive in the new McLaren MP4-12C. Ewan is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996), Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001), and storyteller Edward Bloom in Tim Burton’s Big Fish (2003).
The Goodwood Circuit is an historic venue for both two- and four-wheeled motorsport in the United Kingdom. The 2.4 mile circuit is situated near Chichester, West Sussex, close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood House. The actor drove the MP4-12C, McLaren’s latest offering, at the track.
The MP4’s twin-turbocharged 3.8 liter 90-degree V8 engine will rev to 8500rpm, with its maximum 592bhp output arriving at 7000rpm. The peak 442lb-ft of torque is available from 3,000rpm, although 80 per cent is available between 2,000-6,500rpm.
This September, not only will we see Brad Pitt trying to sell us Chanel No. 5 perfume, but also Ewan McGregor representing for Belstaff. The Scottish Actor already started shooting the ad campaign with Craig McDean and various male and female models, as reported earlier.
However, this time, we have some Twitgoodies to stare at, before seeing the actual campaign later this fall. Because Ewan was most generous with his followers and he wanted to share the happy moment. And the leather. And the motorcycles. I can’t help but wonder, though, if Brad Pitt were to share his Chanel moment, what would he be tweeting about?
Hollywood heartthrob Ewan McGregor has become the latest Scottish celeb to join the Twitter bandwagon – picking up more than 6,500 followers in two days.
McGregor has already posted snaps of himself beside a flash vintage car and divulged his unusual breakfast habits since signing up to the social media site.
The Trainspotting star may have shot movies on glamorous film sets around the world, but he revealed his love of Scottish cuisine had never waned.
McGregor tweeted his fondness of Scotland’s culinary heritage, writing to one follower: “haggis is great. Good for breakfast too. Go on try it. You know you want to.”
Not afraid to brag to his new found followers, the 41-year-old posted an envy-inducing photo of himself standing beside a plush vintage car.
Looking at home beside the Dutch Spyker model, the actor tweeted: “I got a chance to drive this today. I’m more a vintage car and bike man, but…… was pretty cool! Dutch. ‘Spyker.’”
Within hours of signing up of to Twitter the actor had his account verified after realising he had to compete with dozens of imposter Ewan McGregor’s.
Asking his fans for advice, the actor quizzed: “How do get verified or confirmed or officialised? There seem to be lots of other me’s on twitter, but it would be good you knew it was me.”
The Oscar-nominated actor also took the time to say hi, and possibly embarrass his 15-year-old daughter Clara, with a “morning, love.”
McGregor, who was born in Crieff, Perthshire, sent his first tweet on Wednesday, writing: “First tweet: ‘In Korea in the Shinsegae lounge. I’m on my way to London.’”
The actor had already tweeted more than 50 times since signing up two days ago and couldn’t resist plugging his charity work with Unicef.
Talking of a recent work the charity had done, he said; “In those remote areas. Thankfully UNICEF and there partners have amazing people working hard to ensure they are immunized and protected.”
The Hollywood actor, who has four daughters with French wife Ève Mavrakis, revealed to one fan he wouldn’t be in London for the Olympics in 2012, telling her: “no don’t think so.”
He also said he was still clean, after quitting cigarettes, telling one follower: “I’m not smoking now. Was then wasn’t then was, but not anymore. Don’t ever start it’s a nightmare.”
The actor, who is tweeting under the handle @mcgregor_ewan also tweeted a cute snap of his pet dog, writing: “Sid’s in LA. Feel like I’m missing something all the time.”
The heartthrob’s appearance on Twitter caused mild hysteria from some fans, with one tweeting: “OMG my life is now complete, the man who I have been in love with for nearly two decades has joined Twitter.”
Another new follower added: “I can’t believe my favourite actor in the world got a twitter! A simple “hello” would mean so much,” with one tweeting: “My dreams are coming true! Ewan McGregor is on twitter!.”
Ewan McGregor is reportedly set to star in a new advertising campaign for leisure wear label Belstaff.
The Scottish actor will begin shooting the advertisement in the UK today for the label’s fall collection, according to WWD.
