ewanspotting.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 // 06:42 p.m.
Just a quick note to say that the Media and TV spottings pages are now back up and running. Due to some site moves and issues with Blogger, we were not able to post any updates for some time. Expect regular updates now in those sections. Sorry for the long delay in getting things fixed.
Best of Ewan McGregor
Sunday, January 11, 2004 // 04:17 p.m.
'Big Fish' Edges 'Rings' From Top Spot
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES - Tim Burton's "Big Fish" took in $14.5 million to squeak past "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" as the No. 1 weekend movie, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"The Return of the King," the top film the previous three weekends, came in at $14.1 million, pushing its domestic total to $312.2 million.
The grosses on the top two movies were close enough that the rankings could flip-flop when final weekend figures are released Monday. Final figures often end up slightly lower than estimates made on Sunday, when studios are making projections on how big an audience their films will draw on the last day of the weekend.
"This is very rare to have a photo finish for the No. 1 spot," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "I think what we'll probably find Monday is that perhaps the actual numbers will come in a little bit less but the order of the films will remain the same."
This was the first weekend in wide release for "Big Fish," which stars Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor in the fanciful adventures of a teller of tall tales. The film had opened in late December in a handful of theaters for Academy Awards consideration.
Expanding to 2,406 theaters, "Big Fish" averaged $6,027 a cinema, compared to $3,999 in 3,532 theaters for "Return of the King."
The weekend's only new wide releases were two poorly reviewed movies, the Eddie Griffin comedy "My Baby's Daddy," which ranked No. 6 with $7.8 million, and Mandy Moore's romance "Chasing Liberty," which was No. 7 with $6 million.
January is traditionally a dead zone for new releases, with audiences shrinking after the holiday boom and studios dumping mediocre flicks into theaters.
The overall box office rose, with the top 12 movies taking in $92.5 million, up 5 percent from the same weekend last year.
Distributor Sony rolled "Big Fish" out slowly to build audience word of mouth for a complex film that was not an easy audience sell for Hollywood's marketing machine.
"It was a tough picture to represent marketing-wise in terms of letting people know what the story was," said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution. "It felt like going slower with the picture would give audiences a chance to kind of discover the story for themselves."
"The Return of the King" is about to pass the total $314.8 million domestic gross of the fantasy trilogy's first installment, "The Fellowship of the Ring." The final film also is expected to top the $341.7 million haul of the middle chapter, "The Two Towers."
The serial-killer drama "Monster," which has earned Academy Award buzz for star Charlize Theron, did well expanding from a handful of theaters to wider release. The film based on the life of executed murderer Aileen Wuornos took in $865,160 in 82 theaters for a strong $10,551 average.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Big Fish," $14.5 million.
2. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," $14.1 million.
3. "Cheaper by the Dozen," $12 million.
4. "Something's Gotta Give," $8.2 million.
5. "Cold Mountain," $7.9 million.
6. "My Baby's Daddy," $7.8 million.
7. "Chasing Liberty," $6 million.
8. "Paycheck," $5.2 million.
9. "The Last Samurai," $4.53 million.
10. "Mona Lisa Smile," $4.5 million.
Source: Yahoo News
Thanks to Lelia for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Sunday, January 11, 2004 // 10:53 a.m.
Some wonderful things said about Ewan
While there are hundreds of reviews written about Big Fish (too many to post here), some reviewers have written truly wonderful things about Ewan's performance in Big Fish. Here's a sample:
"No overachieving, overacting or ego is involved. Just simple charm from Jessica Lange, Finney, McGregor (who could easily charm the ocean from its floor)" (Chart Attack)
"Ewan McGregor is a supremely gifted actor, and this might be the film in which his talents are finally, resoundingly recognized. As young Bloom, he must bring life to Edward the man as much as the legend, and he invests such a sense of enthusiasm in the character you can scarcely comprehend where truth ands and fiction begins." (Film Stew)
"Burton's penchant for whimsy and fantasy are put to good use creating a captivating atmosphere of skewed reality inside the world of Edward's dubious anecdotes -- where his younger self is played with warm, charming aw-shucksiness by Ewan McGregor, who has a gift for dancing on the edge of absurdity without seeming self-aware or silly (see 'Moulin Rouge,' 'Down With Love')" (Spliced Wire)
"The young hero Edward Bloom is played by Ewan McGregor with panache. He has the most screen time and every moment is exciting." (Fantastica Daily)
"Burton cradles this theme in his arms, creating an eye-popping visual scheme for each of Edward’s stories. Radiantly acted with great zeal by Ewan McGregor, the fantasy sequences are what keep 'Fish' from floundering." (Filmjerk.com)
"Big Fish ultimately belongs to McGregor. The Scottish actor brings a buoyant charm and infectious energy to the part that's extremely winning—and he delivers his lines with a pretty convincing Southern accent to boot." (Reel.com)
"Ewan McGregor, plays Ed Bloom in his prime. This Hottier McLadofhot just gets better looking with every hearty serving. He's a bit like an expensive bottle of fine man port. His charisma shines off the screen and make every frame a pleasure." (Blunt Reviews)
"For that matter, Ewan McGregor, who plays Ed in his youth, not only looks like Finney but shares the older actor's insistent charisma and larger-than-life presence. There's a taste of Finney's 'Tom Jones' swagger in McGregor's cocky belief in himself and his ability to remain unrattled, no matter what astonishment comes his way." (Access Atlanta)
"McGregor sparkles with the unshakeable self-confidence of a man who knows how he will die (thanks to the witch and her glass eye), and thus fears nothing in the meantime. He is the fairy tale prince played to perfection with boundless energy and without a hint of irony." (Killer Movies)
"And in a role where we’d expect to find longtime collaborator Johnny Depp, Burton casts a willing and eager Ewan McGregor as young Edward Bloom. McGregor seems game for any challenge, and turns young Edward into a naďve, supportive and eternally optimistic character with enough charm and personality to fill the film’s enormously imaginative scenarios." (Eclipse Magazine)
"Ewan McGregor, bright and blustery and full of bold ambition as the younger Ed, is a revelation, a supreme sweet froth of ebullience, bravura and unstoppable confidence. It’s been a while since McGregor has let himself go in a role with such flair-filled abandon; he’s the magical charm of every scene he’s featured in." (Metro Weekly)
"McGregor is brilliant as the young Edward" (CNN)
"That said, McGregor goes a long way toward inspiring sympathy for Edward. Effectively combining his personas from Down with Love (man's man Catcher Block and astronaut Zip Martin), McGregor is a thinking person's movie star, amiable and clever. With Big Fish, he continues on a career path of almost confounding brilliance. His young adventurer is less obviously an outsider than Burton's other Edwards (Scissorhands and Wood), but equally filled with a winning sense of wonder. McGregor responds enthusiastically to Burton's vision of life as a skewed fairy tale." (Pop Matters)
"Ewan McGregor is excellent in the film. He plays the young Edward Bloom with such sincerity and enthusiasm that you instantly buy the character. It helps that he adopts the Southern accent and persona without a hint of condescending attitude. This makes him all the more charming as he tells stories about his fanciful adventures. His performance is perfectly complimented by that of Albert Finney who plays the old Edward Bloom. Again, you totally buy his character and as he tells his tall tales, you’re drawn into them like every other character in the movie. He plays the character with such charm that you instantly like him." (Comingsoon.net)
Thanks to ParisRouge, Melinda, Stefanie and Ewan Rocks Webmistress.
Best of Ewan McGregor
Saturday, January 10, 2004 // 06:00 p.m.
Big Fish dethrones The King on Friday
Early Friday Box office estimates put Big Fish in the number one spot!
1. Big Fish - $4.5m
2. LOTR: Return of the King - $3.6m
3. Cheaper by the Dozen - $3.0m
4. My Baby's Daddy - $2.6m
5. Something's Gotta Give - $2.4m
6. Chasing Liberty - $2.4m
7. Cold Mountain - $2.3m
8. Paycheck - $1.6m
9. Mona Lisa Smile - $1.4m
10. Last Samurai - $1.3m
Source: Movie City News
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Saturday, January 10, 2004 // 05:57 p.m.
"The Natural": Ewan McGregor keeps his acting, and his life, easygoing.
January 09, 2004
By Jenelle Riley
 Ewan McGregor makes it all look so easy. Take giving up smoking: something he did in April after a years-long addiction. "If you really want to stop, you just stop," says the lanky actor with a shrug. "It's not as hard as they say it is, I don't think." To him, it's just that simple.
There are some actors who, no matter how great they may be, always seem to labor when they perform. McGregor is the antithesis of these thespians--a talented actor from whom great performances seem to come effortlessly and naturally. Whether falling head over heels with a woman he's just met or wielding a lightsaber in a galaxy far, far away, he brings a charm and believability to roles that could go disastrously awry in the wrong hands. Nicole Kidman may have walked away with an Oscar nomination for Moulin Rouge, but can anyone imagine the movie working without McGregor's dreamy optimism? Many of his films--Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and Moulin Rouge among them--hinge on audiences wanting to follow their leading man on his journey. And McGregor is charismatic and endearing enough to lead them anywhere.
In his new film, Big Fish, McGregor plays the younger version of a dying man (Albert Finney) reconciling with his estranged son (Billy Crudup). In his take on the past, McGregor battles giants, rescues a town, and romances a woman he doesn't even know (played by Alison Lohman as a young woman and by Jessica Lange as an adult.) Directed by the uniquely creative Tim Burton, McGregor pulls off another tricky role without ever letting us see him sweat. It's going to be a busy year for the actor; his films Young Adam and Stay are due to hit screens later in 2004. But for now, he is set for a much-needed break. He'll be seeing the world from his motorcycle, as removed from Hollywood as one can get. Of course he'll be back next year to reprise his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the third Star Wars prequel. The role has special significance to McGregor: His uncle, Denis Lawson, appeared in the first three Star Wars films as Wedge Antilles. Indeed, as McGregor went on to reveal, it was his uncle who largely inspired his passion for acting.
Back Stage West: We hear so much about actors dissuaded from their craft by practical parents and friends. Is it true that your parents encouraged you to become an actor?
