EWAN MCGREGOR THROWS HIMSELF INTO ROLE
LOS ANGELES — Ewan Mcgregor is a jack of all acting trades. And that’s not a reference to the fact that Mcgregor stars in a reworking of the fairy tale, Jack the Giant Killer, out this summer.
The truth is that, whatever the 40- year- old takes on, it’s for variety’s sake. “I have to feel, when I’m reading a script, that it’s like reading a great novel you don’t want to end,” Mcgregor said recently. “I want that feeling, and I want to see myself in the character that I’m reading, which helps me dip into many different people’s lives.”
Certainly, he’s done lots of dipping. The Scottish- born actor was the young Obi- Wan Kenobi in the three Star Wars prequels. Before that, he was a hapless heroin addict in 1996’ s Trainspotting, a singing poet in 2001’ s Moulin Rouge! and a priest in 2009’ s Angels & Demons.
So playing a special agent for hire in director Steven Soderbergh’s spy thriller, Haywire, should be a cinch.
Opening today, the movie stars Mcgregor as Kenneth, the contracted handler of Mallory ( played by mixed- martialarts champion Gina Carano), a covert operative who has been double- crossed during a botched mission. While trying to survive assassination, Mallory seeks revenge on all who betrayed her.
Also co- starring are Channing Tatum, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas and Antonio Banderas. But Mcgregor acknowledged it is Carano’s time to shine in her major movie debut.
“Haywire has strong elements of fight movies, which I’m not particularly familiar with, and then there was the spy element, a sort of James Bond thing,” said Mcgregor. “But at the centre of the film is this incredibly strong female lead, which is unusual.”
Of course, he was excited to have “the very intriguing opportunity” to work with Soderbergh, “a filmmaker who I think is on all [ actors’] lists.” But he admitted he was most impressed with Carano’s commitment to delivering the goods as an actor and action star.
As Kenneth, Mcgregor even faces off with Carano’s Mallory in a brutal hand- to- hand confrontation on a beach.
“We shot it for two days, which was a struggle for me,” confessed the actor. Yet the only time Mcgregor suffered an injury was during a swing to Carano’s head, which hit its mark by mistake.
“I punched her solidly in the side of the head, and she came straight up to me and said, ‘ Are you okay?’ ” recalled Mcgregor, smiling. “I was trying to be very butch, and I went, ‘ Yeah, I’m fine.’ But it felt like I’d broken three fingers and she didn’t feel a thing.”
Carano said she was more concerned about her acting performance than the fight scenes. And while the women’s mixed- martial- arts champion always felt she was in “a safe environment,” she admitted, “I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my life” delivering lines.
“If she was worried about her acting, it didn’t show,” said Mcgregor.
Maybe he didn’t have time to notice. In the past four years, the Los Angeles- based actor has been incredibly busy.
Besides Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks, he costarred with George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats, and played opposite Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris.
He starred in the Roman Polanski mystery, The Ghost Writer, and mixed it up with Emma Thompson in the family film, Nanny Mcphee and the Big Bang.
Now he’s in New York, shooting the HBO series based on the popular Jonathan Franzen novel, The Corrections. He recently wrapped the aforementioned Jack the Giant Killer, which features Nicholas Hoult as Jack, as well as Ian Mcshane, Bill Nighy and Stanley Tucci. It was filmed in 3- D by director Bryan Singer, in and around London last fall and winter. “And I play a sort of Errol Flynn- type knight,” Mcgregor said of the action version of the fable pitting men against giants in revolt. “He’s a little bit of a buffoon, I think.”
Last summer, Mcgregor returned to his indie roots in Beginners, playing the son of a man ( Christopher Plummer), who announces that he’s gay and terminally ill.
Previously, Plummer credited Mcgregor with motivating his performance, which may earn Plummer an Oscar nod when the Academy Award nominations are announced Jan. 24.
“And I loved working with him very much, and I’m delighted about all the plaudits he’s getting, because he deserves them,” said Mcgregor of Plummer. “His performance in Beginners was really stunning.”