I’d waited my whole career for someone to tell me to get fat for a role
There’s double trouble in store for Ewan McGregor in TV drama Fargo. MARION McMULLEN finds out how ordering chips with everything helped the Scottish actor, 46, pile on the pounds for the hit drama
The accent is the hardest I’ve done, I think... Even when I was doing it right, I didn’t feel like I was doing it right... Ewan McGregor on the Minnesota tones needed for his roles in Fargo
What attracted you to playing two brothers in Fargo?
THE opportunity to get to play these two very different people, and try and make that work, and try to create two unique characters, has been really exciting, I loved it.
I’ve done it before, I did it in The Island, and in a film called Last Days In The Desert. I played two characters in those films, but not nearly to this extent.
How different are the characters of Ray and Emmit Stussy?
WHEN I play Ray, I feel totally like Ray, and when I play Emmit, I feel totally different.
Initially we thought Ray should have brown eyes and Emmit blue eyes, but when we tried it, it felt like it should be the opposite – Ray should be the blue-eyed one. Things like that happen just by trying them.
How did you gain the weight to play the part of Ray?
I’D BEEN waiting all my career for someone to tell me to get fat and I did it wholeheartedly.
I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and I made sure I had chips with everything. And I got to a point where I felt like I was heavy enough.
I had to be on my Christmas holiday like that – I was bald and fat on my Christmas holiday because I had to have my head totally shaved to play Ray. I plateaued over Christmas and then, two weeks before we started shooting, I started loading it on again.
How did it feel being heavier?
IT’S not very comfortable, to be honest. You feel like you need to excuse yourself all the time to people.
‘Oh, I’m this weight for a role.’ But I stopped caring after a while.
I quite liked my belly. But I literally couldn’t fit into any of my trousers – I had to go up into a 34 inch waist, and I couldn’t fit in any of my T-shirts, so I had to get a whole Fargo wardrobe, the ‘fatboy wardrobe.’
What about the wigs?
WIG makers always send the wigs with very long hair, so that the hair designer can cut them the way they want to. And when I put it on, it was very long, and it just felt right for Ray.
We cut it a little bit, but he’s got this long, receding haircut. I’ve realised on Twitter and Instagram just how shallow everybody is.
All these girls talking about “I really like Ray the best, even though he looks like that!”
They just about manage to like him the most, even though they’re really just taking him solely on surface level, and they’re like “ew!”
Actually I think Ray looks like a f***ing dude.
You filmed in the Canadian city of Calgary in the winter. Did it feel cold, even to a hardened Scot?
OH YEAH! It was minus 29°C when we started, which is really brutal. I have to say, I’ve been so impressed with the crew here. I really like it here.
Had you visited the area before?
I ALMOST got killed in this town filming The Wrong Way Round.
I got rear-ended by some kid on my motorbike in the fast lane of the highway, just north of Calgary.
We were here in the summer then, and they have this enormous rodeo called The Stampede, and the town felt very different.
I came back, and it’s freezing cold, but the crew are amazing. They just get on with it when it’s minus 29°C.
They can film outside all day long in those temperatures. And they make sure that the actors were kept warm – we can’t always wear Canada goose jackets, we’re in costume.
How did you find mastering the accent?
I LIVE here, I know what the American sound is, but the Fargo accent has been a challenge.
The accent is the hardest I’ve done, I think. I’ve never spent any time in Minnesota and it’s not really in my ear. Even when I was doing it right, I didn’t feel like I was doing it right.
Some of the sounds are so close to Scottish, and a lot of it sounds like a bad Irish accent, and for maybe the first month, I wasn’t sure if I was
doing it right.
Was this one of the biggest challenges of your career?
IT WAS, in terms of developing the characters of both guys, and making sure they felt unique.
I got here and I was like “S**t! I’ve got to play these guys. How will they not feel the same?”
And, of course, they don’t look the same, but that wasn’t enough. They have to feel different, to be different people.
I just trusted my instincts in the end, and I went with it.
I wear padding for Ray, and cowboy boots and long hair, and it just makes me feel like him and walk like him. Emmit’s much tighter and more reined in.
How long were you in make-up?
IT TAKES a long time to get ready.
It takes two-and-a-half hours to become Ray and an hour-and-a-half to become Emmit, so that gives you enough time to get into their mindset in the make-up chair.
The one thing I hadn’t really thought about was that I’d have two leading roles to learn! That was massive.
The workload was heavier than anything I’ve ever done. But I’ve never been more satisfied. I loved it.