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Ewan
News
All the Latest. 24/7
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News Archive
January - June 2003
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Young Adam soundtrack
David Byrne, who was born in Scotland, assembled musicians
from Glasgow — including members of Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai,
the Reindeer Section and Future Pilot AKA — to record his
score for the upcoming film "Young Adam," an adaptation of
a novel by Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi that's
directed by David Mackenzie and starring Ewan McGregor and
Tilda Swinton. An album drawn from the score and titled "Lead
Us Not Into Temptation" will be released in the fall by Thrill
Jockey Records. Byrne won an Academy Award as co-composer
of the score for the 1987 movie "The Last Emperor."
Source: Los
Angeles Times
Thank you Perditum for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Monday, June 30, 2003 // 07:36
a.m.
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Down With Love DVD release date
JUNE 25, 2003
By Peter M. Bracke
Leading off today's news are a number of new street
date announcements from Fox Home Entertainment. September
16th will see the release of the recent box office disappointment Down
with Love.
Source: DVDFILE.com
Thank you Stefanie for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Friday, June 27, 2003 // 08:05
a.m.
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A short time from now, in a studio very near
at hand...
By Garry Maddox, Film Writer
June 27 2003
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| Last wars... Hayden Christensen, Rick McCallum,
George Lucas, Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor are
ready to complete the Star Wars saga. Photo: Merrick
Morton |
The main cast is back in Sydney. A 1000-strong crew is
hard at work. And director George Lucas has finished the
script.
The final episode in the Star Wars saga is about to
start filming at Fox Studios.
The producer, Rick McCallum, said yesterday that Episode
III would be shot almost entirely inside the studios
from next Monday. The main shoot would take 12 weeks, with
Lucas returning for additional filming over the next 18 months.
The only shooting outside Sydney would be some plate photography
- for visual effects - in Italy, New Zealand and Switzerland.
The $US115 million ($172 million) film has yet to get a title
but covers Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side to become
Darth Vader - completing the six-film saga that began with Star
Wars in 1977.
The tone of the new episode would be "dark" - McCallum joked
that it saw the young Jedi turn "from a sweet youth into
a producer". But he declined to say exactly why Anakin turns
into one of cinema's greatest villains.
"Let's put it this way, that's what drives this film."
Episode III will use 60 Australian cast members and
up to 300 extras. As well as returning cast members Joel
Edgerton and Jay Laga'aia, there are roles for Bruce
Spence, Rebecca Jackson Mendoza and Genevieve O'Reilly.
Also back are Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie
Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits and Christopher Lee, SPOILER
- highlight to read - while Peter
Mayhew plays Chewbacca for the first time since Return of
the Jedi. END SPOILER
"It's a huge picture and, under today's standards, it's a pretty
moderately budgeted film," McCallum said. "But they're a lot of fun to make."
For Episode II, Lucas finished the script only three
days before shooting started. This time around, he finished
with five days to spare.
"I think they're always tough for him to write," McCallum said. "Especially
this one, because it has to tie everything up from the prequels to the original
trilogy. And you've got really big themes and issues in this one - how and
why Anakin turns into Darth Vader."
The last episode contained two scenes with an Australian
flavour - some kangaroo-like animals and a podium shaped
like the Opera House. McCallum described them as homages
to the country and said more could be expected this time
round.
After shooting in 40 countries in 13 years, the producer
of the last three Star Wars films said Sydney was
the easiest place in the world to make a film, partly because
of the strong acting and film-making talent.
"There's no bullshit, no problems, everybody is so enthusiastic and not
at all litigious."
Source: Sydney
Morning Herald
Thank you ParisRouge for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Friday, June 27, 2003 // 07:46
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A Ewan spotting in Sydney from donkey.com.au:
EWAN SPOTTED!
Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge, Stars Wars etc)
popped in to see a preview of the current show at Darlinghurst
Theatre, "Uncle Vanya". He stuck around to have a drink
with the cast - and joined the Theatre's email list
which suggests he may become a regular at the theatre.
The Chechov play opened June 19 with a cast including Maeliosa
Stafford in the lead role.
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Posted by ewanspotting.com on
Friday, June 27, 2003 // 12:42 a.m.
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Stars of the wars move in
26jun03
NATALIE, Hayden, Ewan, our own Joel and the bright
newcomer Genevieve O'Reilly have all been summoned to
assemble at Fox Studios on Monday for the first official
day of shooting Star Wars: Episode III.