He will join male and female models in the lifestyle campaign which is being shot by Craig McDean. It will take place at Goodwood - an estate in West Sussex which is known for its annual Festival of Speed motor racing competition.
Ewan is an ambassador for the fashion house including its motorcycle range of leather jackets and trousers.
The 41-year-old star is an avid motorcyclist which he has proved in his travel documentaries with best friend Charley Boorman. In 2004 they embarked on a marathon international motorcycle trip from London to New York, via central Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia and Canada.
The new Belstaff advertisement will break in the September issues of prestigious publications including Vogue, W, Bazaar and GQ.
Shinsegae Department Store has picked Scottish actor Ewan McGregor as the face of its new initiative to promote British products within its stores.
The 41-year-old Hollywood A-lister arrived in Korea Sunday afternoon and attended a press conference at the Westin Chosun Hotel in central Seoul yesterday to launch the promotional campaign.
McGregor is the first male picked by Shinsegae to represent its store in such a way since it began to recruit models in the 1960s.
His promotions will focus on British art, fashion, furniture and cuisine.
Dressed in a smart black suit, McGregor thanked the press for a warm reception.
“It’s my first time here in Korea. Although I was at Incheon Airport one time while en route to Thailand, it’s my first time setting foot outside the airport, and I’m loving it,” the actor said.
He also attended “Shinsegae Loves Britannia” promotional party and a signing event before leaving the country on Monday evening.
To celebrate Amnesty International’s 50 years of fighting for freedom and human rights, more than 50 artists from around the world, including Ewan McGregor, collaborated in a “Toast to Freedom”.
In a surprising move, HBO has decided not to move forward with its starry series adaptation of The Corrections.
The cabler made the decision after viewing the pilot, which boasted an enviable cast including Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper and Dianne Wiest.
Based on the acclaimed Jonathan Franzen novel, The Corrections centers on an elderly Midwest couple (Cooper and Wiest) and their three children who look back on their lives together from the mid-20th century to their final Christmas.
Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) directed the pilot and co-wrote the script with Franzen.
UNICEF Ambassador Ewan McGregor talks about UNICEF’s amazing work with vaccines and immunisation for children. Did you know that UNICEF helps to vaccinate more than half the world’s children?
Ewan McGregor: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen has my fave sex scene in it
20th April, 2012 By Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
“That is my favourite sex scene ever!” twinkles Ewan McGregor, recalling an intimate moment from his latest film, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen. “That’s the kind of sex scene that I love to do.”
Frustratingly for his fans, the scene sees McGregor, a regular fixture on people’s Sexiest Man Alive list, keep his pyjamas on. For once.
“I play Dr Fred Jones, a very repressed fisheries scientist. He and his wife come home from their weekly medieval music practice and have sex [in their pyjamas]. Afterwards he rolls off and says ‘thank you’ and she pats him and says ‘that should do you for a wee while’. Then you realise it’s their wedding anniversary. So it’s probably a once-a-year occurrence. Nightmare!”
Though notorious for frequently getting his lightsabre out on screen, the Scottish Star Wars star insists that he finds sex scenes “really awkward”. Not what you’d expect. But then you never know what to expect from McGregor.
From actioning it up as Obi-Wan Kenobi to warbling alongside Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge and shooting up heroin in Trainspotting, he exhibits a Teflon approach to typecasting.
“I’ve played extreme characters,” he agrees. “But I always try to make them feel real. It’s just a bit embarrassing otherwise, isn’t it? That’s why I haven’t been drawn to mainstream American macho roles. They don’t feel like real people to me. I can’t do big, blustery acting.”
Indeed. If anything defines McGregor’s career, it’s that however “extreme” his characters, they are unassuming on screen.
His agent, I suggest, must be tearing their hair out wanting him to go for the Oscar-bait “look at me!” performances. “I think if the characters feel very real, then they’re less noticeable,” he suggests, thoughtfully stroking his new ginger beard. “I don’t shy away from anything though. There’s always the fear before every role that this might be the one you don’t pull off. I still feel the way I did on my very first job. It’s what spurs you on to try your best.”