Ewan McGregor: Well, they didn't try to dissuade me. I mean, I'd always wanted to be an actor, since I was 9. My uncle was an actor, and I wanted to be different, like he was. I came from a very small rural town in Scotland. My uncle would come back and just be a very different, kind of colorful, character. And I wanted to be like him. And I never changed my mind. So by the time it came for me to leave school, my parents were so used to the fact that that's what I wanted to do, and it was pretty clear to see that I was driven toward it. So they didn't try to put me off, no. I did it the right way. I worked in theatre--when I was 16, I left school and worked in the theatre backstage, building sets and doing scene changes and watching actors working in the theatre. And watching the discipline that's required, or should be required, to work in the theatre. And I started learning about my trade, really.
From there, I auditioned and got accepted into a one-year theatre arts course in Fife, Scotland. So toward the end, when I was 16, I actually left home and moved away and spent a year learning really intensely about theatre arts. We covered everything, from costume making to publicity to building the sets to stage managing the shows and acting in them. It was probably the most intense training I had. Even three years in drama school in London after that weren't quite as intense as that one year in Scotland. And because we were all quite young--there was an age range from 16 to maybe 24, and it was a kind of course where some people went on it to see if acting or stage management was things that they wanted to do or not. And so halfway through the year, half of them had decided that they didn't want to do it. But we still had two shows to do, and the rest of us who were still fiercely passionate about it had to try to encourage everyone to carry on. It was really hard. I did a lot of growing up that year. From there I went to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and that was a three-year proper acting course. I loved my time at drama school. I think I enjoy everything in retrospect more than I seem to be enjoying it at the time. That's just part of who I am.
BSW: When was the last time you performed live onstage?
McGregor: Three or four years ago, I did a big play in London called Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs [by David Haliwell]. It's a great play. My uncle directed it. I wanted to get back onstage, but I hadn't been onstage for seven years and I was terrified, and I said, "I want you to direct it." So we did this play together, and it was a huge success, and he was wonderful to work with, just brilliant. And it was lovely because I love him so much as an uncle anyway, and to work with him was just a breeze--it was a walk in the park. So I long to do it again. It shouldn't be as complicated as it seems to be to organize, but I guess with films, they end up so far in advance, or you attach yourself to a movie and it doesn't go or it goes back or they lose the money, and it just seems to be difficult to nail down, to say I'm doing this play then. Also, I don't tend to get offered many plays. People don't come forward to me and say they want me to do this, that, or the other.
BSW: Why do you think that is?
McGregor: I don't know. I suppose the assumption is that movie actors do movies. And it's stupid. The truth of the matter is, there's an awful lot to learn from both sides of the fence. And I've always thought that. I don't know if it's an American thing, but there certainly used to be in Britain a kind of snobbery in the theatre about movie acting [and] a kind of reverse snobbery in movies about theatre acting. And the truth is, they're all acting, and they require different skills. To work in the theatre is terribly rewarding; it's wonderfully educational for the actor. It's much better for you, in fact, than making movies. And you learn what your job's really about. It's about shaping people's emotions in the audience and the power that you can have in doing that. It's funny; I'm such a slow learner. But I really realized doing Little Malcolm one night, you know, it was a very dark play ultimately, but the beginning is very light and funny. And the director uses that to grasp the audience, and then he just drags them down, and it becomes a very dark affair by the end of the piece. But there was one night where we had the audience; they were rolling in the aisles. We really had them in the palm in our hands. They were killing themselves laughing. But I remember being onstage and feeling, "If we don't rein them in a bit now, this next scene isn't going to work." If you miss one of those beats, the play might not work. I realized there onstage that my job is to make the play work. And my portrayal of the character is only part of making the play work. On a football field, the team would go, "Jimmy, give me the ball!" And they would shout at each other and pass the ball over. Well, you can't do that onstage. You can't go, "OK, we need to rein them in now." So I realized that what we're doing [is], we're steering the audience's emotions from one place to another. We're not able to discuss it, sharing the stage, but the actors are feeling it out together and doing that. And we did. We managed to pull them in, so when we hit them with that dark point, it really hit hard. And you could feel it--fwhoom!--like an arrow in the target. And we nailed it, and the play was served and the play worked.
BSW: Did your uncle have any advice on joining the Star Wars franchise?
McGregor: He told me not to do them. He hates Star Wars; he hates being in it; he hates the fan mail that he still receives to this day. And he only did a couple of days on each film--he had a tiny part, yet he still gets fan mail from these weird people who obsess about such things. He said not to do it. His advice was, "Don't do Star Wars. I want you to have a career after you're 30."
The nearer I got to doing the film, the more I wanted to do [it]. And I've always followed my instinct like that. And also, I felt like I've done enough work not to get trapped in it. Star Wars are nice films to be in, they're very difficult films to make. You know, it hasn't done me any harm, I don't think. Nor has it made a huge difference in my career, really. I think other things have stepped me up the ladder in a bigger way. But it's difficult to tell; it's difficult to know what effect different films have on you, because I'm working all the time.
BSW: We spoke with Hayden Christensen [who plays Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and the upcoming third episode] recently, and he said he originally had reservations about taking on such an intimidating role. But he said it ultimately came down to realizing, "Come on, it's Star Wars. How do you say no?"
McGregor: And you know, he's made a film with his brother [Shattered Glass], and that might not have happened had he not been in Star Wars. So it all goes around nicely. And for some people, it will be the only films they make. And that's fine. For me, it's not the case. For me, it's the only time I've made three films playing the same character. It will probably be the only time I ever do that. But they're three movies amongst many, many others.
BSW: In Star Wars, you play a young Alec Guinness, and in Big Fish, you're the young Albert Finney. Did you know when you signed on that Albert would be playing your father?
McGregor: Yes. They waited to find the right two people, so it was a double cast. They didn't offer it to me and then go and find Albert. Nor did they offer it to Albert, then come and find me. They found the package deal, you might say. It was important for them to do that. It was the same for Jessica [Lange] and Alison [Lohman].
BSW: How did you go about playing versions of these two men without delving into imitation?
McGregor: I studied Alec Guinness' voice, mainly, to try to match some of his vocal patterns. Not to copy him, because it wouldn't be right to just do an Alec Guinness impersonation; it wouldn't be enough. And I had to make the character somehow my own but at the same time make it believable [that] I become Alec Guinness. And I'm satisfied that I did that. And maybe in Episode III, I've done more of it than before--to try to link up Episode III to Episode IV. So we'll see how that works; I don't know.
With Albert, again it was the voice. The voice does a lot. Because he's playing him so much older than I am, and also because I'm playing Albert's memory of himself. So in Big Fish, it was important that I was fantastic and lovely and a great guy and had all the right moral values, because it's somebody's memory of himself. So I didn't have to do an Albert Finney impersonation. But we worked with Carla Meyer, who's the best dialect coach in the country. She kind of gave us the same voice--because he's English, I'm Scottish, yet we're playing someone from Alabama. So we worked with her together and separately on the accent, and, in a way, that did as much work as anything else.
BSW: Were you a Tim Burton fan?
McGregor: Yeah, I love Tim's stuff. I think, [for] an actor, he's just one of the directors you'd kill to work with, there's no question about that. When I was given the script to read, you can't help but let the fact he's directing influence your reading of it. So as you're reading the fantastical side of it, you're familiar with Tim's kind of visual style, and they come really alive in your mind. And I loved working with him; he was so beautiful to work with. He said, "Action," then you were allowed to play and discover and experiment, and when he said, "Cut," there'd be no trauma in between. Very often you can pick up a director's fear and a director's anxiousness when you're at work. That happens a lot because it's a scary thing to be a director. But with Tim you're not aware of it. I saw him get frustrated with things like waiting for the right light or waiting for a crane to go up or the clouds to clear. And that's how I feel about it--I don't like spending too much time on stuff; I don't think it serves anybody. I'm much better in the first three or four takes than I am in the ninth or tenth. That's the way I am; it's not the same for all actors.
You just had a lovely sense that he was watching, and he knew when it was good, and he'd move on. And it's terribly frustrating when directors don't. And it's funny, on a film set when you've done the take, everyone knows. The other actors know, you know, the crew all know. And very often the person who doesn't get it is the director. And he'll go, "All right, let's do one more." And it's just disappointing. Because you start thinking he's not watching or not feeling it. And then you end up moving on after a bad take, and that's soul-destroying. You want to get it right and fucking move on. And Tim's like that.
BSW: In both Big Fish and Moulin Rouge, you play characters who fall passionately in love with a woman upon first sight and pursue them doggedly. How do you play the romance without coming off like a stalker?
McGregor: Because they're about true love, I think. He truly loves that girl. But you're right--I mean, to turn up on the door like that is sort of weird. But he really means it. When he shows up on the door in Big Fish and says, "You don't know me yet, but I'm going to marry you," he really believes it. [He pauses, then begins laughing.] I don't know, I've never thought of that question. Isn't that funny? Stalker ... or romantic hero?
BSW: In the wrong hands, it wouldn't work, but you make it seem so logical.
McGregor: Well, I suppose I believe it. I fell in love with my wife like that. So I know it's possible.
BSW: You're done several nude scenes in movies, which I think American audiences find interesting because it's not typical for our movies to feature male nudity. Have you ever had any qualms about your on-screen nudity?
McGregor: Well, no, because they're relevant. I don't have a problem with it, because it's reality. I don't think any of the films I've made have been gratuitous. There's a beautiful film I made with [Peter] Greenaway called The Pillow Book. And it's beautiful, and it's about sex and this girl's sexual life. And if you're going to make a film about that, it's going to require people to be naked, because people generally are when they have sex. Not always, but sometimes. I think if the movies do reflect life, which is the point, then people are naked in their life. I am twice a day, at least, naked. And some people get really worked up about it. I just don't. I never have been, I've always been quite happy to do that. I think people should get more upset about violence, but that seems to be OK. It's all right to cut someone's head off in a film, it's not all right to see somebody naked. I don't understand that. I would think it should be the other way around.
BSW: Your film Young Adam, which was released in the United Kingdom last year, featured you nude, and rumor has it that the nudity will be cut for the American release this year.
McGregor: There's a lot of sex in Young Adam. I've heard it's been cut, but then I've heard not a frame has been taken out of it. So I don't know. You do see my penis in that film, but whether you'll see it in America or not, I don't know.