Work on set construction and costume making has been going
on for months now, leaving only the security to settle in.
And in view of the fact that this final episode of the trilogy
is set to reveal a few secrets, the security, as you would
expect, will be top-level. Although reports are it will not
be "in your face intrusive or very obvious".
Ewan McGregor will be allowed out on August 6, however,
to walk down the red carpet in Sydney with Down With Love co-stars
David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) and Sarah Paulson (What
Women Want).
Top billed Renée Zellweger in the Rock Hudson-Doris
Day tribute flick has also been asked to come out.
Organisers are still waiting to hear her say yes. They're
hoping that since she hasn't yet said no, she'll
take the opportunity to revisit her relatives out here.
Her dad, now a Texan, was a member of the Cronulla Surf Club,
and a picture of him in action still hangs on the club's
walls.
Source: The
Daily Telegraph
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 // 11:31
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Full celebrity lineup expected this September
PETER HOWELL
MOVIE CRITIC
Jun. 25, 2003. 07:33 AM
The SARS epidemic is over, as far as the Toronto International
Film Festival and its coterie of celebrities are concerned.
Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Denys Arcand, Robert Altman,
Marie-Josée Croze, Marci Gay Harden, Emmanuelle Béart, Ewan
McGregor and many other stars are expected to attend the
city's annual cinema celebration, scheduled for Sept.
4-13.
Festival chief Piers Handling said yesterday that barring
unforeseen setbacks, he's confident this year's
festival will suffer no ill effects from the city's
ordeal with severe acute respiratory syndrome.
"It looks as if the serious part of the crisis is now behind us," Handling said,
speaking at the fest's annual June press announcement, held this year at
the Carlu, the restored art deco theatre at College Park.
"And I would imagine that two months from now you'll see a Toronto Film
Festival that features the same kinds of films, the same size of films and the
same calibre of actors and talent supporting those films."
Handling said he has just returned from a trip to Los Angeles,
and he detected no serious concerns about SARS from the film
studio executives he spoke with — although many celebrities
have steered clear of Toronto during the recent SARS outbreak.
"Nobody is scratching their heads and saying, `We're really worried about
sending films to Toronto,'" Handing said.
"If I had a sense that people were not sending their films to Toronto because
of this particular issue, I'd certainly be on the phone absolutely wanting
to clarify that, putting our point of view forward. To be honest, I haven't
had to do that."
To prove the point, Handling announced some of the films
to screen at this year's festival, with their stars
in attendance, including four gala presentations at Roy Thomson
Hall:
(read full list by going to the site - link at the bottom)
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's controversial Depression
drama Dogville, starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Ben
Gazzara, James Caan and Philip Baker Hall, will also get
the gala treatment, as von Trier ships his minimalist style
and America-baiting attitudes to this continent. The film's
stars are expected to be here but not von Trier, who is afraid
of flying.
Twelve titles from the popular Contemporary World Cinema
program were announced, including several films that made
a splash at Cannes: Bent Hamer's Kitchen Stories, David
Mackenzie's Young Adam (starring Ewan McGregor and
Tilda Swinton), Roger Michell's The Mother and Sedigh
Barmak's Osama. Another Cannes entry, Hector Babenco's
prison drama Carandiru, has been added to the New Brazilian
Cinema spotlight in the National Cinema program, which this
year focuses on Brazil.
"Were you that desperate this year that you had to invite me again?" Arcand
quipped to Handling.
The version of The Barbarian Invasions seen here will be
slightly shorter (10 to 15 minutes) and slightly different
from the one currently playing in Quebec. It will also be
slightly different from the version that had its world premiere
at Cannes, because Arcand keeps tinkering with the film.
"People seem to like better the shorter version," Arcand said. "It's a work
in progress."
Handling called 2003 "a transition year" for the festival,
and no new programs will be added, or other major changes
made.
He held fast to his insistence that SARS won't hurt
the festival in terms of either content or attendance, pointing
out that sister festival Sprockets, aimed at children, actually
increased its attendance during the height of the first SARS
scare.
He acknowledged that the festival does have a contingency
plan in case SARS returns, although he declined to give details.
But he added that he and his staff have weathered many crises
during his decade at the helm, including the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001, which occurred halfway through that year's
event.