Now a 41-year-old father of four daughters by his wife of 16 years, twinkly-toothed McGregor barely looks a day older than he did on that very first job. He may be the only British actor not in Harry Potter, but he could convincingly audition for its lead. What’s his secret? “Well I don’t drink?” he suggests – having overdone it partying alongside Oasis in the 1990s. “But not to look young! I just have a lot of things in my life that keep me from feeling older.”
He’s clearly a bloke who likes to get physical. “Boyish” is certainly his enthusiasm about the various hobbies he’s picked up on movie sets over the years from pigeon fancying (thanks to Little Voice) to fixed-gear bicycle building (“I’ve made four or five now, I like tinkering and trawling eBay for the parts”). However, the latest, fly-fishing, for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, an adaptation of Paul Torday’s critically acclaimed bestselling novel, hasn’t hooked him.
“I don’t like it very much,” he admits with appealing honesty. “I like the outdoors nature of it, but it’s a hunt of sorts – a battle of man against beast – and I don’t have the desire, really, to catch a fish.” He did, however, appreciate the film’s spiritual take on fishing: “What it reminded me of was my bike trips”.
In 2004 McGregor, his best mate Charley Boorman and one cameraman took a marathon motorbike trip from London to New York via Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Canada for the TV series Long Way Round. “I’m reminded of it every day,” he sighs. “I’ll have a daydream about a moment, or a smell will trigger some memory of somewhere we slept on the side of the road.” And how is that like fishing, then?
“You spend all day in the river and your body’s concentrating on something technical that releases your mind to wander,” he says. “My experience of the bike trips was the same. Stuff that happened at school, things that I hadn’t thought about for years and years suddenly popped into my mind. People talk about it like I needed to get away from my life on the film set. It’s such crap! I’m quite happy on set. If I wasn’t I’d do something else. It was purely for the spirit of adventure.”
From Star Wars to motorbiking round the world, McGregor may not think of himself as macho but he seems to be living the male dream. “It’s not necessarily a male thing,” he counters. “Finding yourself in extraordinary places – I really believe that there’s something so good for us about that kind of travel.” And off he zooms.
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen is out today in the UK.
UNICEF UK Ambassador Ewan McGregor explains why he's speaking up for children. Every day many thousands of children across the world wake up to disease, hunger and conflict. Add your voice to ours. Together we can make a difference for children. http://www.unicef.org.uk/speakup
Friday, March 16, 2012 By Matt Patches, Hollywood.com Staff
In Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, which opened in limited theaters last weekend and expands wide today, March 16, actors Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt prove themselves capable of playing the most adorable human beings on the planet. Based on the book of the same name, the romantic dramedy follows a fish expert (McGregor) and a wealth management associate (Blunt) as they aid a Sheikh hoping to bring the sport of salmon fishing to Yemen. The endeavor challenges both of them, but the results are surprisingly heartfelt, heady and humorous.
Making their task of playing lovely on-screen characters slightly simpler is the fact that McGregor and Blunt may actually be the most adorable human beings on the planet. I sat down with them to talk Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, whether it’s harder for them to play crazy characters or real people, the difficulties of shooting in Morocco (which stood in for Yemen) and what they learn on every film they do. Thankfully, I was also able to get Blunt to show off her Mandarin language skills.
Ewan McGregor on his watchmaker grandfather and how he inspired a love of timepieces
Mar 9 2012 Exclusive by James Moncur
As well as lightsabers, X-wing fighters and talking robots, Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor knows a good watch when he sees one.
The Hollywood superstar’s love of beautiful timepieces is inspired by one of Scotland’s greatest-ever watchmakers - his grandad, Laurie Lawson.
Laurie, who passed away 30 years ago, toured the country fixing anything from tiny wristwatches to huge church clocks and was known as the man who “kept his town ticking”.
When Ewan was young, he spent many a happy afternoon in Laurie’s shop in Crieff, Perthshire, watching his master-craftsman grandad at work.
Shortly before he died in 1981, Laurie gave each of his close relatives a beautiful carriage clock.
