Young Adam synopsis and photos

HanWay Films, which is producing Young Adam, has released the following synopsis and photos:

Joe, a rootless young drifter, finds work on a barge travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, owned by Leslie and his wife Ella.

One afternoon they discover the corpse of a young woman floating in the canal.

Accident? Suicide? Murder?

As the police investigate and a suspect is arrested, we discover that Joe knows more than he’s letting on, and gradually we learn of Joe’s past relationship with the dead woman.

Meanwhile an unspoken attraction has developed between Joe and Ella, and claustrophobic tensions evolve between the three of them in the confined space of the barge...

Based on Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi’s novel and inspired by the great Hollywood film noirs of the 40s and 50s, YOUNG ADAM is a highly original thriller set on the canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh. From award winning short film maker David Mackenzie, produced by Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture Company.

Thank you Perditum for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, June 29, 2002 // 04:46 p.m.

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McKellen, Reno, Banderas and Malkovich join cast of rescued Borgia

Story filed: 14:34 Tuesday 18th June 2002

Ewan McGregor's new film will begin shooting in October.

A deal to sort out the financing to Borgia has been agreed.

Sir Ian McKellen has been added to the cast, alongside Jean Reno, Antonio Banderas and John Malkovich.

The film will be shot in Umbria, Italy and at Babelsberg Studios in Germany through to next February.

It is being directed by Neil Jordan.

"It's been something of a miracle putting together a new financing package at such speed," said producer Stephen Wooley.

"Borgia promises to be a truly spectacular European production, a UK, Irish, Italian, German co-production that will highlight the best of European talent in front and behind the camera."

Source: Ananova

Thank you xcbug for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 // 11:33 a.m.

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Boycott "Hello" and its silly polls

Ewan's up again for another dreadful "Hello" poll.

We hope everyone boycotts it. We need to send a message to "Hello" that we do not take kindly to their allowing cheaters to win the last time. We know they cheated, we had proof, some of them discussing it openly on their message board and we sent that proof to "Hello". They reset the vote (thereby acknowledging that "voting irregularities" had occured) and when the cheating started again, "Hello" did nothing.

Besides, if Ewan won, he'd end up against the same guy (and his dishonest fans) at the end of the year and the whole mess would start again. It's not worth it.

Let's not encourage a magazine that condones cheating and, worst of all, publishes pictures of Ewan's children.

We all know our man is the most handsome man around. We don't need to prove it in some stupid magazine poll.

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, June 13, 2002 // 07:24 a.m.

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CURSE OF BORGIAS HITS STAR'S NEW FILM

Jun 11 2002

EWAN McGregor's latest film has been shelved because of soaring costs.

Borgia, about the murderous mediaeval Italian clan, was not due to start filming until September.

But the budget has already escalated from £35million to £42million.

Now the film, written and directed by The Crying Game's Neil Jordan and starring Ewan, 31, as murderous Cesare Borgia, has been put on indefinite hold.

Irishman Jordan's Beverly Hills agents ICM are having talks with new financiers in an attempt to get the project back on track.

The historical drama would have told the story of the family of Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI and ran the Vatican as a crime syndicate while fathering numerous illegitimate children.

Cesare was said to have had an incestuous relationship with his sister Lucrezia, who was to be played by Christina Ricci, and murdered one of her husbands.

The original financiers of the film, Myriad Pictures, are now in negotiations with the producers.

Myriad found themselves short of cash because of a split from their former backers, In-Motion, at a time when profits are down throughout the film industry.

Cost-cutting moves considered include filming at studios in Germany and shooting battle scenes in Bulgaria.

Source: The Daily Record

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, June 11, 2002 // 07:58 a.m.

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Inside Move: 'Borgia' in flux
Coin conflict forces rethink

By DANA HARRIS, CATHY DUNKLEY for Variety
Date in print: Sun., Jun. 9, 2002

You say $50 million, I say $60 million -- let's call the whole thing off. "Borgia" has come to embody a post-Neuer Markt hangover for filmmaker Neil Jordan, producer Stephen Woolley and backer Myriad Pictures. Pic is on hold as Jordan's ICM reps enter talks with other financiers, with hopes high to get it back on track.

Myriad co-president Kirk D'Amico says he's negotiating an agreement with the producers, but no deal has been made.

Myriad has been trying to trim the budget -- originally $55 million -- down to $50 million. That effort comes in response to a soft international marketplace, as well as Myriad's break from former backer IN-Motion.

Cost-cutting moves considered include shooting at Germany's Babelsberg Studios to take advantage of its co-financing and production incentive, as well as the possibility of shooting battle scenes in Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, the producers' own budget crept toward $60 million, as they believed the Renaissance-set tale of the corrupt Borgia family's rise to power in the Vatican should, logically, be shot in Italy.

An interested bystander in all of this is 20th Century Fox, which entered negotiations during last month's Cannes Film Festival for North American distribution to the pic. But that deal is contingent on Myriad closing deals for the remainder of the pic's budget, of which Fox would cover only a small portion.

Project was skedded to start shooting in September with Ewan McGregor and Christina Ricci. Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke produce with Woolley.

Source: Variety

Thank you Perditum for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, June 9, 2002 // 08:27 p.m.

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Solid Geometry premiere

Story filed: 11:02 Thursday 6th June 2002

In this year's short film awards scheme, Ewan McGregor and Ruth Miller are starring in Solid Geometry, Pam Ferris and Maurice Roeves are in Family, and Billy Boyd, who portrayed the hobbit Pippin in The Lord Of The Rings, is in Sniper 470.

The films will be premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Source: Ananova

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, June 6, 2002 // 11:55 p.m.

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Nicole misses on the kisses

03 jun 02

NICOLE Kidman yesterday lamented that she and Moulin Rouge co-star Ewan McGregor didn't win the kissing award at MTV's movie awards.

But the pair did walk off with the trophy for best musical sequence.

"I'm really bummed we didn't win best kiss," said Kidman onstage with McGregor. "We needed to rehearse more."

Source: The Sunday Times

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, June 2, 2002 // 10:03 p.m.

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Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, June 2, 2002 // 01:00 a.m.

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Young Adam Update

30th May 2002

Just been sent an image of Ewan McGregor as he will be seen in the upcoming Young Adam.

Also the new issue of Total Film, from which this image looks like it may have been taken, includes quotes from the cast and crew.

"This could be the first ever genuinely erotic, sexy Scottish film", said actor Peter Mullan (My Name Is Joe). "There aren't a lot of laughs in the book. Trocchi's prose is good but his dialogue shite. The script dialogue is a million times better, thank God," he added.

Meanwhile director David McKenzie described the feel of the movie in a little more detail. "It's L'Atalante Last Tango In Glasgow. L'Antalante 'cos of the barge and Last Tango because of its relationship between sex and grief." For the full interview and more information check out the latest issue of Total Film on UK news stands now.

Source: The Z Review

Thank you Perditum for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 31, 2002 // 07:47 a.m.

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Ewan to be a presenter at this year's MTV Movie Awards

Fri May 31, 1:44 AM ET

The show, taped on June 1st, is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. EDT June 6, with Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar as hosts. Eminem (news - web sites) and The White Stripes are scheduled to perform, with presenters including Ben Affleck, Bow Wow, Eve, Ewan McGregor, Winona Ryder and Charlize Theron.

Source: Yahoo News

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 31, 2002 // 07:31 a.m.