"We've had to deal with a potential projectionists' strike, potential
transit strikes, Air Canada strikes, 9/11 ... we're a festival that's
been through a fair bit since I've been the director. So we're used
to emergency planning. If something happened, we'd be ready for it."
Handling said that he was caught unawares by a move by rival
festival the Montreal World Film Festival, which changed
its dates this year to the detriment of other festivals.
As it stands now, Montreal's festival will run from
Aug. 27 to Sept. 7, putting it directly in competition with
Venice (Aug. 27 to Sept. 16) and partially in conflict with
Toronto (Sept. 4-13).
Toronto and Venice officials have complained to the International
Federation of Film Producers' Association (FIAPF), a
Paris-based group that regulates film festivals. The federation
responded by stripping Montreal of its A-grade status, meaning
its prizes will no longer have international status.
More significantly, films and talent in Montreal may not
be able to make it to Toronto's fest. Handling expressed
annoyance at Montreal's move, taken without consultation
with the federation or with other festivals. Montreal organizers
cite both precedent and the right to self-determination as
giving them the authority to set their own show dates.
"I think it's a little surprising to have two major festival overlapping
in the same country," he said. "Just in terms of press attention, etc., you can't
be in both places at the same time."
But will Montreal's action really hurt Toronto, which
is by far the more popular festival?
"Not at all," Handling said.
The Toronto festival box office opens for VISA cardholders
July 14, with walk-up sales beginning July 21. More details
of today's announcement are available by clicking http://www.bell.ca/filmfest
or calling (416) 968-FILM.
Source: Toronto
Star
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 // 08:01
a.m.
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Did Catcher Block court Barbara Novak for over
a year?
June 21st, 2003
by Claude Marcotte
The magazine National Geographic is featured prominently
during Down With Love. I noticed the covers of the
two issues shown during the film and, out of curiosity, started
researching them in The Complete National Geographic,
which contains all the issues of the magazine ever published
on CD-ROMs.
The first issue is shown when Barbara and Vicki are in front
of a newsstand. It features a white and pink bird on a white
background. It is the February 1962 issue:
It makes sense because the film is set in 1962 and the issue,
being on a newsstand would mean it is the current issue.
Let's not mention the fact that everyone is not dressed
for a New York winter during the outdoor scenes ;-) or the
possible fact that National Geographic was not available
on newsstands back then, only by subscription (does anyone
know if NG was available on newsstands back then?).
The second issue is shown when Catcher is sitting on Peter's
living room sofa after Peter has called him to taste the
sauce for a meal he's preparing for Vicki. Ewan is so
handsome and distracting that I had trouble remembering what
was on the cover so it took me several viewing to pinpoint
it. ;-)
It turns out that it's the May 1963 issue:
So... did they court for over a year? What a lucky woman
Barbara is!
Yes, I know it's probably an error on the part of the
people handling the props for the film, but it's fun
to speculate!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Saturday, June 21, 2003 // 11:27
p.m.
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Ewan not in Flora Plum?
According to Yahoo
Movies, Jodie Foster revealed this week (as reported
by "Variety") that Russell Crowe is back aboard as the
star again, as was originally planned.
Ewan had signed on to replace Crowe late last year.
Thank you Paris Rouge for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 // 05:10
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New Ewan JT Roots commercial
JT
Roots has released another canned coffee commercial in
Japan featuring Ewan. Let's hope the full commercial
becomes available online in the near future!
Thank you Georginita for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 // 07:05
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Studio evolves from 'Ice Age' to 'Robots'
Posted 6/9/2003 10:34 PM
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY
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| Ewan McGregor voices Rodney the robot. |
Chris Wedge got the wacky cartoon animals out of his system.
Now he's moving on to not-so-heavy metal.
Last year, the director of 20th Century Fox's computer-animated Ice
Age cracked more than $176 million at the box office,
nabbed an Oscar nomination with his first feature and gave
the genre-dominating Disney and DreamWorks a run for their
family-movie bucks.
How does he top the frigid antics of Manny the mammoth, Sid
the sloth and that nutty squirrel-rat Scrat? The co-founder
of Blue Sky Studios, the award-winning digital-animation
company bought by Fox six years ago, has built a universe
completely inhabited by mechanical people.
Wedge offers this exclusive first look at Robots,
due in March 2005. He describes the humorous collaboration
with children's book author and illustrator William
Joyce (Rolie Polie Olie) as "colorful, whimsical,
clanky and fun."