Among them was his son and Ewan’s uncle, Scots actor Denis Lawson – who coincidentally appeared in the original Star Wars film.
He also gave the young Ewan a stunning silver pocket watch which is still one of his most treasured possessions.
Ewan said this week: “I’m not a watch buff or a collector, I’ve just picked up a few nice watches over the years, buying them here and there.
“I’ve got watches in my history – my grandfather was a watchmaker and jeweller.
“He learned his trade in Glasgow and then moved to Crieff where I was brought up, and he spent his life there keeping people’s watches going.
“He was in charge of making sure the town clock kept the right time. He also had a rota of people he’d visit regularly, going out to farms, maintaining people’s clocks. The funny thing is we thought it was lovely growing up as kids – but he hated it, bent over these tiny, intricate things.
“He was very good at it though.
“Before he died, my grandfather gave a timepiece to all of the family. I got a beautiful pocket watch that he restored, which is a nice link to him.”
At her home in Crieff yesterday, Laurie’s 89-year-old widow, Phyllis, said: “Laurie was a wonderful watchmaker and repairer – one of the best.
“He died when Ewan was about 11 but played a pretty big part in his life.
“We had a shop in the town with a small workshop in the back and Ewan spent many an afternoon in there with his grandad, keeping him company and chatting to him.
“Ewan was fascinated by Laurie’s work and was very proud of him – his grandad was very well known across Scotland and was a hugely respected and hard-working man.
“As well as the carriage clock, Laurie gave Ewan a beautiful silver pocket watch that he’d spent days renovating.
“Ewan was only young but I think he immediately realised how special the gift was and he’s still got it now.”
Phyllis was introduced to her husband at a party – and he took one look at her watch and described it as “total rubbish” within seconds of them meeting.
To make up for insulting her, Laurie asked Phyllis to dance later in the evening and the couple never looked back.
Phyllis said: “Laurie could dance better than he could make watches and after the initial shock of his insult, he whisked me off my feet and I knew he was the man for me.”
The couple lived in Govan, Glasgow, where Laurie worked for the best watchmakers in Scotland, Edwards in Buchanan Street.
He was offered the top job there but turned it down. Instead, the couple decided to move to Perthshire with
their children, Denis and Carol – Ewan’s mother – in 1950.
The family chose Crieff and lived in a holiday home owned by Phyllis’s mum, who used to visit the area regularly throughout the year.
Days after they arrived, Laurie set up shop in the basement of a lawyer’s office.
But trade became so brisk that he was forced to move to bigger premises on the High Street.
The new shop was ideal because it had a huge window that let in lots of natural light – a watchmaker’s best friend.
Laurie quickly built up a reputation as the man who kept Crieff ticking and was responsible for the area’s main clocks, including the one in the town hall.
And, unknown to many in the area, he visited its tower every Hogmanay to ensure the bells went off without
a hitch.
Phyllis said: “Every New Year, Laurie would take Denis and Carol to the town hall to make sure the bells would work properly.
“The clock tower was disgusting with pigeon droppings and dust everywhere and I don’t think the kids enjoyed it too much, but it showed how passionate Laurie was to make sure the clock worked on the most important day of the year. As soon as he heard the first chime of 12 he’d be off though.”
Laurie died of lung cancer in 1981, aged 63, and Phyllis kept the shop going until 2006 when she retired.
The tireless charity fundraiser still has two beautiful clocks – handmade by her husband – standing proudly in her front room that are in perfect working order and chime every hour.
Ewan McGregor: acting is ‘all I ever wanted to do’
March 04, 2012 By Judy Abel
“I would never want to find a niche where I would just repeat myself,” says Ewan McGregor.
NEW YORK - It would be easy for Ewan McGregor to settle into romantic leading man roles.
After all, his magnetic blue eyes, winning smile, and easy manner kind of scream “love interest.” But the 40-year-old Scottish actor is not looking to be typecast. Instead, he says, he loves challenging his acting skills with diverse and surprising work.