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Down With Love News

By SUSANNE AULT, JILL FEIWELL
Tue., May 28, 2002

Ivana Milicevic (HBO's "Mind of a Married Man") and Melissa George ("Thieves") have snagged supporting roles in 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy "Down With Love." Pic, an homage to the early 1960s sex comedies that starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day, follows a bestselling female advice author (Renee Zellweger) who has all the answers until a sly journalist playboy (Ewan McGregor) starts asking the questions. Peyton Reed is helming; Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks are producing. "Down" begins lensing this week in Los Angeles.

Source: Variety.com

Thank you Perditum for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, May 28, 2002 // 09:51 p.m.

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Menace a trois

from The Guardian, Friday May 17, 2002
by Will Hodgkinson

Alexander Trocchi, heroin addict and pariah of the Scottish literary world, died of an overdose in 1984. Eighteen years on, Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton are starring in Young Adam, his story of a love triangle set amid the canals of 1950s Glasgow.

About half an hour's drive from the centre of Glasgow is the town of Dumbarton. Rows of semi-detached, pebble-dashed houses line wide, empty roads that sit quietly below the low-lying mountains beyond. On one of those dark spring days when a vague mist turns everything damp and cold, the streets are empty of people. A few miles outside of the town is the old J&B distillery, an expanse of empty warehouses with their own security guard and nothing to steal.

Dumbarton belongs to a world that the Scottish writer, countercultural hero and unrepentant junkie Alexander Trocchi knew well, though had no great love for. "Kicking against that bleakness was pure Alex," says his former partner Sally Childs, who was with Trocchi in the years leading up to his death in 1984. When Childs met him, Trocchi had long since given up writing professionally to make a living as a dealer in antiquarian books. "He was frustrated by the constraints of the world that he came from, and by the establishment beyond it," she remembers.

Occupying a small corner of one of the huge, otherwise barren warehouses at the J&B distillery is a film crew. On a tiny set that resembles the interior of a canal barge, Ewan McGregor, looking like an early-50s proto-beatnik complete with black wool overcoat and greased hair, is angrily telling a dolled-up young woman that he is leaving her. It is a strange scene: a wall of people and technology packed into a tiny space, surrounding an even tinier space occupied by two people who seem frustrated and lonely, and outside this enclosed cell of activity the void of a desolate, aircraft hangar-sized warehouse.

The film is director David Mackenzie's adaptation of Trocchi's first novel, Young Adam. Set in the network of Glasgow's canals in the 1950s, it tells the story of Joe, a disenfranchised young intellectual who works on a barge with unhappily married couple Les and Ella. The discovery of a body in the canal sets in motion a chain of events that includes an affair between Joe and Ella, a wrongful conviction for murder and an unfolding of Joe's intimate relationship with the woman whose body is found, but beyond this is a study in morality that places itself a long way outside convention. Joe is a vague, feckless antihero; the morality of the establishment is hypocritical; and Glasgow is an ugly, brutal place, informed equally by a poverty of possibility and a Calvinist piety. Young Adam is the story of a justified sinner, and Joe is a brave role for Ewan McGregor to take.

"In terms of finance, having Ewan playing an antihero certainly brought its difficulties," says Mackenzie. Mackenzie has been struggling to bring Young Adam to the screen for nine years; he bought the option on the book from Childs seven years ago, and has been trying to convince various people to finance a film of it ever since. With Tilda Swinton, Emily Mortimer and McGregor on board and David Byrne writing the score, producer Jeremy Thomas finally secured the money from Warner Brothers late last year. "Ewan's determination helped make the film happen. He's playing this character who is not likeable or dislikeable - he can be vulnerable, or human, or a complete cunt. So financiers would say, 'Where's the sympathy?' And Ewan would answer, 'Where's the sympathy in Marlon Brando's character in Last Tango in Paris?' It's there, but you won't find it in good deeds."

The problems of taking on Scotland's answer to Camus's The Outsider are myriad, and go far beyond the usual financier's desire for happy endings. Young Adam is filtered through the consciousness of Joe's existential dilemma, and other characters exist only in terms of their relevance to him. "You tackle a character like Joe by finding aspects of him that aren't quite so vague," says Mackenzie, a serious-minded man who looks extremely dishevelled; a result of six weeks of intensive shooting on a tight budget. "I placed it so that he and Cathie [Joe's girlfriend from his pre-barge days] are a bit beatnik: he's a wannabe writer, she's a wannabe actress, they live in a garret and they're quite cool. You try to externalise things a little, but he's still a character wandering around waiting for something to touch him."

"Joe reminds me of a little boy who came to our house once," says Swinton, who plays Ella. "He had one of those toys that give you an electric shock when you press them. He's looking for sensation, to know that he has nerves and that they work. It's an existential novel - on the first page Joe is staring at his face in the mirror for the amount of time it takes to smoke nine cigarettes. Nine! If that isn't existential, I don't know what is."

Swinton faces the problem of playing a character who is only revealed through Joe's experience of her. "In the book, nobody is anything more than what they represent for Joe, but in a film you have to have another human being with a human face and a human mind. So Ella is passionate and wild; she's got a working life to chew on, whereas Joe is essentially an intellectual who wants to be a writer and he's come to live some life with some real people because he lacks that passion. Joe is addicted to placing himself outside of society. He's addicted to being a tumbleweed without responsibility. And taking that kind of stance will alienate you more than you might imagine."

Here the parallels between Young Adam's Joe and its creator become clear. While Mackenzie was very conscious of not letting the shadow of Trocchi hang over the film, the similarities between a character attempting to place himself outside society and an author who succeeded in doing just that cannot be ignored. "I found it quite uncanny when I read it," says Childs. "His ability to stand outside life and observe is so like Alex. But there are deviations. Joe can be violent, whereas Alex would never hurt a fly. He was outside conventional morality, but never humanity."

Trocchi exiled himself from the literary establishment from the start. While William Burroughs called him "a unique and pivotal figure in the literary world of the 1950s and 1960s", the author and his few completed works have always remained resolutely underground. In the late 1950s Trocchi moved to Paris, became friends with Beckett and Guy Debord, founded the magazine Merlin and tried unsuccessfully to get Young Adam published. Already writing pornography for Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press, he agreed to make the book suitable for Olympia by inserting a sex scene every six pages. (The third, definitive version, minus most of the sex scenes, was published in 1966.)

Trocchi announced his statement of intent to the world in 1960 with the publication of Cain's Book. Essentially a junkie's journal, it tells of Trocchi's years in New York, living on a scow on the Hudson river and shifting through the shadowed world of heroin: searching for it, shooting it up, avoiding the police. Unlike most drug books, it is unapologetic. "He liked the fact that drugs made him an outsider," says Childs. "The fact that heroin made him take risks. He was a registered addict until he died, an alcoholic, and used cocaine and hashish. I think he realised the ridiculousness of shooting up three times a day when he had no veins left, but drugs didn't frighten him at all."

Trocchi was expelled from the Scottish literary canon in 1962 after clashing with Hugh McDiarmid at the Edinburgh Writers' Conference. "I am only interested in sodomy and lesbianism," he announced, and a permanent barring followed. Cain's Book was the last that Trocchi had published, or even completed as far as anyone knows. By the time he died of pneumonia aged 54 following treatment for lung cancer, he was poverty-stricken: both Young Adam and Cain's Book had been pirated and he received hardly any royalties. His second wife had died of an overdose - Trocchi once sent her out to whore for heroin in Las Vegas - his eldest son was dead, and his youngest would commit suicide soon after his death. Trocchi had been working for years on the ironically titled The Long Book, but essentially suffered a writer ' s block that lasted 24 years.