Joyce's stories "have a golden era of Hollywood nostalgia
to them," Wedge says. "The robots aren't futuristic
or spacey transformers. They ooze personality and personify
objects that we know in our world, whether a car, an outboard
motor or a washing machine."
The voice cast includes Ewan McGregor as a young robot
named Rodney, "who grows up on the outskirts of a huge metropolis
and wants to work with the most influential character in
the city, an inventor," Wedge says.
Halle Berry is Cappy, the hot executive 'bot who catches
Rodney's eye. Stanley Tucci and Dianne Wiest speak for
Rodney's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Copperbottom. Mel Brooks
is the inventor known as Big Weld. Drew Carey and Amanda
Bynes are part of the Rusties, a gang of obsolete robots.
In Robots, "People are judged by what they are made
of," Wedge says. "Many themes weave in and out that comment
on the state of our technical snowballing and upgrading.
We're not looking at what we've left behind."
The White Plains, N.Y.-based Blue Sky, which produced the
Oscar-winning short Bunny in 1998, may have hit the big time
but remains small and scrappy. While Wedge has a budget beyond Ice
Age's estimated $60 million, "it's still far
below the films that people compare us to," meaning other
digitally animated hits like Finding Nemo or Shrek.
But while money constraints led to Ice Age having
a stylized look, the director vows that Robots will
be more realistic. "We don't want it to look like animation,
but to feel as if you went to a fantastic place and shot
a film there."
While cranking out a feature, Blue Sky makes do with a cozy
crew of up to 200, far fewer than those employed by competitors.
Chris Meledandri, president of Fox animation who just signed
Wedge to a five-year deal, says Wedge and his team "are incredibly
gifted at finding the sharp, relatable comedy in any situation."
Wedge hasn't totally put talking animals on ice, however.
He is co-producing a sequel to Ice Age and the original's
popular breakout, the nut-obsessing Scrat, could go solo.
Says the man who sniffs, scratches and screeches for the
jittery critter, "There is new Scrat potential out there."
Source: USA
Today
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
CGI 'Ice' Makers Program 'Robots'
Tue Jun 10, 3:32 AM ET
By Chris Gardner
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - 20th Century Fox, Blue
Sky Studios and director Chris Wedge -- the trio behind last
year's computer-animated hit "Ice Age" --- have announced
another joint effort with the CGI project "Robots."
Although it was officially unveiled Monday night in New York
at the American Museum of Natural History's Imax Theater
in conjunction with Licensing International 2003, the project
is already in production with a scheduled March 11, 2005,
release.
Several actors have closed deals to lend their voices to
the animated film, including Halle Berry, Ewan McGregor,
Mel Brooks, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent ("Little Voice"), Stanley
Tucci ("A Life Less Ordinary"), Dianne Wiest, D.L. Hughley,
Jamie Kennedy and Harland Williams. Some of them have already
spent time in the recording studio.
Mattel, Burger King, Kellogg's, Keebler, Hewlett-Packard,
HarperCollins and Vivendi Universal Games have signed on
as promotional partners for the film's release.
Set in a world composed entirely of robots -- designed
by William Joyce ("Rolie Polie Olie") -- the Lowell Ganz-
and Babaloo Mandel-scripted project centers on Rodney Copperbottom
(McGregor), a young genius inventor who dreams of making
the world a better place.
Berry voices Cappy, a sexy executive rebot with whom Rodney
is instantly smitten. Other lead voices include the nefarious
corporate tyrant Ratchet (yet to be cast), who locks horns
with Rodney, and Big Weld (Brooks), a master inventor who
has lost his way. Other characters include a group of misfit
robots known as the Rusties.
"The story has real heart but is also extremely clever and really funny," Fox
animation president Chris Meledandri said. "It's not futuristic and is not
science fiction; it's a far more complex movie to make than 'Ice Age' with
the creation of this entire world that appears as though someone just took a
camera and found this world with an imagery that is so unique and compelling."
Wedge made his directorial debut on the prehistoric-themed "Ice
Age" and is also well-known for his Oscar-winning short film "Bunny."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Source: Yahoo
News
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 // 07:10
a.m.
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Fish story may hook us
Louis B. Hobson, Special to the Free Press
2003-06-08
Ewan McGregor promises that Tim Burton's new movie, Big
Fish, will be quite a catch this Christmas. "It's
a sea fable. Albert Finney is this old sea-salt storyteller
who's dying. He's never really connected with
his son, who's played by Billy Crudup," says McGregor,
who is currently in Australia filming the final chapter
of the new Star Wars trilogy.