BSW: Did you know there's an online petition to keep the nude scene intact?
McGregor: Oh, that's funny. To not cut the penis scene? It's not that big of a deal, it's just really quick. I mean, people will get really upset if they think they'll get long, lingering looks at my dick. They don't.
BSW: On to another rumor: Are you aware there's also a campaign to make you the next James Bond? And would you be interested?
McGregor: Is there? I think, like everything else, you'd have to think and deal with it if it came up. They haven't spoken to me about it; there's been no dialogue. It could be a blast to make those films, there's no question about that. But at the same time, I would worry that I wouldn't have enough time to make other films. Star Wars takes up three and a half months of my life [once] every three years, and that's it. Then a bit of a reshoot and a bit of publicity. And I think James Bond shoots for four or six months, and I believe Pierce [Brosnan] is obliged to go around the world to open the films and is sent on a monstrous publicity tour. And that would certainly be something you'd have to take into consideration. Because it means you wouldn't be able to make as many films, and I seem to like making films a lot. But it would be so great to be able to play James Bond--I think he's a great character, and I can imagine myself playing him. We'll just have to see.
And I think there's a way to get the sexy stuff back, without it being misogynistic. Because there's no question, some of it was really on the line, especially Connery's stuff. Because it should be sexy. And also, the espionage could be--see, now I'm having all these great thoughts about it.
In a way, The Bourne Identity was a great film about what it's like to be that guy. And that would be a fantastic Bond: what it's really like to be a hired killer, somebody who lives the life where you can't have any ties. Because there are those people out there.
BSW: What's the best thing about your job?
McGregor: The best thing is when the camera's turning. I like that bit more than any of the rest of it. I mean, it's great. I see the world; I travel; but when you've done that for a long time, you just want to be at home. This year I've spent three weeks at my house in London, and that's great, because I've done some interesting work. But if I didn't love the bit when the camera was turning, it wouldn't be worth it. It's incredibly disruptive for my kids and my wife, who's had to put her career more or less on hold because we travel so much. If she were to take a job, I wouldn't see her for seven or eight months, maybe, and we don't want a marriage like that. It also gives me financial security, and I'm very comfortable and happy and don't want for much. I'm a really satisfied person. But ultimately, I like waking up in the morning when I'm going to a film set to do my work. And when I don't, it's because I'm tired and I need to take a break. Which is exactly what I'm about to do now. I'm going on a big motorcycle tour around the world. So I need to be hungry for it again. I've just finished a wonderful film called Stay, but at the end of it, I was tired and didn't have that spring in my step going to work in the morning and I should have. Because I love it.
Source: Back Stage West
Thank you ParisRouge for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Friday, January 9, 2004 // 07:21 a.m.
Ewan and Sharleen Spiteri to host Burns night
Jan 9 2004
By John Dingwall
Later this month, Sharleen Spiteri and actor pal Ewan McGregor will host a Burns night in London to raise money for CHAS (Children's Hospice Association of Scotland) appeal.
Sharleen said: "We're bringing the Londoners into the fun that can be had from a Scots party. We did it last year and we've been inundated with people asking us to do it again so we're going ahead with it."
Source: Daily Record
Best of Ewan McGregor
Friday, December 26, 2003 // 02:51 p.m.
First picture from Stay!
comingsoon.net has the first picture from Ewan's upcoming film, Stay. Click on the link to check it out!
Thanks to Velours Rouge for the find!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Sunday, December 21, 2003 // 01:27 p.m.
Transcript of Ewan's KROQ interview
Here's the transcript of Ewan's interview on KROQ on 12/16/03. Ewan was interviewed
by three DJs (Kevin, Beene and a female).
DJ - What about Ewan McGregor showing up at KROQ here this morning and being
early, too? What about that? I know. I'm impressed.
E - Morning.
DJ - How are you, Ewan?
E - I'm excellent. You?
DJ - Early
E - Yes
DJ - Our guests don't come early, Ewan. They all come late.
E - Well, it's not very rock-n-roll of me, but there we are.
DJ - (laughing)... That is the difference, I think. Ewan McGregor is in town
doing publicity for the film "Big Fish" that we're going to
spend a lot of time talking about in the next few minutes. I guess you did the
Jay Leno show last night. You take advantage of the open bar at the Tonight
Show when you do their program, Ewan?
E - Yeah, no, not last night, no. They do wheel 'round a cart of the Jay Bar,
I think it's called.
DJ - That's the way it should be.
E - Yeah. I didn't notice one here this morning.
DJ - Would you like? We have. We've got the kegorator in the other room with
Guiness on tap, if you want some of that.
E - No, not this early (muttering Jesus Christ)
DJ - That's how you can tell that he's Scottish and not Irish by the way. He
looked at his watch and said "no."
E & DJ - (laughing)
DJ - Just then he looked at his watch. Exactly. Alright. So Big Fish is out
in theaters right now. Is this the one with all the posters, with the tree thing
on it or whatever it is?
E - Yeah
DJ - A tree with a? What the hell is that?
E - That's a big tree and that's me in the big tree.
DJ - What am I supposed to take away from that poster exactly?
E - Exactly your reaction. So you go and see it, you see.
DJ - Ohhhhhhh, I see
E - Wait a minute? What is that all about? (laughing)
Well, it's kind of a Tim Burtonesque forest, you know, that kind of gothicky
looking forest.
DJ - Right.
E - I don't know. I like it. I think it's a beautiful poster.
DJ - It looks cool, but I always drive by it and go, What do they want from
me exactly when I see that?
E - Singing what is...
DJ - Do they want me to say...
E - Ten bucks
DJ - (laughing) yeah, I have no problem giving that to them. But, you know, it's
funny because, uh, it's sad that this is true, but half the game with movies
these days is how well you can get across what the audience should expect when
they go see it. And there are some films that are pretty straightforward. You
can see a commercial for the movie and go, "yeah, I can totally see what
that one's all about and I'm going to go see it." And then there are movies
like yours that are a little more of an abstract concept. And it's kind of difficult
in 30 seconds to really put an ad out, even, that's going to tell people what
Big Fish is all about because it's about so many things.
E - I know, it's true. And it's become a huge part of the business, you know,
how it's sold.
DJ - Huge
E - Very often it's terrible..very often you see the whole movie in the trailer,
you know, and there's really no point in going. You've seen all the good bits.
DJ - Yeah. Probably half the time.
E - Yeah, a lot of time.
DJ - Yeah, that's the case. And they don't give you anything that surprises
you after you already saw the trailer.
E - Yeah, I remember. Or they try and dumb it down so much so that they have
to... I remember with Moulin Rouge. They cut a trailer together that
had no music in it, no singing in it.
DJ - Are you kidding? Because they thought that would scare people away?
E - Yeah, so they thought, well, people don't want to go see a musical, for
goodness sakes. So, let's pretend it's not a musical.
DJ - So they want to trap them into being in there?
E - How long is it going to take them before they realize it's a musical, you
know?
DJ - (laughing) You know what, that's true, though. So much true that we have
our entertainment reporter does a movie review show on Friday based only on
the commercials.
E - Oh, really?
DJ - Just on what we see from the commercials.
E - Alright.
DJ - Because that's pretty much how people make their decisions.
E - Yeah
DJ - Not yours, I mean. He watched yours and loved it. But I'm just saying
for the most part.
E - Well I suppose... (laughing)
DJ - How do you describe it to people, you know, when they ask, and of course
they're asking you a lot this week what's Big Fish about. If we haven't read
the book, what do you tell people?
E - I think it's purely a story about a Father and a son..
DJ - Father and a son
E - Whose relationship has been severed. The father's a great storyteller and
he tells these huge fantastical stories about his own life.
DJ - Lies... exaggerations
E - Well, kind of... exaggerations, yes, tall tales, I guess. And the son has
become just frustrated by hearing these stories all through his life to the
point where his dad's at the son's wedding, his dad's standing up in front of
everyone telling a great big story about himself, you know. So their relationship's
been..for three years they haven't spoke and then the father becomes ill. And
it's a film about this son reconciling their relationship or trying to find
out about who his father is.
DJ - And you play the son?
E - I play the father in those stories, you know.
DJ - Oh, you're the k... father when he was younger.
E - Albert Finney plays the old Edward and I play him in the fantastical stories
of himself. So, you know, it's really got Tim Burton's brushstrokes on it, my
part of the story. It's the slightly larger-than-life stuff that Tim does really
beautifully.
DJ - Yeah
E - But what's new, I guess, for Tim is the father and son story, the contemporary
story. It's so beautiful and moving, you know. He's really...
DJ - It's very, very touching. And I'll tell you, I'm a big fan, of course,
of Billy Crudup. I think he's an amazing actor.
E - Yeah, he pronounces, it's CrUUUdup, he always tells people, "is it
Tom Cruise?"
DJ - (laughing) Yeah, that makes sense. I apologize. Crudup then. He's an excellent
actor, but I will tell you, as much as I've always admired Albert Finney, and
I mean, I remember being an Albert Finney fan, you know, when I was little kid,
seeing him on things like, Murder on the Orient Express, and things like
that, I mean he's an amazing actor, I think this could be one of the best things
he's ever done. He is incredible. And I thought about you, Ewan, when I was
seeing the movie on Sunday because you're one of the only people in the movie
that doesn't really get to act with him because you are him..you're playing
his character.
E - Yeah, that's right, that's absolutely right. But it was a huge honor to...
It's a huge honor to meet Albert Finney because he's a legend, you know, and
he's..and when you do meet him, he's a beautiful man. He's a really sweet guy
and I got to play him, you know. So that was a bit of an honor for me.
DJ - That's kind of strange, isn't it?
E - Not with him, I didn't say with him.
DJ - No, no. I didn't say with him... (muttering) Jesus
E - (laughing) I just said played him.
DJ - And it's kind of weird that you also play Alec Guiness, too, in the Star
Wars movies and now you are playing Albert Finney. I mean, that's kind of
a... that's an odd niche for an actor to have.
E - Yeah, I'm looking for a Michael Caine part, maybe a Sean Connery...
DJ: You can play all the old guys. What the hell is going on with you?
E - ...there's a whole career ahead of me playing other guys.