"I remember him as incredibly considerate, quite reclusive, and generous," says Childs of the man whose 1991 biography by Andrew Murray Scott was entitled The Making of a Monster. "It's sad that this film is being made after his death, as he would have loved it and encouraged it. And he never received the rewards he was entitled to." By placing himself outside society of his own volition, Trocchi cut himself off from the social and financial rewards that creativity can bring. But he did leave behind two remarkable books, some obscure pieces of pornography, and a myth that endlessly fascinates. "Young Adam is a book that could not be set anywhere but Scotland, but in no way is it nationalistic: it's international, and profound," says Mackenzie. "Joe has every intention of leaving Scotland, and there's no great love for it. What he's going to do, who knows."

In an ambiguous novel, Trocchi left a major ambiguity at its core: the title. Why Young Adam, when the leading character is called Joe? Mackenzie believes that it refers to a fall from grace; a loss of innocence in the garden of Eden. Swinton reckons it refers to the unnamed, ever present son of Ella and Les. But Childs' explanation may reveal most about Trocchi's intention, and perhaps the secret to his work. "I've come to the simple conclusion that he made a mistake," she says. "That would have been very much like him."

Thanks to Aleta for passing this along.

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Thursday, May 23, 2002 // 08:10 a.m.

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"Attack of the Clones" is smashing records at the box office around the world. It topped the UK box office charts with $9 million in tickets sales and overall made an estimated $69.1 million in 72 territories, the highest-grossing weekend ever abroad. In the US it did even better.

From Reuters:

After opening last Thursday with a record midweek box-office take of $30.1 million, "Attack of the Clones" piled up $80 million more in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday, rather than $86.1 million as it originally estimated, Fox said.

The new figures change nothing in terms of the picture's No. 1 box-office ranking for the weekend or its place in the record books.

The three-day weekend tally still stands at No. 3 among all-time new releases, behind "Spider-Man," which opened with a phenomenal $114.84 million two weeks earlier, and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" with $90.29 million last November.

And "Clones" still took just four days to break the $100 million barrier in 3,161 theaters, second only to "Spider-Man," which took three days in 3,615 cinemas.

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 // 09:11 a.m.

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Ewan's documentary "The Polar Bears of Churchill" will air in the United States on the Nature program on PBS starting May 19. In most markets, Nature airs Sundays at 8PM. Check your local PBS listings for repeats or exact date and time.

Posted by The Modern Age on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 // 06:25 a.m.

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Pictures of Ewan from Sunday's charity premiere of Attack of the Clones

Yahoo News has some great pictures of Ewan from tonight's Los Angeles charity screening of Attack of the Clones:











Pictures from Yahoo News, through JediNet.

Thanks to Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Monday, May 13, 2002 // 12:05 a.m.

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Ewan's E! Revealed special will air May 12, 9 p.m.; May 15, 10 p.m.; May 16, 11 a.m.; May 19, 10 a.m.

Posted by The Modern Age on Sunday, May 12, 2002 // 09:54 a.m.

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Far, Far Away
Ewan McGregor is missing Round 1 of the "Star Wars" hype, working on a film for neither fame nor fortune.

Friday, May 10, 2002
By DAVID GRITTEN , Special to The Times

GLASGOW, Scotland--Ewan McGregor could easily be living the high life right now. He could be getting wined, dined, fawned upon and treated like a superstar at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, the press junket for "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones" (in which he plays Obi-Wan Kenobi) hanging on his every word.

Instead, McGregor, 31, has been toiling here in his native land on "Young Adam," a low-budget British film that calls for its cast and crew to work in decidedly unglamorous, even spartan conditions. It is set in 1954, and much of the action takes place on a barge traversing the canals around Glasgow. The film's producers have re-created the harshness of life for canal workers in that era and are shooting on canal towpaths in some of the city's most insalubrious areas.

On this particular day in April, the production finds itself beside a stretch of canal in Ruchill, an impoverished part of Glasgow south of the city center. The water is dark and murky, and the grass areas beside the canal, out of camera range, are strewn with litter. A preponderance of open, empty potato chip bags suggests that local juvenile delinquents use this site for inhaling glue or solvents. McGregor looks around him. "Aye, it's bleak, isn't it?" he says.

It is, and one wonders if he has a masochistic streak, opting for long hours of modest, low-profile labor over all the attention, perks and luxury accommodations that a star actor with a mega-movie to sell can expect. But McGregor's reasons are simple: "Young Adam" didn't wrap until today, and he is in almost every scene; having committed to the film last summer, and then having stayed with it even when funding originally collapsed late last year, he simply wants to see it through.

He is also eager to stress that his absence from the Lucas ranch implies no lack of enthusiasm for "Attack of the Clones," which opens nationwide May 16. (McGregor is planning to attend the film's lavish Hollywood premiere on Sunday.)

"All that hype looks after itself," he says. "It doesn't have anything to do with me. The 'Star Wars' series is the star, so the hype is built in. For 'Attack of the Clones,' I've seen the second trailer and I thought it was brilliant. It had the flavor of the first three 'Star Wars' movies. So I think the new film will be an improvement on the last one we made," "'Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" from 1999.

Is McGregor unhappy with that film? "No, it was fine, but it had a lot of setting up to do. It had six movies to establish. And all that stuff about the senate wasn't even mentioned in the first three, so all of that had to be explained."

In the latest episode McGregor plays an older, wiser Obi-Wan--a change of pace for the boyish-looking actor--who must teach the ways of the Jedi Knight to the brash Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). McGregor thinks the film will be more pleasing than "Episode I" to the "Star Wars" faithful.

"I have a feeling that in 'Episode II' we have more opportunity to get back into the heart and soul of what the first three films were about," he says. "I think it's got more action in it, and it'll be more fun to watch."

Still, McGregor has no regrets about staying away from the "Star Wars" junket to complete "Young Adam." He stars as Joe, a young drifter who works on a barge with Les (Scottish actor Peter Mullan, from "The Claim" and "My Name Is Joe") and his younger wife, Ella (played by Tilda Swinton, from last year's "The Deep End"). Joe and Les find the corpse of a young woman in the canal and fish it out. Shortly afterward, Joe embarks on an affair with Ella.

"Young Adam" is directed by David Mackenzie, a Scottish veteran of shorts and documentaries, making his feature film debut.

"There's some beautiful stuff to play in it," McGregor says with enthusiasm. "A lot of looks and moods, and scenes without words. It's really tasty stuff. It feels like proper filmmaking. We've really moved into the area of not allowing the audience to do any work at all, explaining every line and the one that's just gone--and talking, talking, talking, like nobody does in real life. It's gone insane.

"But this film isn't like that at all. It's more like Steve McQueen stuff. He'd cut all his lines and only say the lines he needed to say. This whole script is written like that.... I think this film could really make a difference."

The film's producer, Jeremy Thomas, calls McGregor "a real man of the people." "He's here, he's in one of those little trailers divided into three tiny spaces for actors, and he doesn't complain. He doesn't ask for anything special, and he doesn't expect it."

More to the point, McGregor stayed loyal when the film was postponed in August after funding collapsed. "I'd gone on the trail of trying to raise money for an adventurous film by a first-time director," Thomas recalled. "The first time, I failed. We didn't make it last September, but Ewan and Tilda were so keen to do it they stuck with us. So I began again. We found another angel and started shooting" in March.