“I would never want to find a niche where I would just repeat myself,” says McGregor on a recent morning at a midtown hotel. “The joy of acting is that you get to play other people - I don’t just want to play a version of myself.
“There are bits of myself in all my roles,” he adds. “But each portrayal is quite different.”
McGregor’s roles include a self-destructive heroin addict in “Trainspotting” (1996), Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy (1999, 2002, 2005) and a gay convict opposite Jim Carrey in “I Love You Phillip Morris” (2009). And last year he starred with Oscar-winning Christopher Plummer in “Beginners,” where he played a young man whose world is shaken as he copes with the news of his father’s homosexuality and cancer.
Perhaps his penchant for transformation drew McGregor to “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” which opens Friday. In the film, directed by Lasse Hallström, he stars as Fred, a dull fisheries expert stuck in a loveless marriage and dead-end job. His world gradually shifts when a consultant (Emily Blunt) asks him to devise a plan to bring salmon to the Yemeni desert at the bequest of her wealthy sheik client (Amr Waked). Although Fred is initially outraged by the seemingly impossible request, he ultimately sets aside his scientific sensibilities and opens himself up to faith and passion.
“This is a man who’s locked up, angry and emotionally stuck,” McGregor says of his character. “The project, in his mind, is almost an insult to his scientific belief system and he feels he’s being used in some kind of political game playing. Once he realizes it could be a possibility, it leads him to a place where he starts to have belief and once he does, love is allowed to come into his life in a way it hadn’t before.”
Simon Beaufoy, who adapted the screenplay from a novel by Paul Torday, says he expected an older actor to play Fred. He was somewhat dubious when he learned McGregor had been cast in the role, but ultimately, he says, “Ewan offered a beautiful performance,” despite the challenges.
“It’s always difficult for an actor to play a dislikable character and to make himself dislikable to an audience,” Beaufoy says during a telephone conversation from London. “And it was especially hard for Ewan to make himself dislikeable because he is distinctly likable.”
McGregor, who lives in L.A. with his wife and four daughters, says he knew early on that he wanted act.
“It was all I ever wanted to do,” he says, taking a hefty bite of a bagel with cream cheese. “In school I was interested in music and in art, but they wouldn’t let me take both together because they were interested in turning out people who would work in commerce, so doing music and art meant you were copping out. I wasn’t happy, so I started to get into trouble.”
When he was 16, his parents told him he could leave school. Although he had no sense of how he would launch his acting career, he did not hesitate to drop out.
“I left school with nothing to do - no job - it was a bit of a risk my parents took,” he says, looking thoughtful. “I never really spoke to them about it properly, but I will do it.”
Timing, of course, is everything, and McGregor’s was perfect. A week after he left school, the Perth Repertory Theatre, where he’d applied months before, called him in. The company, which was near his home, was planning a production of “A Passage to India” and needed a lot of Indian extras.
“So I was taken in and blackened up and turbaned up and after that they kept me on,” he says.
He has worked steadily since then and says he never second-guesses his decision to end his formal education. In fact, he says, he would support any of his children who decided to pursue an acting career.
He recently finished filming a pilot for an HBO series, “The Corrections,” adapted from the best-selling novel by Jonathan Franzen, and will return to New York this summer to film the rest of the series. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dianne Wiest, and Chris Cooper will also star in the series, which will be directed by Noah Baumbach.
McGregor says he is looking forward to the time he will spend in New York because he feels the fans here are more respectful of his privacy than they are in England or Scotland.
“Glasgow is especially tough because ‘Trainspotting’ made such a mark there,” he says. “For years, when I walked around there, people would just yell ‘Rent-boy’ [his nickname in the film], and then they’d try to get me to come for a pint with them. They all thought I was their mate.”
Ewan is the latest model for Shinsegae Department Store in Korea. The advertising campaign revolves around the theme “Modern British” and was photographed in New York.
In a surprising move, HBO has decided not to move forward with its starry series adaptation of The Corrections.
As well as lightsabers, X-wing fighters and talking robots, Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor knows a good watch when he sees one.
“Ewan was only young but I think he immediately realised how special the gift was and he’s still got it now.”