DJ - Alright, we need to take a break. The young Sean Connery. YOU should be
James Bond's son. It should be James Bond, Jr. They should hire you. That would
be awesome!
E - (imitating Sean Connery as James Bond) Yes, I'm just waiting for the call..
DJ & E -(laughing)
DJ - We've got so much we want to talk to Ewan about. We're going to try to
squeeze in as much as possible. But I have to ask you a couple more things about
the movie real quick, because it is one of the more extraordinary experiences
in a theater this year because it is Tim Burton and it is so odd. Tell everybody,
and I saw the movie, but tell everybody about the famous elephant poop scene
because this is something that you don't see in any movie, ever.
E - I've never seen a scene that featured an elephant actually crapping before.
(laughing) I think it's a first. I'm sure we can look it up. Someone maybe can
get it...
DJ - (laughing) We'll accept that as a given.
E - Anyway we were shooting a scene where I'm cleaning out some elephants.
Well, not cleaning THEM out.
DJ - I was going to say
E - Cleaning out a big elephant colonic. Now that's never been on screen either.
DJ - No, it hasn't. That's for the DVD only
E - No, no. (laughing) Bonus scenes: Elephant Colonic! Um, so I'm cleaning
out their area, right? And we'd done the wide shot - they're facing away from
us - so it's a nice shot of me and two massive elelphant bums. And then as we
were setting up the close shot on me, this elephant lifted, and we all went,
"QUICK!" So they pulled the cameras back and turned the cameras over
and I played the scene again. And so we kind of got the medium shot where the
elephant is pooing right behind my head.
DJ - Ooooooooooo
E - It's fantastic! It's like something you've never seen before. It's a moment.
DJ - Was the smell overpowering?
E - Noooooooo, they're elephants.
DJ - No, it's not? Really? I don't know what that means, they're elephants?
E - Have you ever smelled elephants poo before?
DJ - Elephant smell
E - They kind of eat hay and stuff, I think, grass. It's not... They don't
go out and have a filet mignon and white fila beans. It's not like that.
DJ - Do you think I'm crazy to ask that question?
E - Well, I don't know... Yeah
DJ - But Ewan, there was no part of you that thought, "Elephant pooing
must get away now!" Your thought was, "Hey, get this on film. This
is going to be cool."
E - No, I thought, yeah "Turn over, turn the cameras. Get them running."
DJ - (laughing) That is a true professional. That was oddball. Of course now
you've got a witch in the movie with one eye. You don't see that everyday. You've
got the most unbelievable giant I've every seen in a movie.
E - Yeah, yeah, yeah
DJ - And I don't know how you did it. How tall is the actor who played the
giant and how did you make him?
E - Matthew's huge. He's 7 foot 2, I think, Matthew. And, so he's a big guy
already. What was lovely about this film. Now I've done a lot of blue screen
work. You maybe noticed?
DJ - right, uh-huh
E - The Star Wars trilogy. I'm very often acting in front of a blue
or a green screen. So I know all about that stuff. And what was really nice
about Tim is that when we did special effects, he'd try and do them in the camera,
you know. He'd try and set them up in the camera so that we didn't have to do
that.
DJ - So set up at an angle so that he looked even taller?
E - Yeah. So we used kind of false perspective so I would stand further away
from the camera.
DJ - Oh, I see
E - And Matthew would just be nearer the camera, and we'd cheat our eyeline
so it looks like we're looking at each other and we'd work it out. And it's
much more satisfying for us to do it that way.
DJ - It's unbelievable that this guy isn't real because he looks 14 feet tall
about, was my guess. And he just interacts with everybody in the movie. And
you put your hand in his and it looks like, you know, you've got a little bird's
claw or something. It's really visually...
E - Yeah, we had a little guy called... everyone called him "Mini E"
because he was a look-alike.
DJ - Mini E? Mini Ewan
E - He was my look-alike. But, you know, he's like an eight-year-old kid or
something and he had a little version of my costume. And if we were shooting
behind me onto Matthew, we'd slip him in, you know, and it would make him..
DJ - Oh, I see, that makes sense.
E - So if you look, you can see, there are a couple of shots where maybe that's
his hand and it's not my hand.
DJ - I got you
E - You know what I mean? Yeah, it's quite nice.
DJ - Tell us about working with a guy like Tim Burton because he's got such
a vision and we always hear these stories about how he's manic. He never slows
down for a minute. Is that the reality of working with him on a set?
E - Yeah, I mean, he is on the move all the time and he's a great pacer, you
know, and his hair is all over the place because he spends a lot of time kind
of pulling it out of his head, you know?
DJ - Right, right
E - But I watched him being...it's not an impatience. It's just an energy.
He just can't sit down because he's got so much going on.
DJ - It's kind of a nervous energy?
E - Or a creative energy, I would think. Whereas he could get very frustrated
waiting for a crane. We were shooting in Alabama which was beautiful down there.
But the weather sometimes was a problem or it would be cloudy and then sunny.
You've got to have some continuity and that stuff. So we'd often be waiting
for the sun to come out or waiting for the cloud to cover the sun. And in those
moments, you know, the pacing would get quite erratic. And in fact, he had a
little stat monitor on his belt towards the end of the film and he clocked up
like 16 miles a day...
DJ - Is that right?
E - just pacing around... Yeah, yeah
DJ - Oh my god!
E - But when it came to the time to do the scenes, you never ever felt rushed
as an actor or he was never impatient with us. It was just about... He just
wanted to get on with it, you know?
DJ - He's one of those directors where we see and we go, "Oh, he does
interesting stuff. We want to see that movie" automatically just because
he's involved.
E -Yeah, yeah, and as an actor, he's one of the very few you would kill to
work with, you know. He's up there.
DJ - Yeah, I was wondering if that was part of the draw for this film, was
to get a chance to work with Tim Burton.
E - Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think you can't take, well, as soon as you
get the script and your agent says, "this is a Tim Burton movie,"
you can't help that influenced your reading of it. So the kind of fantastical
elements of the script, you know, you can see them already because we know..we're
familiar with Tim's kind of..the look of his films.
DJ - Right. The movie is called Big Fish and it's opened now at Century
City and Los Angeles, the Grove. Would you mind sticking around for one more
break?
E - Sure, I'd love to.
DJ - We want to talk to you about quitting acting and going on the road. That's
what's happening next for Ewan McGregor.
DJ - If the National Enquirer is listening right now, get the headline right,
Ewan McGregor turns his back on acting forever.. Spits in the face of Hollywood.
That's the story that we're breaking right now. Ewan McGregor is our guest in
studio. The film in theatres right now is called Big Fish. Checked it
out. But Ewan, for 2004, really don't have anything but road trip on the schedule,
right?
E - (Sarcastically) I'll never act again.
DJ - I says to Ewan, I says, how far... don't indulge them
E - (Sarcastically) That's it! I through with this. It's a nasty business and
I'm getting out while the going's good.
DJ - I asked him during the commercials how far out does he plan? How many
movies does he have already in the schedule? He said, "none, I've cleared
it all. I'm going on a road trip."
E - Yeah
DJ - But this is a first, right?
E - This is a...can I just say that was brilliant watching you do that road
traffic report.
DJ - Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
E - I've never seen anyone do that before.
DJ - Thank you. It's a challenge
E - No, I loved it. It was flawless. It was flawless.
DJ - And the reason is... Complimented from a Jedi Knight, that does not happen
everyday on this show.
E - If I was to try and do that, I... I... force... there's a... car... part...
somewhere... in the... where is it?... hang on a minute (rustle of paper)...
wait a minute...
DJ - Let me find it... So, you're going on a road trip. You're going to take
a motorcycle trip around the world.
E - Yeah, yeah. I'm doing this with my friend, Charlie, and Charlie and I have
done a lot of motorcycling together and we've been planning this trip for awhile.
And it kind of grew out of a smaller trip, but we're riding around the world,
so...
DJ - Tell us the route.
E - In April, we leave sometime in April. We're going to ride from London,
across Europe through Poland, the Ukraine into Russia. And then across Russia,
across Kazakstan, Mongolia, cut the corner of China, back into Russian into
as far east as you can go to a place called Magadan is as far as what kind of
roads there are there. They end in Magadan. And from there we can put the bikes
on an aircraft and we fly to Alaska to Anchorage, and we cross Alaska, cross
the whole of Canada and drop down to New York. So we're riding from London to
New York, basically, the wrong way around.
DJ - The long way around. Can you, as a westerner, do you have unfettered access
to Russia and China? Can you get on the highway and go wherever you want to
go without any kind of interference from the government?
E - No, you have to clear all this stuff before you go, so basically from January
to April is our... [problem with recording]
E - Hopefully not be too bad. I think, I mean that's when it thaws out, but
the problem with Eastern Siberia is insects. When it thaws, for the period of
time it has thawed out, you can hardley see for the mosquitos....
DJ - Cool, you're going to get knocked right off your bike. I heard that about
Alaska, too.
E - Yeah.
DJ - You just get attacked. So how long is the trip going to take?
E - 15 weeks.
DJ - Wow! 15 weeks on a Harley!
E - No, not really, no, no. But we're not sure what bikes we're going to be...
Big trail bikes. We haven't decided which.
DJ - Is there a reason why you do motorcycle instead of a car?
E - I've ridden bikes since I was 18...19, and I'm much happ... I'm much better
on a bike. I always crash cars, for some reason. (laughing)
DJ - (laughing)
E - They're too wide for my vision or something. Whereas on a bike, I'm much
more aware of things, you know.
DJ - Well, you're going to see so much more now, too. Now, will you be... are
you filming any of this, or making some record of it?
E - Yeah, I mean we're going to try. We'll have cameras in our helmets and
on the bikes. But we're going to... instead of traveling with a film crew, I
wanted a document of it and we'll try to couple together a kind of tv show,
if you like. But I didn't want it to interfere with our, with my experience
of me and Charlie doing this trip.
DJ - Right. Right.
E - So what we plan to do is to meet a television crew at specific points along
the way. So maybe every two weeks, or every 10 days, we'll meet the crew, shoot
in that place of interest and then we'll get...
DJ - I got you
E - ...on the way again.
DJ - That's cool. And your family, too. You'll fly them in and you'll meet
them somewhere.