Not only did McGregor stay with the project, he even publicly criticized Britain's Film Council for its reluctance to back commercially risky films. The budget for "Young Adam" was about $6.5 million, raised from the Film Council; Scottish Screen; Warner Bros. UK, which acquired the British rights; and pre-sales to Spain and Italy. (By way of comparison, "Star Wars: Episode I" cost a reported $120 million.)

The script of "Young Adam" is noteworthy for its sexual candor. Mackenzie, 35, admits that "one or two scenes are fairly frank and shocking, but I don't know if it's sensible to be courting sexual controversy at this point in history. You can't go much further into that territory without entering into pornography. I wouldn't want it to be sold as the steamiest thing around."

He adapted his script from the novel of the same name by the intriguing Beat writer Alexander Trocchi (1925-1984), who was born and raised in Glasgow. Trocchi's underground cult reputation rests largely on "Young Adam" (first published in 1954) and "Cain's Book" (1963), a harrowing account of heroin addiction; Trocchi was in thrall to hard drugs for long spells of his adult life.

Trocchi keeps appearing, in a manner reminiscent of Woody Allen's Zelig, on the margins of the Beat movement. He befriended William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Terry Southern. Norman Mailer knew him and said of "Cain's Book," "It is true, it has art, it is brave." When Trocchi had to leave the U.S. in 1961 because of his drug use, he fled to Canada, staying at Leonard Cohen's Montreal apartment. "I understand it was only four or five days," Cohen recalled later. "In retrospect it seemed like three or four months or even years, because you couldn't escape the guy." Cohen wrote a poem about him, titled "Alexander Trocchi, public junkie, prie pour nous (pray for us)."

Of the film's cast, Swinton is Trocchi's biggest champion. "This book reads as a screenplay. It might have been his first experiment in writing cinema.... I've always found the Beats quite magnetic--the work itself and the muscular element of the writing, not just the mystique."

The outspoken Mullan, on the other hand, is rather scornful about Trocchi: "He's a good prose writer but a bad dialogue writer. I prefer David Mackenzie's script of 'Young Adam' to the book. I haven't even got to the end of the book."

But McGregor has the most serious doubts about the Trocchi legend. "Now that I'm a father of kids, I find that's turned me into a man who realizes the responsibility of having children," he says. "And I find such joy and pleasure in it. Trocchi had kids who got in the way of his writing, so he left. There's a horrible arrogance about that. At one point he was pimping his wife to supply his heroin habit while he had this baby who wasn't getting fed.

"I don't like that terrible self-centeredness of the outsider, that attitude of 'this is how I'm living my life.' Trocchi's an interesting character, and I like the book, but I love the script more."

And with that McGregor turns on his heel and walks across the litter-strewn grassland down to the barge for the next scene of "Young Adam." Any thoughts about another movie are in a galaxy far, far away.

Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times

Source: L.A. Times

Thank you xcbug for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 10, 2002 // 12:21 a.m.

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Ewan promotes Attack of the Clones in North America

Looks like Ewan won't escape promoting a Star Wars film this time. According to TV Guide Online, Ewan is scheduled to appear on the Today Show (NBC, mornings) on May 13th and on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC, late night) on May 16th.

Be sure to set your VCRs!

Thanks to gimmedanger and Jen for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 3, 2002 // 07:28 a.m.

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Ewan will be on E! News Live today, May 1, to talk about "Young Adam". E! News Live airs at 6:30pm. Encores run the following morning from 7am to 9am.

Thanks to Sandy for passing this along.

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Wednesday, May 1, 2002 // 09:37 a.m.

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New Star Wars film to premiere in the Capital

Mon 29 Apr 2002

THE Scottish premiere of the new Star Wars film will take place in Edinburgh following a plea from Ewan McGregor.

Tickets for the first Scottish showing of Star Wars Episode II - The Attack of the Clones, which will take place at the UGC Cinema in Fountainpark, go on sale today.

Ewan McGregor, who stars as Obi Wan Kenobi, asked Lucas Films and 20th Century Fox to agree to a premiere in Scotland to raise money for Rachel House, in Kinross, the only hospice in Scotland for terminally ill children.

Ewan McGregor said: "Rachel House is an incredible place and I am delighted that they will benefit from this Scottish premiere."

The actor has a long association with the Children’s Hospice Association of Scotland, which runs Rachel House, and recently launched a fundraising campaign by flying over the hospice in a Tornado Jet flown by his brother Colin, a pilot in the RAF Display team based at Lossiemouth.

UGC in Fountainpark will host two premiere screenings of the Attack of the Clones on Wednesday, May 15.

Tickets for the afternoon screening, geared for children and families, cost £20. Children from Rachel House will be given VIP treatment at the premiere and will be joined by a number of yet-to-be-named Scottish actors.

The evening screening for adults will include a post premiere party hosted by Eros and Elite for which tickets cost £40. Fountainpark will also join in the Star Wars mania with special attractions on the day.

To book tickets for the event call 0131-228 8788.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s Evening News for your chance to win tickets to the Edinburgh charity premiere.

Source: The Scotsman

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, April 30, 2002 // 07:54 a.m.

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Attack of the Clones footage to be shown Thursday April 25th

C-3PO and R2-D2 have been tasked by Luke Skywalker to chronicle the connections of the Star Wars saga, and you can see the efforts of this endeavor during the broadcast of the Star Wars films on television.

The FOX network will be airing Episodes V, VI and I of the Star Wars saga, with Episode IV appearing in syndication in various markets. Each of the movies will be accompanied by a brand new introductory segment entitled Star Wars: Connections -- With R2-D2 and C-3PO. Anthony Daniels reprises his role in the golden suit, accompanied with the ever-faithful and ever-quarrelsome R2-D2, to record the complete history of the Skywalker family.

Each segment compiles clips from Episodes I, IV, V and VI, and includes exclusive footage of next month's Attack of the Clones. C-3PO explains how the characters tie the series together into one epic story.

Check your local listings for broadcast dates and times. A New Hope airs in syndication, The Empire Strikes Back airs on FOX on April 25th, Return of the Jedi on May 2nd, and The Phantom Menace on May 9th.

Source: www.starwars.com

Thanks to Hollie Lynch for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 // 09:24 p.m.

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The nominations for the MTV Movie Awards have been announced. Black Hawk Down received two nods for Best Movie and Best Action Sequence. Moulin Rouge received 5: Best Female Performance, Best Kiss, and two in the same category, Best Musical Sequence (Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend, Elephant Love Medley).

Vote now at movieawards.mtv.com!

You can vote as often as you like. There are real audio clips of the nominees as well. So get on with... vote like crazy!

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 // 01:53 p.m.

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The website for the 2002 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival has an online auction up with several unique items signed by Ewan including bottles of Whiskey and Star Wars merchandise. Sales benefit Children's Hospice Association of Scotland. Be sure to check out all the items and help support this worthy cause at: http://www.spiritofspeyside.com/auction.htm.

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 // 08:46 a.m.

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Watch Ewan's Film Four interview online

You can watch Ewan's interview that aired last night on Film Four in the UK.

Film Four Ewan Interview

Thank you Stanzy for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, April 14, 2002 // 11:58 a.m.

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Lucky break as autograph hunter gets film role offer

Sun 14 Apr 2002
GORDON CURRIE

YOUTH worker Neil McGilligan turned up at an audition to get Ewan McGregor's autograph - and ended up with a part in the star's new film.

