Here’s two clips from last week’s Jimmy Kimmel Live interview where Ewan talks about recording his line for the Star War: The Force Awakens and his new movie “Jane Got A Gun”
The star said he’d made peace with director Danny Boyle and was definitely interested in playing Renton again.
The chances of seeing Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud altogether again on the big screen may be a step closer after Ewan McGregor said he would be keen to star in a sequel to cult hit Trainspotting.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Film Festival, the Scotsman reports that McGregor said he had patched up his differences with director Danny Boyle, a major hindrance to any sequel being made and described the opportunity to work with the original cast and director again as “extraordinary.” He added that any follow-up film could be the next movie that could take him back to shooting in Scotland.
“It might be the film that brings me back. I would be up for it, I’ve said that to Danny. Everybody has talked about it and speculated about it, but I don’t if it’s happening yet. I’ve not seen a script and I don’t know if there is one,” said McGregor.
Based on the book by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting was the story of heroin addiction in the deprived parts of Edinburgh and made a star of McGregor and proved to be breakout roles for Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Jonny Lee Miller.
The film was the second of three collaborations between Boyle and McGregor, who also made Shallow Grave and A Life Less Ordinary together, but the pair famously fell out after the director cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead in The Beach, a part that was originally intended for McGregor.
On the subject of his relationship with Boyle, McGregor said: “It’s been a long, long time. I just think I’ve changed my opinion about it. We’ve all moved on and there is a lot of water under the bridge now.”
He added: “I miss working with Danny, I did some of my best work with him and he’s one of my favorite directors I’ve worked with. There was some bad blood and ill feeling, but that’s all gone now. I think it might be extraordinary to see a sequel 20 years after the original.”
Pressed on the issues that broke his and Boyle’s close working relationship, McGregor said: For years and years, I was [Boyle, Hodge, MacDonald’s] actor. It was more important to me than anything and it defined who I am as an actor. It set the bar very high for me and I’m always looking for that connection, that trust and the power of what you can come out with. You’ve no idea where it is coming from.”
The idea of a sequel to Trainspotting has been around since the author of the original books, Welsh, wrote Porno, the literary follow-up. McGregor has for years dismissed any suggestion of working on the project, but two years ago serious talk arose that Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew MacDonald were working on a loose adaptation of Porno.
These are just RUMORS!
It’s raining Star Wars rumors this week and we’re not talking small ones either. Fresh off the huge rumor about the second Anthology film centering on Han Solo and Boba Fett’s past, another rumor has surfaced. This one not only purposes the focus of a new Star Wars movie, but in fact a whole new trilogy.
According to the rumor, Disney and Lucasfilm have been talking to Ewan McGregor about returning to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi not just for one film, for three. Which we’ve heard before but now may be more focused. Read more about the Ewan McGregor Star Wars rumor below.
Like the Solo/Fett rumor, this comes from Schmoes Know. They’re very clear to label this a rumor so don’t think of this as gospel, but this is the second time we’ve heard something along these lines. Last Fall, Cinelix reported three Obi-Wan movies were in the works for McGregor, but that they’d all be independent of each other. Now it’s the Schmoes’ belief it’s more of a trilogy and there’s a possibility these films could be in addition to the Anthology films as well as Episodes. Could it mean a time we get two Star Wars movies a year? Again – all huge rumors so be careful.
Breaking this down, Ewan McGregor has said time and time again he’d come back to Star Wars. His portayal of Kenobi is one of the universal bright spots in the Prequel Trilogy and his star has only continued to rise. (The same can be said for Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman too, probably even more so, but – spoiler alert – they’re characters are both dead.)
For the proposed trilogy – or even a single film – to make sense, it would have to take place between Episodes III and IV, which is what the report says. But that’s also a time period that’s now being well-mined. There’s Star Wars Rebels, there’s Rogue One, and Kenobi even dropped a brief animated cameo in Rebels. So we know he’s out there.
What we don’t know, in the new Star Wars canon, is what – if anything – Kenobi did on Tatooine in those years. How did he look after a growing Luke? How did “Obi-Wan” become “Ben?” Could this story bring in characters from The Clone Wars TV show – mainly, Darth Maul – who are still lingering? Will Kenobi leave the planet? If there are three movies, you’d think so.
What we do know is this: If Lucasfilm makes one or three Obi-Wan Kenobi films, he won’t interact with Darth Vader. It would almost certainly be a story very much on the fringes of the main Episodes.
I loved this rumor last year and love it even more know. I’m dying to learn more about Kenobi through the eyes of McGregor. What do you think about this rumor?
The clock will not be without its candelabra.
Disney’s upcoming live-action musical adaptation of Beauty and the Beast has found its Lumiere in Ewan McGregor, who is nearing a deal to play the enchanted castle’s resident maître d’ in the March 2017 film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lumiere, of course, is the suave Frenchman-turned-candelabra who sings the showstopping “Be Our Guest” (among other notable songs). The womanizing candlestick holder is often side by side with his vastly more uptight cohort, Cogsworth, played in the film by Ian McKellen.
The showy role was the last major question mark in the buzzy 3D project, which will star Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston, Josh Gad as Le Fou, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Kevin Kline as Maurice, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, and Audra McDonald as Garderobe. Bill Condon will direct with a script by Stephen Chbosky and new songs (in addition to Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s originals from the 1991 animated film) by Menken and Tim Rice.
Beauty and the Beast is a return to the movie-musical for McGregor, who memorably sang as a lovelorn writer in 2001’s Moulin Rouge!
I’ve added a few more portraits from the Film Independent Spirit Awards:
Gallery Link:
Photo Sessions and Outtakes > 2015 – Film Independent Spirit Awards