E - I think we'll... I'll definitely try to meet them maybe two or three times
along the way...
DJ - That sounds like fun.
E - ...'cause it's three months, you know.
DJ - And then in September, you have what lined up?
E - Nothing!
DJ - Nothing at all! He's done!
E - No.
DJ - And he's not worried.
E - So if anyone's got a script, you know...
DJ - (laughing)
E - ...don't send it in to me. (laughing)
DJ - Don't send it. You're on the road. This is one of those things that people
talk about with their friends, when they're teenagers, and they go, "Wouldn't
it be fun if we could just chuck it all and jump on a motorcycle and ride around
the world?" But you, actually, are carving out the time as a grownup...
E - Yeah.
DJ - ...as a family man, you're saying, "I still want to do this and it's
important for me to do it."
DJ - But he's also a Jedi Knight. I mean, that's a step ahead of most of us.
DJ - Yeah, that's true. I guess you can't take that away...
E - I've got that sense of what might be...
DJ - That's right. That sounds like fun.
E - No, you're absolutely right. But it's just that it's an opportunity that
we thought that if we don't do it now, we're not going to do it, you know?
DJ - Right.
E - We could wait for the kids to grow up and leave home, but then we'd be
too...
DJ - The perfect time, and there isn't. And you'd be old.
E - Too comfortable on my sofa.
DJ - Let me ask you this, Ewan, because you've been separated from the world
for periods of time when you've been filming in remote locations, I mean. Are
you the kind of guy who will go crazy if you can't follow your sports teams
or follow the news or anything like that? Because you'll be out there for weeks
at a time and really have, essentially, no idea what's going on in the world.
E - No, no.
DJ - Would that bother you or would that be fine?
E - I think that's partly, the idea is to go and meet people who live, you
know... What is it like for somebody who lives in a shack in central Mongolia
or in eastern Siberia, you know?
DJ - It sucks. (laughing) I can tell you that. You should urge them to move.
I don't need to go there to tell you that. But they might not know that.
E - It's different. No, but it's just different. It sucks for us living here
with what we're used to...
DJ - I know, I'm just kidding
E - ...but it's just a different way of life and I'm fascinated to find out
what goes on there and... You know, I don't imagine they'll have seen too many
guys passing through in bikes.
DJ - True, probably not.
E - So, it'll be interesting to see what...
DJ - You're right about that, and did you see Last Samurai by the way,
Ewan?
E - I haven't had a chance to pick that one up yet, no.
DJ - In Last Samurai there's this village that Tom Cruise, who's a captured
American soldier, spends six months in, or something like that through the winter.
And it's a tiny village of people who really, I mean, we would look at them
and say they have nothing. You know, they're basically sleeping on mats and
they're working in the fields all day. And they spend their time just thinking
and doing yoga and training, and teaching the kids and stuff like that. They
look like they have very full happy lives...
E - Yeah.
DJ - ...and it's a completely different experience than anything that any of
us have and I think that's the kind of thing that you're talking about as you
see these insulated societies where they have different priorities and different
schedules...
E - Yeah, that's right.
DJ - ...it works out great for them. They're happier, happier than we westerners
are.
E - That's right. It would be just fascinating to see...
DJ - They're faking it.
E - (laughing) They're faking it, yeah. There's no Starbucks there. How on
earth could they be happy, for goodness sake?
DJ - There's no possible way!
E - No, they can't be.
DJ - How could they be happy if they don't live just like I do?
E - (laughing)
DJ - Well, that sounds like a plan, man, that's awesome. I'm glad you're doing
that.
E - Well, I'll come back and tell you how it went.
DJ - Do! Seriously, we'd like to have you back.
E - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DJ - Yeah, and then if you ever get another movie again, you could....
E - Yeah, maybe.
DJ - Ewan McGregor won't ever work again.
DJ - The movie is Big Fish. Go see it. He'd like the money to tour the
world. Ok.
E - Thanks very much.
DJ - Thank you, Ewan.
E - Thanks, guys
DJ - Bye, now.
Thanks to Melinda for the transcript and Melanie for finding
the picture!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Thursday, December 18, 2003 // 12:21 p.m.
Big Fish nominated for Golden Globe Award
Big Fish was nominated as "Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy", along with Bend it like Beckham, Finding Nemo, Lost in Translation and Love Actually.
Big Fish's other nomations include: Albert Finney as best actor in a supporting role, Danny Elfman for best original score for a motion picture, and Man of the Hour by Eddie Vedder.
Source: Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Thanks to Autre and Dawn for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Tuesday, December 16, 2003 // 10:00 a.m.
Lucky fans meet Ewan after The Tonight Show
Members of the Ewan Sisterhood were thrilled when Ewan stopped the vehicle he was in to sign autographs and pose for pictures as he was leaving The Tonight Show.
Thanks to Melanie "TheMeems" for the picture!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Sunday, December 14, 2003 // 05:20 p.m.
Young Adam's North American Release Date
According to Sony Pictures Classics, Young Adam will be released in North America on April 16th, 2004.
Best of Ewan McGregor
Thursday, December 11, 2003 // 09:09 p.m.
 Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman Pair Up on Screen in "Big Fish"
Interview with Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman
Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman play the younger versions of Albert Finney and Jessica Lange in the fantasy/drama “Big Fish,” directed by Tim Burton and based on the Daniel Wallace novel, “Big Fish: A Story of Mythic Proportions.”
The filmmakers were inspired to cast Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney as Edward Bloom at different ages after seeing a photo of McGregor and Finney side by side at the same age. Producer Bruce Cohen recalls, "There it was, the same smile, the same dimple, the same sparkle in the eyes. They looked eerily and brilliantly alike."
On casting Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange to play Sandra, producer Dan Jinks feels fortune smiled on the production twice. "Who could wish for two better actors to play Sandra, and who could deny the similarities - the cheek bones, the smile, the same feminine physicality."
What do you think of two British actors playing an American?
EWAN McGREGOR: I think we're all players and that we should get to play whatever. I didn't question that it was two British people playing an American guy. To be in a film with Albert Finney at all would be a huge honor, but to get to play him was insane, in my thinking. Although we didn't get to act together, it was such a beautiful experience getting to know him because he is a diamond. He's a lovely man.
Can you remember the moment when you began to think of your parents as people, not just parents?
ALISON LOHMAN: I think it's just gradual but you don't really notice it. For me there wasn't one big moment. You kind of change and grow together, and things change. I don't know.
How tough was getting the accent down?
EWAN McGREGOR: You worked hard on this (indicating Alison). For me, as a Scot, it's a much easier accent to do than a standard American accent because you can really hear it. You can get your teeth into it. Standard American is much harder because…
ALISON LOHMAN: It's more lyrical, isn't it?
EWAN McGREGOR: Yeah, there's just sounds in it that my ear recognizes more than in a straight American. It seems to be a bit tougher. But it's a really lovely accent to use. I loved listening to especially older people down there in Alabama. There's a real beauty in the way they use not just the sounds, but the way they use words. It's really lovely [and] comforting.
ALISON LOHMAN: The perfect accent to tell stories.
EWAN McGREGOR: Yeah, I think that's right. It's probably no mistake that it's set down there. I met this great old farmer, ropin' old cattleman down there, a f**king real cowboy, this guy who was in his - he's called Bubba and he was maybe in his 70s. We just met him and we had a party at his farm. He had all my kids and all the local kids around. He threw this big party for the children, really, and he was lovely. He's really flirtatious with my mother-in-law, which was hilarious, I remember. But he was a real old cowboy and just a man of the earth. He was fantastic.
Was he working on the movie?
EWAN McGREGOR: No, he wasn't working on the movie. He's just a guy down there, a rancher from down that way, a nice bloke.
Why should people see “Big Fish?”
EWAN McGREGOR: I think it's a rather beautiful story about a father and a son.
ALISON LOHMAN: It's a Tim Burton movie.
EWAN McGREGOR: And it's a Tim Burton movie, yeah. It's not a hugely explored relationship in movies. It can connect to all of us because whatever our relationship is or has been with our parents, we can all relate to that. And it's a reparation of a severed relationship. It's hugely moving and it's a beautiful, simple tale.
Did you feel the sense of whimsy while filming, or was it just technical?
ALISON LOHMAN: I think Tim was great with that, like the daffodils. He actually had all those daffodils, so he makes it very realistic for you. The actor doesn't really have to work. You're not acting. He tries to make it as genuine as he can.
How did the finished film compare to what you imagined it would?
EWAN McGREGOR: It matched exactly. It kind of matched how I saw it frame by frame almost, because you're familiar with Tim Burton and his work and his style. When I read the script, it was no surprise to me that he was directing it. I couldn't have imagined anyone else directing it, you know. So none of it came as a surprise. The fish looked like I imagined the fish would look like. Before you start reading the script, you've got that because you filter through [Tim Burton’s] visual sense. None of it came as a surprise.
 Can you talk about the circus scene and the elephant poop?
EWAN McGREGOR: Genius. How amazing was that moment when the elephant craps on screen? We'd shot the wide shot where you see the two elephant's bums and then me. We'd shot that and we'd moved in to do a close-up, so they were setting the camera here, so you just see a bit of elephant's leg. You didn't see his bum or anything. And as we were setting that up, it lifted its tail and we all went “QUICK,” and they widened the camera out. I got ready and there was no turnover. They just turned the camera on and I played the scene as it dumped next to me. Genius, and none of us thought it would make it to the film but it's genius that it did. There's not many elephants pooing on the big screen that I can remember. Not enough, actually. I'm trying to bring it back.
There were other animals there too. Working with the elephant was a real treat. You don't meet elephants every day and that elephant was around [a while]. We were shooting the circus stuff for a couple of weeks. It was lovely that big elephant lumbering through. It was just beautiful and you got to go up and give it an apple.
You bonded with the elephant?
EWAN McGREGOR: Yeah, it was nice. We all did. They're incredible animals. It's a real treat. I loved the circus people we worked with. I found them really interesting that there was a gypsy quality in their lives that's not dissimilar to ours, in a way, when it's on the move. I liked meeting the lion people, the big cat people. They were interesting. She was an Englishwoman. She spent her life with big cats and her son, who trained some of the tigers and stuff, since he was a kid he's been working with big cats.