He has been given the chance to appear in Young Adam when scenes are filmed in Perth next weekend. He was one of hundreds who went to the Salutation Hotel yesterday for an audition for extras.

McGilligan said: "It was my son Patrick's fourth birthday yesterday and he is absolutely daft about Star Wars.

"I heard about the auditions and thought I would come along and try and get Ewan McGregor's autograph for him.

"But now they have told me that they want me to come along as one of the extras in the movie they are making.

"I'm not really sure what it's going to involve, but I just hope I get the chance to meet Ewan and get his autograph."

McGilligan was one of the lucky ones to be invited back by the producers for a dress rehearsal on Thursday and filming on Saturday.

He and the other successful applicants were sworn to secrecy about details of the filming, which is expected to last several weeks.

But it can be revealed that courtroom scenes for the thriller, which is set in the 1950s, are to be shot inside Court One at Perth Sheriff Court.

It is the first major film the Star Wars actor, from Crieff, has made in the town where he got his first theatrical break.

McGregor worked backstage in the years before he broke into the big time with hit movies like Trainspotting and Shallow Grave.

Young Adam has been adapted from a novel by Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocci and filming is under way.

McGregor will star alongside Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan and Emily Mortimer in a project which has been given major studio backing.

The open casting session in Perth attracted a steady stream of big screen hopefuls to the Salutation Hotel.

Production and make-up experts ran the rule over the hopefuls to find around 100 extras for future filming.

Source: Scotland on Sunday

Thank you xcbug for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, April 14, 2002 // 11:59 a.m.

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Reminder: Ewan on Film Four in the UK Saturday night

Check out http://filmfour.traq.it/hosted/ewan/ to see a cool Flash movie showing parts of Ewan's interview on Film Four which will air on Saturday April 13th at 9pm in the UK.


Thank you Emma for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, April 12, 2002 // 07:59 a.m.

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How Ewan's tackle landed him the big parts

As FilmFour celebrates Ewan McGregor's glorious career, Kik Reid finds a modern icon's roots in the rugby scrum

He missed out on an Oscar nomination, but Ewan McGregor can't be too upset. Moulin Rouge is racking up sales on video and DVD, and next month sees the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, in which the Crieff-born actor reprises his role as Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. Once again, he'll be all over Hollywod like a rash.

Now, in celebration of McGregor's career, cable channel FilmFour is kicking off its British Film Month with an in-depth interview, Meet Ewan McGregor, this Saturday. The interview will be followed by a season of his films including Trainspotting, Emma, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Shallow Grave and even The Pillow Book.

In the documentary he offers his thoughts on the parts that gave him his first breaks -- and the ones that cemented his place as one of the foremost British actors of his generation. Starring in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge opposite Nicole Kidman was, he says, 'like standing in one of my childhood, childish fantasies about being an actor. Scantily clad beautiful ladies, music, colour, life and romance. And tragedy and everything.'

However, he admits to feeling slightly let down by his appearance in the last Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace. 'I think one of the things about [the film] I was slightly disappointed by was I thought it was kind of flat,' he says. But he promises the next instalment will be an improvement. 'It's more reminiscent of the original three Star Wars films ,' he explains. 'There's more colour in it.'

McGregor's route into acting was not the most conventional. In the interview he recalls his days of derring-do on the school playing field: 'I quite liked the drama of sport in that we had to play rugby and cricket and stuff and I became very good at diving the wrong way when a guy was running towards me. I just remember the fear of these guys with huge legs and the look of death in their face -- and you're supposed to wrap yourself round their running legs. F*** that! I became very good at looking like I'd misread where they were going and diving the wrong way. So my acting really began there.'

McGregor's big break came as Alex Law in 1994's Shallow Grave, an early hit for the resurgent Scottish film industry, but it was his celebrated role as Renton in the 1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting -- which, like Shallow Grave, was written by John Hodge and directed by Danny Boyle -- that set him on the path to stardom. Playing a heroin addict was not a task he undertook lightly: in fact the whole cast thoroughly researched their roles and attended meetings at the Calton Athletic rehab group in Glasgow.

'I'd never been to a meeting like that before ... full of very hard-nosed, tattooed Glasgow heroin addicts, talking to each other on a level I'd never heard men talk to each other on before,' remembers McGregor. 'It was incredibly touching because it was very heartfelt.' The experience even gave the actor a chance to recapture those sporting failures of old . 'They have football teams and, during our rehearsals, the whole cast would have five-a-side games against the Calton Athletic club -- who would run circles round us. If you were told that there were heroin addicts playing actors, they would have looked like the actors and we would have looked like the heroin addicts.'

Happily for McGregor's female fans, he's no stranger to on-screen nudity -- which brings us to The Pillow Book. An erotic tale in which he plays a British bisexual translator who has a passionate affair with a Japanese woman obsessed with calligraphy, it was directed by arthouse favourite Peter Greenaway (and judged execrable by most critics), but does feature a naked McGregor in a spot of man-on-man action.

He admits he worried about what his parents, his dad in particular, would make of the scene. 'They phoned up saying, 'We're going to see The Pillow Book tonight in Edinburgh with some friends.' I suddenly thought, 'I haven't told him about the sex with a man.' However, the next day I got this fax through saying, 'Son, it was the most beautiful film, you were fantastic.' And I thought that was lovely -- he'd seen it and got it. And then at the end he said, 'PS: I'm glad to see you've inherited one of my major attributes! Your Dad. Kiss.' Nice, eh!'

Meet Ewan McGregor is on FilmFour at 9pm on Saturday, followed at 10pm by a showing of Shallow Grave.

Source: Sunday Herald

Thank you Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, April 6, 2002 // 11:17 p.m.

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Ewan McGregor was recently saved from death on the set of YOUNG ADAM

Posted on Friday, April 05 @ 09:47:19 CST
by Ajax

Horror for "Moulin Rouge!" star Ewan McGregor when he fell into the freezing waters off the coast of Scotland at night -- and was instantly seized by a current so strong he nearly drowned, he told friends. Ewan slipped while disembarking from a barge onto a boat during filming of the movie "Young Adam," and icy fear gripped him as a strong current pushed him away from the boat and into the darkness. Crew members panicked as they lost sight of the star, and two crew members dove into the water. Guided by his shouts, they located him, maneuvered him into a rescue ring tossed from the barge and got him back aboard. Unhurt, but shivering in near-hypothermia, Ewan was quickly ferried back to shore for dry clothes and a hot bath.

Source: Zentertainment

Thank you Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, April 6, 2002 // 12:48 p.m.

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Jedi meets Polmont man

Saturday, April 6, 2002

Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor hooks up with local thespian

HITTING the spotlight alongside Ewan McGregor was Polmont man Neil Kilgour.

Neil (30) managed to secure a part in Ewan McGregor's new film 'Young Adam', which started filming in Glasgow last month.

The film, based on a novel by Alexander Trocchi, is about a drifter (McGregor) who finds the corpse of a young woman floating in the Forth and Clyde Canal.

And The Falkirk Herald can reveal the cast, including McGregor, were spotted filming in Grangemouth Docks last week.

It is believed scenes for 'Young Adam' were filmed in Grangemouth on March 26 and 27.

However, an alleged accident, where an actor was slightly injured pulling a fake corpse from the water, resulted in the crew returning to finish filming earlier this week.

