A gentle, episodic amble through several relationships, boasting a big-name cast and a more jaundiced outlook than your average British romantic comedy.Despite its provocative title and the fact that it’s set entirely around Hampstead Heath, don’t imagine this will be a writhing circus of steamy loins. Okay, so Ewan McGregor does hang around in his Speedos, winking at muscular chaps he’s taken a shine to, but this is balanced out by Dame Eileen Atkins reminiscing on a park bench with an old gent in a Panama hat.It’s easy to see how Aschlin Ditta’s script attracted so much name talent to this low-budget project, with the entire cast given the opportunity to take turns at centre-stage rather than hanging about in the shadow of, let’s say, Hugh Grant.Source: www.channel4.com

By Gen?vieve RobertsPublished: 28 October 2006 Released next week, starring Ewan McGregor, Andrew Lincoln and Sophie Okonedo, Scenes of a Sexual Nature promises to do for Hampstead Heath what Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant did for Notting Hill.In the film, couples discuss sex and love against the backdrop of the meadows, woods and ponds that are the lung of north-west London. But while the movie promises to be “erotically charged”, a trip to the heath is just as likely to yield encounters with dog walkers and kite-flyers as gay cruisers or moonstruck lovers.Source: www.enjoyment.independent.co.uk

26 October, 2006Sex and love. Some seek it, some need it, some spurn it and some pay for it, but we’re all involved in it. However, the only thing that truly connects us is our attempt to connect.On a sunny afternoon in August, temperatures soar between seven couples as they explore love, sex and relationships on London’s Hampstead Heath. Whether it be a divorcing couple discussing how they ever got together, a gay couple grappling with the very notion that they are now allowed to adopt or an old couple who realise they were once in love forty years ago, the film confronts our assumptions at every turn.With a stellar British cast including Ewan McGregor (who plays gay!), Catherine Tate and Sophie Okonedo, Scenes of a Sexual Nature is a comedic and sexually charged look at what makes us tick.We caught up with the lovely Ewan during a hectic round of press interviews to find out more about the film, his character, queer adoption and how he approached playing a gay man! Tell us about you role in Scenes of a Sexual Nature.I play Billy. There’s something quite free about him. He’s got a brilliant partner and they have this great relationship. He goes off with other guys and has nights out with them and that’s in the make-up of their relationship. Brian, his partner is sensible and bookish, while Billy is more of a fun-loving kind of guy.I think he’s a very lucky guy and yet there’s this one nagging thing in his life: he thinks he wants to have children and he believes that it’s a possibility.Source: www.rainbownetwork.com

Ben Kingsley is set to join Ewan McGregor, Emily Mortimer and Dan Fogler in the indie thriller “Number Thirteen,” Chase Palmer wrote and will direct. Chase Palmer makes his feature directorial debut on the imagined story of the mystery surrounding Alfred Hitchcock’s lost and unfinished first film, “Number Thirteen.” Fogler will play the young director, who gets caught up in a Hitchcockian dilemma when he ends up in a love triangle with two crew members while making the film. When the lead actor turns up dead, the editor suspects the director and tries to uncover the truth. Shooting begins in January.Source: www.productionweekly.comRelated story: ‘Thirteen’ a lucky number for thesps – variety.com

You can now pre-order a mug designed by Ewan for £9.99 (approx. €14.78/US$18.83). The proceeds go to Trade plus Aid & Unicef. Each mug comes in a gift-box with a photograph of the artist/celebrity and a personal message from them. Mugs are expected to arrive by December 5, 2006. Link: www.whateverittakes.orgThanks to Roberta for the link 🙂