Was any of that down with CG?
EWAN McGREGOR: No. See, this is the lovely thing about Tim is that we did most of it in the camera. There was very little effects stuff. WE did all the making Matthew bigger than he is, even though he's a very big guy, it was all done in the camera with forced perspectives. We didn't do green screen stuff. We did camera tricks, but we did them on the set there. And the special effects people built a beautiful lion's head. It was absolutely beautiful to look at, which is the lion's mouth my head is in is a prosthetic head. And then when you pull out for the wider shot, that's the real lion.
What was shooting in Alabama like?
EWAN McGREGOR: I loved it. I really did like it. I have very fond memories of working down there. My wife and my children were with me, and there's a great neighborliness about the South. People did come over with pies when we arrived. It was quite genuine. That's the way it is down there. I'd come home from work and there'd be [people] everywhere. All the neighborhood kids would be kicking around in backyards. That's how I grew up in Scotland. You'd come home from school and you'd just kick about the streets with all your mates. In London we can't do that [and I] certainly don't know that most people do that here.
How much could you relate to the parenting theme of this movie?
EWAN McGREGOR: I responded more as a son as opposed to as a father, I think. I think it's about a father and son relationship and so therefore I thought a lot about my dad while we were doing it. My father isn't dissimilar to Edward Bloom in that he's very gregarious and he loves telling stories, my dad. He doesn't tell huge stories about his life like Albert's Edward Bloom does, but he loves telling stories. If you were to go back to my hometown with him, he wouldn't be able to walk down the street without (telling old stories). He used to frustrate us in our childhood because it would take us so long to get anywhere, because he'd always be stopping to speak to someone - it would take hours to get anywhere.
There was a rumor your wife was going to make a movie but she wanted Johnny Depp to star in it, not you.
EWAN McGREGOR: No, such nonsense. It was a funny story about [how] my wife adapted a Spanish novel, wrote a script, and said that she would like Johnny Depp to play [in it]. But it was such a small joke between me and my wife, I don't know how it ended up in a magazine.
Will you miss working on “Star Wars?”
EWAN McGREGOR: It is over. It'll never be over because I'll always be in them. I'll always have been in them, so it's not something that's gone. It's something that the third one will come out in 2005 and I'll always be very happy to have been in them. I won’t miss the blue screen experience. I won't miss making them because I find them very difficult to make, but I'll always be glad to have been in them.
Source: about.com
Thank you ParisRouge for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Thursday, December 11, 2003 // 07:19 a.m.
Detroit fans: Win Tickets To Movie 'Big Fish'
ClickOnDetroit.com, Local 4 and Columbia Pictures are giving you and a guest the chance to see a special preview of the new movie "Big Fish".
Enter to win two tickets to the preview set for Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at AMC Forum, 44681 Mound Road, Sterling Heights.
To enter to win, fill out the form on the site.
The film is rated PG-13, for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference.
See the contest rules and enter by going to Clickondetroit.com.
Best of Ewan McGregor
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 // 10:33 p.m.
Fish Stars Were Matched Set
Ewan McGregor, who plays the young Edward Bloom in the upcoming fantasy film Big Fish, told SCI FI Wire that he shared the same physical and voice training as Albert Finney, who plays an older version of the same character. In the film, old Edward (Finney) tells stories of his youthful adventures, and McGregor enacts those flashbacks.
"We worked with the same voice coach, and I think the fact that we had the same voice does an awful lot of work for it," McGregor said in an interview. "We learned to fish together. We were taught how to fly-fish together just so we could do that similarly."
McGregor added that he did not specifically study Finney's dailies. "To play the younger version, there was very little copying or studying Albert's stuff going on," he said. "It was so lovely to get to know Albert that that was enough. [Director] Tim [Burton] didn't demand any more."
In a separate interview, Finney complimented McGregor's work. "I think Ewan's very good," Finney said. "I think he's engaging as an actor. He's very honest and direct, and he seems to have a very good time. I think he's a joy as a young man, so I was delighted that he was playing it."
For Finney, the physical resemblance was a surprise. "They say we look alike," he said. "The [producers] had two photographs when they were casting the film, one of mine in [the film] Tom Jones and one of Ewan now. So they thought we looked alike." Big Fish opens Dec. 10 in limited release, expanding to more theaters on Dec. 25 and Jan. 9, 2004.
Big Fish Messes With Truth
Tim Burton, director of the fantasy film Big Fish, told SCI FI Wire that he liked the way the film explored different levels of reality. The film stars Billy Crudup as a man who has listened to his father's (Albert Finney) tall tales his whole life and wants to know the truth.
"This story was interesting to me, because [of] the themes of what's real and what's not real," Burton said in an interview. "I've always been interested in [that], because I've always felt what some people call 'unreality' can feel real to somebody else. What I liked about this story was that [we see] what's unreal, what's real and, in the end, it's all kind of real."
Burton added that the film is about basic emotions, even though its tales feature giants, witches and werewolves. "I always treat it as kind of an emotional detective story," he said. "Really, it's about that unique relationship that parents and children have, no matter what age they are. If the parent's one way, the child is almost the opposite. It's a fairly common dynamic, and you just bring up all this stuff that's hard to put into words. I felt the film for me was a way to explore that." Big Fish opens Dec. 10 in limited release, expanding to more theaters on Dec. 25 and Jan. 9.
Source: Scifi.com
Thanks to Writestuff for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Tuesday, December 9, 2003 // 12:57 p.m.
How to spot a family man
Famous for playing a junkie, today Ewan McGregor's addicted to work and being a dad
By SIMON HOUPT
Tuesday, December 9, 2003 - Page R1
NEW YORK -- Ewan McGregor was worried about what the doormen in my building were saying about him. Since September, you see, McGregor has been living with his wife and two daughters in the penthouse of my apartment building while in town to film the thriller Stay. The first few weeks of production were filled with night shoots, which meant that he would regularly roll in just before dawn.
"I suddenly thought, 'What do they think of me?' " he said with a laugh the other day, while drinking Earl Grey in a hotel on the east side of Manhattan. "I said to one of them, 'D'you know I'm working? I'm not just dragging my ass in at 6 in the morning, with the kids upstairs.' It's not a good look, is it?"
Maybe not, but it's a look that's patently Ewan McGregor, or used to be. Flip through some of the glossy profiles since he broke in 1996 with Trainspotting and you'll see journalists pushing McGregor through the prism of his character in that junkie pic, spinning endless variations on him as an alienated rebel without a cause, an old-fashioned hell-raiser who scraps with his mates while raging away the nights in one giant piss-up after another. (Indeed, his language during this interview is far more colourful than this expurgated version might suggest.)
That may even be part of what attracted the producers of Big Fish, the new Tim Burton movie, to McGregor. In the film, which opens tomorrow, he is the young version of Edward Bloom, a self-mythologizer who is played in later life by Albert Finney. In person, McGregor exudes the same scampish air as Finney's irrepressible Tom Jones, a quality that was also exploited in last summer's Down With Love.
But if you're looking for a manic drinking mate, you'll have to go somewhere else. (Maybe Colin Farrell is free?) At 32, McGregor has grown up, settled down, embraced his lot. He's become a boring family man.
"Running around looking for a good time in a bar with people you maybe don't know, and drinking -- it was miserable for me," he reflects. "I used to like playing that up in interviews, and we'd always drink during them, and I suppose in an insecure sort of way I would become my persona during interviews, this mad drunk. And a smoker," he adds. "I don't need to do that anymore, you know?"
He's wearing large black glasses and an untucked, rumpled shirt, the same one he wore (similarly unironed) in October at the gala New York Film Festival premiere of his drama Young Adam. One sleeve is rolled up to the elbow. His chin sports a couple of days' growth. His hair is in a high and possibly unintentional pompadour, which tilts stiffly at various angles whenever McGregor throws a lazy hand through it.
He continues to talk about those youthful pub days. "It just got in the way of everything else. I couldn't keep it up, basically.
I couldn't be the successful actor trying to be a good father and husband, and a really good drinker as well. I couldn't keep the three balls in the air, so I dropped one. It's all I ever wanted, is what's left: my work, but more importantly, my family.
"It's much better now and it's much simpler. I work, and I love my work and I'm better at my work, and I go home and I'm much better at home. I'm much more present in the household and I'm a much better father than I was before, and now it's manageable."
He views his past with a measure of indulgent mirth. "I was talking with my director on Stay, Mark Forster, about the passion of being young, and how when you're young, you're right and everyone else is wrong, and everything -- especially as a young actor -- is crap, everything. You should interview drama students, just to find the most negative people in the world. I remember [in drama school], nobody knew how to do it right, but us.
"Mark thought that maybe we get jaded, or we don't care so much and I said, D'you know, I don't think that's true. I think we just learn to be more comfortable in the world, you know? It's such hard work to be so angry with everything. It's just that we're more economical with our passions."So what if the Father Knows Best image doesn't sell magazines and bring people screaming to the theatre? Unlike Big Fish's Edward Bloom, who spends his life telling thrilling picaresque tales about himself that may or may not have happened, McGregor is at the point in life where he doesn't want to self-mythologize.
During an earlier press conference, a few painfully amateur journalists pressed him to reveal something unknown they could retail to the world. One, bringing up the fact that Bloom keeps some things secret from his family, asked McGregor if there were any dark secrets in his own family while he was growing up. "Like I'd tell you," he snapped back. "What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for a girl?" asked another. "I'd rather not answer that if you don't mind," McGregor replied. He added, "it's such a silly question."
In the hotel suite, he explains his reasons for clamming up. "Sometimes it's just not anyone's business. I don't want to tell stories about romantic things I've done with my wife, because they're our things and they don't belong to anybody else," he says. "I don't feel I should be responsible, because the film is romantic, to talk about my own romantic antics. It's got nothing to do with anything, really."
But look between the lines of what he's saying, and do some simple math, and you'll find hints about his relationship with his wife, Čve, a French-born production designer. They've been married eight years, a span that encompasses his time in the public eye, doing all that raging and drinking, as well as the occasion of those spurious rumours about him and Nicole Kidman.