The film, which is set in the late 1940s, was originally scheduled to start filming last year, but due to funding issues had to be postponed.

Talking about his role, as an extra on the film, Neil said: "I had to get up really early to get fitted for my costume, and filming didn't finish until 7.30 p.m. it was a long day.

"However, we did get to meet Ewan and he was nice. There were a couple of children from Grangemouth there as well and he spoke to them about the new Star Wars film."

Source: FalkirkToday

Thank you Spectacular for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, April 6, 2002 // 07:20 a.m.

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BAN ON EWAN'S KID CO-STARS
Film too raunchy for them to see

Apr 6 2002

TWO young actors who star in Ewan McGregor's latest film have been banned from seeing it by their parents because it's too raunchy.

Brothers John, 11, and nine-year-old Scott Cowan are appearing with Ewan in Young Adam, which has been filmed in Glasgow.

But the boys' parents, Karen and Sandy, insist their sons will have to wait until they are older to watch themselves on screen with their idol.

The 18-rated film contains graphic sex scenes, and Star Wars hero Ewan admits it's his raunchiest role yet.

Karen, 37, of Polmont, Stirlingshire, said she would wait until the film was released on video and fast forward to the parts where her boys appear.

The staff nurse at Falkirk Royal Infirmary added: "My boys will be disappointed but they will not get to see it - it's just not suitable."

And it's not the first ban the young actors have faced. Their parents wouldn't let them watch police series Inspector Rebus in which they starred.

Ewan admits his latest movie, which is his first to be filmed in Scotland for five years, includes several sizzling sex scenes.

And the star, who last year celebrated the birth of his second daughter Ester Rose, agrees his young co-stars shouldn't be allowed to see the film.

He said: "It's an erotic story and I would be surprised if kids get to see it until they grow up.

"I have never been shy about this sort of thing, though I haven't done it for a while now." The budding young stars got their break on the small screen when their parents spotted an advert for extras and took them along for auditions.

Within a month, the boys and their younger sister, Eilidh, seven, were rubbing shoulders with actor John Hannah when they landed roles in the gritty Inspector Rebus series.

John and Scott then went on to win parts in the Channel 4 drama Sword of Honour and TV adverts.

Now even their five-year-old brother, Daniel, has got in on the act and has appeared in several adverts. Meanwhile, John has his heart set on an Oscar-winning romantic role and knows exactly who he wants to be his leading lady.

He said: "I am waiting for a film with Kate Winslet."

Young Adam, based on a novel by Glasgow-born author Alexander Trocchi, tells the story of a loner's life on the Clyde and is said to be the most erotic film made in Scotland.

Set in the 1950s, Ewan plays the loner, who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery when he finds the body of a woman in the canal.

Source: Daily Record

Thank you Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, April 5, 2002 // 08:05 p.m.

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Popularity Polls Banned

April 1, 2002
By TnChloe

Bulletin: Parliament today voted to outlaw any future popularity polls between Scottish performers. This is the result of the collapse of a certain news/gossip magazine which, while running a poll between a Scottish actor of world renown and a no-name Scottish warbler, and two other poor sods, was inundated with votes being submitted by fans of the warbler in violation of the magazine’s rules to the point that its server could not handle the inappropriate traffic.

It appears that the warbler fans, in a false hope that by cheating on their voting, they would bring their idol to world attention have, instead, defeated the entire popularity-poll system. Fans of the warbler have been arrested en-masse by the Internet police for posting on a board in violation of world-wide Internet rules which require a minimum intelligence quotient in excess of their shoe size or their idol’s number of recording contracts, whichever is greater, not to mention making false threats of libelous action against honest voters. The idol in question was returned to his keeper at the zoo, having escaped from the large ape house several months ago, but his real identity not having been known until revealed to the proper authorities by fans of the Scottish actor.

Sweden and Australia have banned coverage of this event, both stating that the violence is too great for their tender-hearted citizens, who are accustomed to free-range pornography and multiple Mad Max movies, but who quake at the prospect of having the warbler’s fans multiply within their borders.

The actor was unavailable for comment. It is believed that he is totally unaware of any of these events.

Source: The Scotswoman

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Monday, April 1, 2002 // 00:02 a.m.

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Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, March 31, 2002 // 00:00 a.m.

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Connery to lead US Tartan Day

Actor Sean Connery is to lead 10,000 bagpipers through the centre of New York as part of a record-breaking parade.

The former James Bond star will be joined by the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg to mark Tartan Day, an event that aims to strengthen ties between Scotland and the US.

Pipers from 30 countries will take part, including bands from Japan, Trinidad, Australia and Pakistan.

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor family's band will also travel as part of a British contingent for the parade on 5 April.

Source: BBC News

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Friday, March 29, 2002 // 09:46 a.m.

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McGregor joins corrupt 'Borgia' clan for Jordan

Thu Mar 28, 1:35 AM ET
By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Ewan McGregor has come aboard to star in Myriad Pictures' "Borgia" for director Neil Jordan and Imagemovers. The project is aimed to go into production in the summer.

The historical drama, set in the 15th century, follows the corrupt Borgia family, which includes siblings Lucretia and Cesare and their father, Roderigo, who went on to become Pope Alexander VI and ran the 16th century Vatican as a crime syndicate. McGregor will play Cesare, a hypocritical priest who plunders the nation to further his family's power. Viggo Mortensen had been in negotiations to star but has opted instead to star in the Walt Disney Co.'s action-adventure Western "Hidalgo."

Imagemovers' Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey are producing along with Jordan's producing partner Stephen Woolley. Myriad co-presidents Kirk D'Amico and Philip Von Alvensleben will executive produce with Myriad production president Lucas Foster.

Myriad, which is financing the $55 million picture through international sales, is retaining worldwide distribution rights to "Borgia." ICM, which reps Jordan, is handling North American distribution rights for Myriad.

McGregor, repped by CAA and British agent Lindy King, was most recently featured in the Oscar-nominated features "Moulin Rouge" and "Black Hawk Down." He next stars in "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones."

Source: Yahoo News

Thank you Pfyre and Spectacular for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, March 28, 2002 // 07:53 a.m.

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Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down win at Oscars

Moulin Rouge won two Oscars, one for Art Direction (Catherine Martin (Art Direction) and Brigitte Broch (Set Decoration) and another for Costume Design (Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie).

Black Hawk Down also won two Oscars, one for Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro) and another for Film Editing (Pietro Scalia).

Ewan's co-star in both Little Voice and Moulin Rouge, Jim Broadbent, won best-supporting actor for his role in Iris.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Source: Oscar.com

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Monday, March 25, 2002 // 07:48 a.m.

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Baz thanks Moulin team

AAP
25mar02

MOULIN Rouge director Baz Luhrmann and his wife Catherine Martin have thanked the movie's cast and crew in a full-page newspaper advertisement.

Luhrmann and Martin have taken out the advertisement in a Sydney paper to thank and congratulate the Moulin Rouge cast and crew on their eight Academy Award nominations.

Everyone who worked on the movie - from stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor to the company which provided the film on which the movie was shot - has been named in the advertisement.

"Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin would like to thank and congratulate the cast and crew of Moulin Rouge on their eight Academy Award nominations," it reads.

Among its nominations, Moulin Rouge, which was shot at Sydney's Fox Studios, is up for best picture. Kidman is up for best actress.

Source: news.com.au

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Monday, March 25, 2002 // 07:45 a.m.

