How Le Carré let Ewan be his Kind of Traitor

PROUD of his Scots roots, he has nevertheless been happy to adopt English accents in various of his movies.

But Ewan McGregor has told how he managed to get special clearance from thriller writer John le Carré to portray an English character as a Scotsman in his latest movie.

The 45-year-old has the starring role in Our Kind Of Traitor, but admitted he had never read any of the author’s work before.

He said he picked up the book after being offered the role of university lecturer Perry Makepeace in the spy movie.

‘He was written as a bit older than me and, I think, as an Englishman. So I got le Carré’s blessing through the director, Susanna White, to play him as a Scot,’ he added.

Perth-born McGregor is currently filming the sequel to the 1990s hit Trainspotting around Scotland. The father-of-four, who lives in Los Angeles, said he comes back to Scotland every year.

He said: ‘I miss the landscape, I miss the countryside, the fresh air and the smell of heather and sheep. You need a big dose of it every now and again, to get up in the Highlands and go for a walk.’