Their eldest daughter is seven, which suggests that Čve was at home through most of McGregor's nights on the town. Dwell on that, and you might understand why McGregor says the aspect of Big Fish that touches him the most is the indulgence shown toward the elderly Edward Bloom by his wife, played by Jessica Lange. Edward chafes at being a big fish stuck in a small town, yet his wife accepts him with all of his flaws and understands his need to throw himself against the world. It couldn't have been easy being Ewan McGregor's wife for all those years.
On Sunday afternoon, I was sitting in the lobby preparing to brave the winter chill when McGregor emerged in a chaotic thrum from the elevator with his wife, children and some friends. The kids babbled as McGregor rushed about the lobby. His hair was sticking up again, and he may even have been wearing that same rumpled shirt: just another New York father gathering his family around him. He flashed me a quick, contented smile.
Source: Globe & Mail
Thanks to Perditum for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Sunday, December 7, 2003 // 10:47 a.m.
Carnival Time
December 7, 2003
Richard Johnson
TIM Burton's fantastical new flick, "Big Fish" - featuring giants, Siamese twins and a malevolent tree coming to life, as well as fine performances by Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup and Jessica Lange - earned a rousing ovation at Thursday's world premiere at the Ziegfeld. And the carnival-themed after-party at Hammerstein Ballroom was every bit as memorable. A Dixieland band played as fire-breathers, juggling stilt-walkers and strongmen strolled a makeshift midway and partygoers munched on fried chicken, honey-glazed ham and other Southern treats.
Source: New York Post
Best of Ewan McGregor
Saturday, December 6, 2003 // 11:25 p.m.
Big Fish official site updated
The well-made and utterly charming official Big Fish web site had received a major update and is well-worth visiting!
Wallpapers, tall tales, cast and crew bios, a script-to-screen feature and a picture gallery are among the goodies that have been added.
Thank you Perditum for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Friday, December 5, 2003 // 09:42 a.m.
Call him 006 1/2
Dec. 5, 2003. 09:16 AM
PETER HOWELL
Ewan McGregor ready, willing and Scottish enough to be the next James Bond
 NEW YORK—No wonder Ewan McGregor's name keeps coming up as one of the possible contenders to be the next James Bond.
Nothing seems to rattle him.The intrepid Scots actor is running an hour late for an interview. And when he finally shows up, grinning broadly and accompanied by two stressed-out publicists, it's discovered that the hotel room being used for press one-on-ones has inexplicably been turned into a luggage storage area.The publicists begin to stress even more. A journalist helpfully offers to conduct the interview standing up in the hallway. McGregor has a better idea."Let's go downstairs and find a room," he says.He leads the way through a fire exit, down several flights of stairs to another floor being used by Columbia Pictures for its promotion of Big Fish, the new Tim Burton movie starring McGregor that opens on Wednesday.A spare interview room is found, but there's another problem. The hotel's plastic card key won't work in the electronic door lock. The publicists start stressing again. "I'm going to call security!" one says, snapping open her cell phone."No, wait!" McGregor says. "I think I can get it!"He fiddles with the card, patiently moving it this way and that. The door eventually opens."There it is!" McGregor grins again.The room is obtained, but not yet secured. The interview has barely commenced, with McGregor relaxing on a couch, when there's a knock on the door. A room service clerk is delivering a large silver tea tray loaded with goodies. The clerk wants a signature, and McGregor obliges, even though the high-priced talent is not supposed to be fussing over such mundane details."Would you like a cup of tea?" McGregor asks his guest.With this kind of roll-with-it attitude, McGregor would seem to the ideal choice to play Bond, James Bond, once Pierce Brosnan holsters his Walther PPK — which is expected to happen sooner rather than later. McGregor's name often comes up as a possible contender, alongside such obvious competition as Hugh Jackman and Colin Farrell, and McGregor makes no secret he's interested. He's the right age — 32 — and certainly has the right accent, since fellow Scotsman Sean Connery still tops every poll for the fans' favourite Bond. And since McGregor has already proven himself as one pop icon, playing the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in three Star Wars prequels, why not add Agent 007 to his lifetime to-do list?"There has been talk of it, but not with the people that matter," McGregor says. "I believe Pierce is either doing his last (Bond film) or he's doing one more."It's interesting. It's a fun thing to talk about when it's not really even on the cards. In the same respects, I'm not sure what would happen if it cropped up. You'd have to really think about it. I think you'd have to really think about it in the same way that I did with the Star Wars films. I really thought about it and spoke to people I knew and in the end I just wanted to do it more and more, the closer it got. "I think it would be the same with Bond. It might take a bigger man to turn it down."Probably a better dressed man, too. McGregor is still wearing the same ultra-casual clothes he wore hours earlier at a Big Fish press conference. He's dressed down in blue jeans with no knees, a well-worn red print shirt over a white undershirt and black-rimmed eyeglasses that look more Michael Caine than Sean Connery.And then there's all the sex. Could he hold up Bond's end in that department?This may be a rhetorical question for a man who steamed up Cannes this year with his love scenes with Tilda Swinton in the sex drama Young Adam, which is still awaiting a North American release."There's not very much sex in them anymore, anyway," McGregor parries. "There is more sex in Young Adam than there was in the last five Bond films."There's also a lot more nudity, full frontal even, which is why Young Adam has been delayed reaching these shores: American censors are worried. McGregor recently groused about the situation to the British press: "You can blow thousands of people's heads off with a semi-automatic machine gun but you can't show a picture of my willy."His willy stayed sheathed in Big Fish — unless you count his birth scene — but that's about the only thing that is restrained in the film. McGregor plays the younger version of an adventurer and storyteller (read: liar) named Edward Bloom, who gets into all manners of scrapes. (Albert Finney plays the older version.)Bloom's travels team him with a one-eyed witch, a friendly giant and a gorgeous pair of conjoined twins. And that's just the first half of the movie. The role is tailor-made for a guy like McGregor, who has landed himself many unusual assignments in his 10-year career. Since first gaining attention in the mid-1990s in the Danny Boyle films Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, where first he played a conniving journalist and then a charismatic junkie, McGregor has tackled all manner of characters. In recent years, he's played a wild rocker in Velvet Goldmine, a dashing Obi-Wan in two Star Wars prequels (the third and final one is due in 2005), a musical author in Moulin Rouge, a determined U.S. soldier in Black Hawk Down, a Cary Grant clone in Down With Love and now a teller of tall tales in Big Fish. This list barely scratches the surface of his many roles.It seems as if his career has proceeded almost by accident, due to his willingness to give anything a go."Not by accident," he counters, "but on my gut instinct as opposed to by design. I don't make decisions based on any idea of career. I don't think of it in career terms, like this would be a really good film to do now. I just go with my instinct."When I have made decisions based on career, I don't think I've been very good. Choosing to do something because I thought I should be seen doing something different from Trainspotting isn't a good enough reason for me."He has a point. Not all of his films have been successful. The year after Trainspotting came out to rave reviews, McGregor appeared in the period drama The Serpent's Kiss. The film premiered in competition at Cannes in 1997, but it went nowhere after that. He's also had trouble with romantic comedies, such as when he made A Life Less Ordinary with Danny Boyle, also in 1997. More recently, he saw Down With Love do less-than-stellar box office, despite the fact he was teamed with Oscar-winning actress Renée Zellweger.He blames the failure of Down With Love on marketing."Because it opened with The Matrix Reloaded," he scoffs. "I think the counter-programming argument is valid to a point, but what (the studio marketers) ignore is the fact that The Matrix comes with a tidal wave of publicity which will swamp yours for anything. We can't hope to match the publicity for it. So people don't get to hear that it's on."But you can't blame it all on that," he continues, softening his rant. "I have no idea why Down With Love didn't work. Maybe people didn't get it. I don't know."One thing he does know is that he wanted to work with Tim Burton, which is why he happily took up the Big Fish assignment. It required him to work on getting a southern American accent — no big deal for a lad who grew up watching Yankee westerns on TV — and to spend weeks in Alabama during the filming. McGregor says he normally bases his decisions on the quality of the role, not on who is making the movie. But in the case of the highly creative Burton, he was happy to make an exception."If get a script from Tim Burton, it's going to play some part in your reading of it. You can't help but let it affect the way you see the film in your head as you read it. Because you know Tim Burton's style and therefore it colours it. "But I'm fascinated by stories, really, and I don't particularly go out of my way to look for something different. I just suppose that the ones that I'm interested in are the ones that I haven't done before."At the press conference earlier, McGregor spoke of how much Edward Bloom reminded him of his father, a schoolteacher with the gift of gab who would constantly stop to chat with people he met. It used to drive young Ewan and his siblings mad."I thought a lot about my dad when I was (making the film)," McGregor said."It used to frustrate us in our childhood. It took us hours to get anywhere. He was liked, though, so it wasn't a problem at all."His dad used to worry about him, wondering if he'd ever get a proper job.But his parents helped him get into acting school, and "when I started getting work, he was very happy."McGregor jokes about his success."I'm amazed. I'm a terrible actor."But he's also a firm believer in making things happen on your own, and not being afraid to take risks.Which is why he has no regrets about playing Obi-Wan Kenobi, even though he's not completely delighted with the first two Star Wars prequels, The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones. (The third episode, still unnamed and wrapped in secrecy, is well underway.)"No question, I'm delighted to be in them. Just the idea of seeing the next one is quite titillating. I'm quite excited to see how it all ties up. I think it's easy to be critical, but shift your perspective over a little bit to think of them as kids' films and remember how you felt when you were watching (the original Star Wars films) yourself. It's easy to enjoy them."That being said, he still has some criticisms for Star Wars guru George Lucas and his crew."The focus in the three I've made has been the technology and that's a mistake, I think. If what's in the foreground isn't as interesting as what's in the background, you're in trouble. Certainly on set, the energy is spent on the background. So that is maybe something where they've slightly gone askew."If Lucas wants to get back to McGregor on that, he'll have to hurry. The unstoppable Scotsman is making plans for an around-the-world motorcycle ride that he plans to start next April with his best friend Charlie Boorman, son of filmmaker John Boorman (Deliverance).Their route will take them to such remote locations as Siberia, and to places that are dangerous enough that they've had to include in their planning training for how to conduct themselves in a kidnapping situation.Why would McGregor consider doing something so risky?"There are lots of `what ifs' in life," he replies. "And `what if?' is what stops you from doing stuff."Okay, but then why Siberia? That's where people are exiled. They don't generally go voluntarily."Yeah, I know. I am fascinated to see it. They say crossing Siberia or crossing the Russian Steppes is like crossing the Atlantic because it's the same landscape. Some people think you'd get bored, but I kind of have a goal. We're trying to go around the world and it's just such an obvious route on the map. We don't have the luxury of having a year to do it and this looks like a straight line. Although, you know, once you get half way across Russia, the road system will be shite. We'll be off-road a lot of the way."Are McGregor and Boorman good motorcycle mechanics?"Passable, but not good enough. We will be by the time we go. We'll have mechanic's training, medical training and kidnap avoidance training. We'll be trained up so we'll be ready to go."That's the kind of spirit that could land him the job of James Bond, to get back to that subject.McGregor grins, and does his best Sean Connery:"Not this time, Miss Moneypenny."