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Ewan puts the boot into film censors

TOBY McDONALD
Sun 24 Mar 2002

EWAN McGregor has launched a blistering attack on film censorship and said there is nothing wrong with showing extreme violence on screen.

The Crieff-born star is currently making Young Adam, his first film to be made in Scotland for five years, which contains graphic sex scenes and a brutal murder.

McGregor, who rose to fame in the drugs film Trainspotting, is completely unrepentant about portraying extreme violence on screen, saying such scenes deter violence rather than desensitise it.

In an interview for FilmFour to be broadcast next month, the 31-year-old father of two said: "I don't like censorship of any kind. I don’t think it’s got any place, I really don’t.

"I don’t go along with the fact that by showing violence you’re going to encourage people to be violent. I think the problem is that people are violent." Young Adam, which he is filming in Glasgow, is the story of a loner who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery while travelling on a barge. It is the screen version of Scot Alexander Trocchi’s controversial novel which was set in the 1950s around the Clyde.

Despite evidence from psychologists that repeated viewing of rapes and physical attacks can brutalise young teenagers, McGregor insisted violent scenes deterred rather than encouraged.

He defended the controversial Belgian film Man Bites Dog, which was banned in Sweden and Australia.

The movie is a pseudo-documentary following a serial killer during a sex, maiming and murder spree. He said: "I remember with Man Bites Dog I was so appalled. That’s what the film-makers wanted you to be. That surely is the message, right?

"It’s so powerful that it’s distressing and disturbing enough to do its job - an anti-violent statement by showing extreme violence. By taking things out of things, you lessen the impact."

Despite his family status and his roles in the Star Wars films, the actor has no inhibitions about nude film work and has shed his clothes for passionate clinches with Kelly Macdonald in Trainspotting, Cameron Diaz in A Life Less Ordinary and Nicole Kidman in the Oscar-nominated Moulin Rouge.

He has also played a bisexual translator in the arthouse film The Pillow Book.

Scotland almost lost out on Young Adam following speculation the film’s producers were going to shoot it in Ireland. Rivalry between Scotland and Ireland was sparked when the Dublin government persuaded Mel Gibson to take filming of his blockbuster Braveheart across the Irish Sea in 1994.

But McGregor pushed for it to be filmed in Scotland and was said to be delighted when David Mackenzie, the film’s director, plumped for filming north of the Border. The Irish government had offered tax concessions for the film’s producers, the Recorded Picture Company, to take the production to Dublin.

McGregor’s interview will be shown on FilmFour on Saturday, April 13 launching a season of his films.

Source: The Scotsman

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, March 23, 2002 // 10:48 p.m.

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Random tidbit from the the Daily Record:

WHO'S BUS SPOTTING?

Mar 20 2002

HUNKY actor Ewan McGregor was more drizzle than sizzle as he filmed his new movie in Glasgow yesterday.

The Star Wars hero, who shot to fame in Trainspotting, has been cast in yet another X-rated role in the film Young Adam, set mainly on canals between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

But yesterday, there was no hint of the film's erotic plot as he filmed scenes for the 1950s period drama on a traditional Glasgow double- decker bus while the rain lashed down for most of the day.

A movie insider said: "The scenes were very realistic. The weather could have been better but it set an authentic tone."

Thanks to Aleta for passing this along.

Posted by ewanspotting.com on Friday, March 22, 2002 // 10:08 a.m.

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"Hello!" Poll back on!

Because Darius Danesh fans were proven to be cheating, Hello magazine has reset their monthly poll and have made it so we can only vote once a day, which will be far less disruptive on our daily lives.

So, please Vote for Ewan once a day!

www.hellomagazine.com/vote/mostattractiveman/month

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, March 20, 2002 // 07:17 a.m.

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£1M BOOST TO NEW HOSPICE FOR KIDS

Mar 16 2002

SCOTLAND'S second children's hospice came a step closer yesterday with a £1million boost.

The Scottish Executive pledged £500,000 towards the building of a new hospice at Balloch, near Loch Lomond, along with £500,000 to help run it in the first two years.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm delivered the goods news for terminally or chronically ill children and their families.

He said the existing Rachel House hospice at Kinross in Fife, which Daily Record readers helped to pay for, provided a valuable service. The Children's Hospice Association Scotland are seeking permission from West Dunbartonshire Council for the second hospice.

Chisholm explained: "As well as providing expert respite care for children with life-threatening or terminal illnesses, Rachel House offers much-needed support to their families.

"I am delighted the Executive is able to provide financial backing to help this project and other families who find themselves in the dreadful position of caring for a desperately ill child.

"Rachel House is a place where children are able to enjoy new opportunities while their carers enjoy a well-earned break and the high standards show just what can be delivered."

Health boards and councils are responsible for providing respite care in their areas and already pay an annual grant to use the services of Rachel House.

The hospice, which opened in 1996, provides respite and emergency care for children and young people aged up to 19 and their families.

It offers up to 21 nights of respite care each year, free of charge to families, with increased provision at times of crisis.

Scottish stars such as Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri and Hollywood actor Ewan McGregor have done their bit to help the CHAS appeal for the second hospice.

Ewan donated proceeds from the Scots premiere of Moulin Rouge to the fund.

But CHAS have experienced difficulties in getting permission to build the Loch Lomondside hospice.

The local community council claim the site on Lerdrisbeg Farm is unsuitable because of problems with traffic, access and encroachment on a proposed National Park area.

Resident Robert Findlay caused outrage by saying the hospice would "degrade" the area and claimed a golf course would be an enhancement.

However, West Dunbartonshire councillor Margaret McGregor is in favour, saying the site is ideal.

Source: The Daily Record

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, March 17, 2002 // 11:05 p.m.

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EWAN IS A SECRET POP STAR

EXCLUSIVE 1
Brendan Mcginty

ACTOR Ewan McGregor has made an album of his own songs - but is refusing to release it.

The Scots star secretly recorded a clutch of new tracks with top producer and composer Marius De Vries.

The Crieff-born star of Moulin Rouge reached the top 30 last year with Come What May, from the hit film. But he has made it clear the album is for his ears only.

Ewan's spokeswoman said: "He's never going to release an album, but he has been recording stuff for himself.

"He does it for his own listening pleasure. He said at the Cannes film festival last year that he was going to do an album called Soapstars. He keeps getting offers, but he won't be putting it out."

Ewan also hinted about collaborating with his favourite artists in Scotland.

Music industry expert Gennaro Castaldo, of HMV, said: "With an artist like Ewan the sky would be the limit.

Assuming the music was accessible and that he was prepared to do the promotional work, he would be a success. Ewan is extremely bankable and he has proved he has a brilliant voice with his singing in Moulin Rouge.

"Maybe he could put the album out for charity - he is committed to the Childrens' Hospice in Scotland."

Ewan met De Vries while working on Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman and the pair have been close ever since, with De Vries inviting the star to work with him in his Cambridge base.

De Vries has worked with big names such as Massive Attack and Bjork.

Source: Sunday Mail

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, March 14, 2002 // 05:40 p.m.

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MCGREGOR REFUSES TO RELEASE ALBUM, BUT APPEARS IN MUSIC MAG

...but he's a willing horn star

Sophie Vokes-Dudgeon

SCREEN heart-throb Ewan McGregor proves he has a real brass neck - byappearing on the cover of music lovers' mag, The Horn.

The Star Wars actor is an accomplished French horn player and has given theinstrument some much-needed street cred.