Source: The Toronto Star
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Thursday, December 4, 2003 // 11:05 p.m.
Big Fish premiere in New York City
Here are some pictures from the premiere of Big Fish, which took place Thursday evening, December 4th, 2003 in New York City:
Actors Ewan McGregor and Helena Bonham Carter pose at the World premiere of their film, 'Big Fish,' in New York December 4, 2003. The film, directed by Tim Burton, opens December 10 in selected cities. REUTERS/Dave Allocca
Actors Ewan McGregor (L) and Matthew McGrory pose at the world premiere of their film, 'Big Fish,' in New York, December 4, 2003. The film is directed by Tim Burton and opens December 10 in selected cities. REUTERS/Dave Allocca
Source: Yahoo News
Best of Ewan McGregor
Thursday, December 4, 2003 // 01:44 p.m.
Behind-the-scenes: Big Fish
Fred Topel
Real special effects
Big Fish is a movie full of old school special effects. There are animatronics, perspective shots and camera tricks. Most of the effects are all natural, including the biggest effect of all… elephant poop. When young Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) gets a job working at a circus as he waits for the love of his life to return, he stands right beside an elephant unleashing his load.
“How amazing was that moment when the elephant craps on screen,” McGregor bragged. “We’d shot the wide shot where you see the two elephant’s bums and then me. We’d shot that and we’d moved in to do a closeup, so they were setting the camera here, so you just see a bit of elephant’s leg. You didn’t see his bum or anything. And as we were setting that up, it lifted its tail and we all went, ‘QUICK!’ and they widened the camera out, I got ready, and there was no turnover. They just turned the camera on and I played the scene as it dumped next to me. Genius, and none of us thought it would make it to the film but it’s genius that it did. There’s not many elephants pooing on the big screen that I can remember. Not enough actually. I’m trying to bring it back.”
The circus is just one phase in Bloom’s grand adventure that takes him from small town hero to hidden utopia to the circus and beyond. In addition to the elephant, the circus scene has Bloom stick his head in a lion’s mouth. That, fortunately, was not real.
“They built a beautiful prosthetic lion head, which was gorgeous. That's what I have my head in. However, the next shot is a real lion. I met the lion people and the tiger people, and they were lovely. It was a quite fascinating band of people, the people in circuses, and I was quite taken with all of them. But the lion people and the tiger people were especially interesting. The woman who was in charge and her son, he's spent his whole life working with big cats. So they took me in with a tiger, and that freaks you out because they're f*cking enormous, these things. I couldn't believe how big they were. So they kind of familiarized me with a tiger and then we came to doing the shot with the lion. So the prosthetic head is the close-up, but in the next shot there's a lion sitting about a foot and a half behind me. She said, ’Just don't annoy it in any way.' So I was quite happy to not annoy it. But [director] Tim [Burton] wanted it to roar. So I was busy not annoying it and a foot behind there she just kept tapping it on the head with a stick to make it roar. And I thought, 'Who's annoying the lion now?'”
Burton recruited real circus folk for the big top scenes. “There’s a small group of circus people like in the old days,” Burton said. “There really is this group of people that still perform what they call the mud shows, which are the tents that go from town to town. I remember one afternoon we were just in Northern Florida just watching all these circus acts. The one that caught my attention though was the one that I called the suicidal cat. We’d see all these death defying acts and then this cat goes up on top of the tent and jumps onto a little pillow, and I just thought, ‘Wow, that was the best act I saw all day’ so we used that one. It’s a vanishing breed but they’re still around.”
Burton insisted on other real effects, such as parking a car in a tree. “People go, ‘Oh, we can just CG that in.’ Well no, it’s important to have the car in the tree. Actually, a few inventive people, we just took out some of the heavier engine stuff and got a crane and they hung it in a tree. One afternoon.”
Having done lots of blue screen/CGI work in a certain trilogy of films, McGregor appreciated the chance to work with practical effects on the set. “Blue screen work is very, very difficult,” McGregor said. “What was fun about this was stuff like the scenes with me and Matthew [McGrory, the giant]. We made Matthew, who is enormous anyway, look even bigger. But we did it in the camera, standing him a bit closer to the camera and me a bit farther away. We did all these tricks, but we did them there on the day. We didn't rely on green screen. It's fun doing it that way. You can't do that with a Star Wars because you're in outer space and you can't shoot that without using computers.”
Big Fish opens December 10 in limited release, expanding wider on Christmas Day and January 9.
Source: about.com
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 // 06:27 p.m.
7 Big Fish clips online
Comingsoon.net has 7 wonderful clips from Ewan's upcoming Big Fish and most of them feature Ewan.
Big Fish opens December 10, 2003 in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto; then on December 25 in selected cities; and then across North America on January 9.
Thank you Kantharion for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Monday, December 1, 2003 // 07:29 a.m.
Ewan McGregor to Voice Title Role in Vanguard Animation's CG Film Valiant
Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Everett, John Hurt, Hugh Laurie, and Ricky Gervais Will Lend Their Voice Artistry to Animated Comedy
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Ewan McGregor, star of Moulin Rouge and Star Wars, will voice the title character in Vanguard Animation's CG animated feature film Valiant. The animated comedy tells the story of a lowly wood pigeon named Valiant, who overcomes his small size to become a hero in Great Britain's Royal Air Force Homing Pigeon Service during World War II. The RHPS advanced the Allied cause by flying vital messages about enemy movements across the English Channel, while evading brutal attacks by the enemy's Falcon brigade.
Sexy Beast star, Academy Award-winner Sir Ben Kingsley, will voice General Keyserlingk, the feared German falcon leader. Other actors lending their voices include Academy Award-winner Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge, Bridget Jones's Diary), Rupert Everett (An Ideal Husband, My Best Friend's Wedding), Hugh Laurie (Stuart Little), John Hurt (Harry Potter, Elephant Man), and Ricky Gervais, star of the BBC comedy hit series The Office.
Valiant, which will be completed in December 2004, is currently in production, with a staff of 95, at Vanguard Animation's recently completed CG studio built at Ealing Studios in London, as well as continuing at its Los Angeles and New York offices. Disney is distributing the picture in North America, and Odyssey Entertainment in the UK is handling international distribution. Disney holds worldwide merchandising, soundtrack, and video game rights as well. Vanguard Animation is a division of Vanguard Films. IDT Corporation, a subsidiary of IDT Entertainment, Inc., a multinational carrier, telephone, and technology company, has a significant investment in Vanguard Animation.
The producer is John H. Williams (Shrek 1 & 2) for Vanguard Animation. Executive Producers are Barnaby Thompson for Ealing Studios, Ralph Kamp for Odyssey Entertainment, Robert Jones for the UK Film Council, and Keith Evans for Baker Street Media Finance. Co-Producers are Eric M. Bennett, Curtis Augspurger and Buckley Collum for Vanguard Animation The picture is being directed by British character designer Gary Chapman.
Valiant is a Vanguard Animation, Ealing Studios, and UK Film Council Presentation in association with Odyssey Entertainment and Take Five Film Partnerships of a Vanguard Animation Production.
Source: PR Newswire
Thank you ParisRouge for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Saturday, November 29, 2003 // 08:47 p.m.
Top Scot Awards: And the winners are...
Sun 30 Nov 2003
Fiona Leith
SHARLEEN Spiteri was in good company on Friday night as she picked up not only the Top Scot accolade at the glittering awards ceremony at Edinburgh’s Prestonfield, but also the award for excellence in music for her band Texas, presented by fellow Scots singer Ricky Ross.
The Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards began in 1998 with the aim of recognising individuals who are leading the way in Scottish culture. The awards were hosted by Fred MacAulay and Kirsty Wark. A judging panel led by John McGurk, editorial director of Scotsman Publications, John McLellan, editor of Scotland on Sunday, Iain Martin, editor of The Scotsman, Sally Gordon of Glenfiddich, and Sandy Ross, managing director at Scottish Television, drew up a short list of nominees.
The people of Scotland decided the final winners by voting in their thousands via telephone hotlines and the Internet.
Actor Ewan McGregor won the screen award but was unable to attend in person. His family were there to toast their son.
Source: The Scotsman
Best of Ewan McGregor
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 // 09:46 p.m.
Ewan video interview online
Warner Brothers has a lovely interview with Ewan!
McGregor plays Finney's character as a young man. He told us how being the father of two dramatically changed his own life. He says, "It made me think of my relationship with my dad. It is luckily very good."
McGregor is living a clean life. He doesn’t drink, gamble, or smoke. But he says, "I swear a lot. And I got off of the cigarettes earlier this year. I'm really delighted about that because it is a real misery smoking."
No buts about it, this Scottish import is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood, from his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the "Star Wars" trilogy, to making beautiful music a few years ago with sexy Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge."
And although we uncovered that he once dreamt of being a rock star, he says he doesn’t plan to be singing again soon. McGregor says, "When you see a band playing, you just imagine that was you. Wow, that would be cool, wouldn’t it?"
Thank you Georginita for the heads up!
Best of Ewan McGregor
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 // 07:59 p.m.
New Big Fish photographs
The Latino Review currently has 53 photographs from Big Fish, many of them of Ewan.
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
Comingsoon.net also has a large collection of photographs from Big Fish. As of this writing, their collection contains 57 photographs, many of which feature Ewan.
Thank you Kate for the heads up!
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