So he was the obvious choice for the cover of The Horn, the monthly magazine of the British Horn Society.

The latest issue shows a picture of Ewan as a teenager in mid-blow - complete with embarrassing 80s hair-do.

Ewan learned how to play the horn during his school days at Morrison Academy, in Crieff, and was an integral part of the school orchestra.

Nick Compton, an old pal of Ewan's, said: "His brother Colin was the trumpet player - the glamour role - so Ewan ended up on the French horn. He was quite good at it."

Ewan, who starred in the 1996 band comedy Brassed Off, is happy to help raise thepopularity of the instrument because he was actively dissuaded from following his interest in music when he was at school.

He said: "I had a great love for music and art, but teachers don't let you do that. They think you're copping out. They said I had to do chemistry and maths."

Source: Sunday Mail

Thank you Alyse for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, March 14, 2002 // 05:39 p.m.

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Radiohead and Ewan McGregor help fight Third World poverty

Story filed: 10:06 Wednesday 13th March 2002

Radiohead and Ewan McGregor are taking part in an advert for the anti-poverty charity War On Want.

The advert will be launched today as part of the charity's Tobin Tax Day.

The charity wants a tax introduced on currency speculation.

War On Want claims currency speculation by Western speculators destabilises the economies of developing countries.

The charity is asking for a tax of a fraction of one per cent to calm currency markets and raise funds for development, NME.COM reports.

The advert is expected to be shown in an edited form in cinemas nationwide, with the original version streamed on the charity's website, www.waronwant.org.

You can view Ewan's ad here (MPG, 6MB) Warning: the ad is very graphic.

Source: Ananova

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, March 13, 2002 // 07:48 a.m.

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£1.8M BID TO BE BIG NAME IN MOVIES

Mar 9 2002

Ewan MacGregor with actresses Tilda Swinton (l) and Emily Mortimer (r)
Photo from BBC News

HOLLYWOOD heart-throb Ewan McGregor yesterday launched a £1.8million bid to turn Glasgow into the new Hollywood.

The Trainspotting and Star Wars actor kicked off a five-year campaign to attract big- budget films to the city.

The Scot - who starts filming Young Adam in the city on Friday - was at the Glasgow Film Office.

Forty-three productions, including 24 feature films, have spent £36million in the city since the GFO was set up in 1997.

GFO director Lenny Crooks said it will support big-budget and local movies and TV productions.

The initiative is being backed by the Scottish Executive and Scottish Enterprise and aims to boost the city's economy.

Scottish Enterprise Glasgow chief executive Ron Culley said: "Famous cities like New York and San Francisco have featured in many movies and hopefully Glasgow can do the same."

Culture Minister Mike Watson added: "GFO has taken great strides in recent years and has been a tremendous success. I hope that continues."

Source: Daily Record

Thank you Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, March 9, 2002 // 12:28 a.m.

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Moulin Rouge gets Oscars boost

Monday, 4 March, 2002, 11:00 GMT

Moulin Rouge: Back in the Oscars race? Hit musical Moulin Rouge has received a boost for its Oscar hopes with the award of a prize from the Producers Guild of America.

The Baz Luhrmann-directed film, which starred Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, was named the best film of the year.

In the last 12 years nine movies honoured by the Producers' Guild have gone on to win best picture at the Academy Awards - including Gladiator in 2001 and American Beauty in 2000.

The boost for the musical may have come at a good time, as Baz Luhrmann was not nominated for an Academy Award for direction.

Many observers have started to see the Oscars as a race between top-nominated The Lord of the Rings and A Beautiful Mind - which received eight nominations, as did Moulin Rouge.

Oscar share

But the antics of A Beautiful Mind's star Russell Crowe after the UK's Baftas - when he berated a TV producer for editing out a poem he read out on accepting an award - may have damaged his Oscar prospects.

If Moulin Rouge is named best picture at the Oscars on 24 March, Luhrmann will still take a share in an Oscar as one of the movies' three producers, despite the lack of a director's nomination.

The film's other producers were Fred Baron and Martin Brown.

Kidman was the only Moulin Rouge actor to receive an Oscar nomination, following her January Golden Globe for her lead role in the film.

Other winners announced by the Producer's Guild at Sunday's Los Angeles ceremony were The West Wing for TV drama, Sex And The City for TV comedy and Band Of Brothers for TV mini-series.

Source: BBC News

Thank you Chris for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Monday, March 4, 2002 // 11:38 a.m.

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Vote for Ewan

He can't help it. Ewan is just too handsome! He keeps showing up in Hello! Magazine's Most Attractive Man Poll!

This time around, Ewan is up against Darius Danesh, Enrique Iglesias and Prince Felipe of Spain. You can vote every 5 minutes. The poll runs all month.

www.hellomagazine.com/vote/mostattractiveman/month/

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, March 3, 2002 // 09:30 a.m.

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Ewan brings dynasty to the screen

The Herald (United Kingdom); Feb 20, 2002

EWAN McGregor and Denis Lawson, his actor uncle, are filming in Edinburgh.

Along with Ruth Miller, their leading lady, the Scottish acting dynasty were in Stockbridge yesterday for a five-day shoot of Solid Geometry.

The 30-minute film, written and directed by Lawson, is based on a short story by Ian McEwan about a young couple who live happily in Edinburgh until the husband inherits his great-grandfather's nineteenth-century diaries and becomes obsessed with editing them, to the detriment of the relationship.

It is the first time McGregor, the star of Star Wars, Moulin Rouge and other movie hits, has worked with his uncle on screen, although they have previously worked together in the theatre, with Lawson directing in the acclaimed production of Little Malcolm and his Struggle against theEunuchs.

The film project is one of the New Found Land projects for 2002 from SMG, publishers of The Herald, in association with Scottish Screen.

Gill Parry, the film's producer, last night declined to comment on the work.


Source: Financial Times


Thank you Perditum for the heads up!

Posted by Best of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, February 26, 2002 // 12:49 p.m.

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Ewan lobbies US stateswoman over circus animals

Story filed: 18:24 Wednesday 20th February 2002

Ewan McGregor has written to a leading US stateswoman to plead for the release of seven Arctic polar bears which he claims are being ill-treated at a circus.

The star has written to US Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton on behalf of the UK-based charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), to ask for the animals to be taken away from a travelling circus in Puerto Rico.

Ewan became interested in polar bears last year when he was asked to host a BBC documentary called The Bear Facts.

He spent weeks in a freezing Canadian town to see what happens when polar bears look for food.

In the letter to Ms Norton, he said he was "appalled" the animals had been forced to live in "deplorable conditions" at the circus. He said he believed the US Fish and Wildlife Service should confiscate the bears, which are travelling with a Mexican-based circus.

Peta says the circus was recently charged with cruelty to animals by Puerto Rico's department of natural resources, which found during an inspection that the bears were living in dirty cages without water.

The letter read: "As a willing performer who was fortunate to host a documentary on polar bears, I find it appalling that such intelligent animals are forced to live in deplorable conditions.

"Polar bears are intelligent animals who are specially adapted to freezing weather conditions. To imagine their current plight with a tropical circus, layer on your heaviest winter clothing and spend all day outside on a hot, steamy day."

He went on: "I have every confidence that this abysmal mistreatment of the great white bears is in violation of federal laws and that you will make the humane, responsible decision to remove them from a situation that causes them great suffering."

Peta has offered to cover the cost of relocating the bears and said the American Zoo and Aquarium Association had offer