"To try to understand his father, the son gets his dad to tell him some of his
tall tales. The audience gets to see them unfold and I play the young Albert
Finney in those stories."
McGregor says, "This is not a Sleepy Hollow kind of
Tim Burton movie. It's not special effects-heavy, but
it is a funny, sad, outrageous kind of movie."
Burton assembled quite an all-star supporting cast, including
Jessica Lange as Finney's wife, his own girlfriend Helena
Bonham Carter as all the women in the tall tales and Danny
DeVito, Robert Guillaume, Alison Lohman and Steve Buscemi
in cameo roles.
McGregor says once he finishes Star Wars: Episode III,
he could begin work on Jodie Foster's long-delayed project Flora
Plum.
Set in the 1930s, Claire Danes would play a street urchin
who is befriended by a circus freak. He falls in love with
her, but she soon becomes a major star.
McGregor will play the circus freak, a role that belonged
to Russell Crowe for a brief time two years ago.
"Flora Plum is apparently happening right after Star Wars, but
Jodie says it's not fully green-lit yet," McGregor says.
Source: London
(Ontario) Free Press
Thank you Specs for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, June 8, 2003 // 07:54
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Faster trailer online
MotoGrandPrix.com has
an incredible trailer for the motorbike-racing film, Faster,
that Ewan narrated. Incredible shots and spectacular accidents
abound. Right-click on the link to save the video.
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, June 5, 2003 // 07:45
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 Family
Life Tames Ewan McGregor
June 5 2003
From John Hiscock in New York
He is a man who has had honours, wealth, fame and some
very glamorous women thrown at him.
Yet actor Ewan McGregor wants to make it clear where his
heart lies.
"I had my bachelor years like everyone else but I have never been a serial shagnasty," he
says with a grin. "I never went out with three or four women at the same time.
"When you're a young man, you want to have a lot of sex and when you're
an older man you want to be in love. I am very much in love. The things that
make me happy are my family and my wife, and my work."
Two years ago, with his wife of eight years Ève Mavrakis
pregnant with their second child, there were rumours that
the handsome Scot was becoming very close with co-star Nicole
Kidman on the set of Moulin Rouge.
But 32-year-old Ewan says his wife is the true love of his
life and nothing could tempt him away.
The actor and the French production designer met while they
were working on an episode of the TV series Kavanagh QC and
now have two daughters, Clara, seven, and 18-month-old Esther.
"I realise the family is what matters," he says. "I am not interested in all
the other stuff because I don't think it leads you to contentment.
"Fame and celebrity is a shallow and empty thing because you'll never wake
up being famous enough - you'll never wake up feeling satisfied and thinking 'I've
done it, I'm really famous' because you'll never be famous enough.
"You'll never be the best.
"I get my satisfaction from getting up in the morning, looking forward to going
to work and coming home to my family, happy that I've done my best work
during the day and seeing my kids and being with my wife. That makes me truly
happy.
"I've never had my happiest moments wearing fantastic clothes at someone
else's premiere or a showbiz party.
"I've had my happiest moments watching my children playing together."
Ewan rarely gives interviews but when he does he is friendly,
modest and willing to frankly divulge his innermost thoughts
on family, fame and celebrity.
Dressed in a dark shirt and suit, sipping water and relaxing
at the posh Regency Hotel on New York's Park Avenue,
he would have been equally at ease in Clancy's bar down
the street.
STRANGELY, Ewan, who has wowed such glamorous co-stars as
Cameron Diaz and Kidman, claims that in real life he was
never that successful with women.
In his latest film, Down With Love, he plays suave bachelor
Catcher Block, alongside Renée Zellweger. Block is
a man who uses any trick he can to seduce the woman he wants.
"I was never like him," says Ewan. Then, pausing a moment, he admits: "But I'm
an actor so I suppose I was quite good at toying with ladies' emotions to
get them into my bed."
For example? "Oh, I can't remember any specific
instances," he laughs. "Certainly not ones I'm going
to share with you..."
Turning serious, he adds: "But you realise that kind of stuff
doesn't lead you anywhere because you get found out
and it makes people unhappy.
"It doesn't work, so you reach the point where you realise that honesty
is the only attractive thing at the end of the day."
He and Ève have worked hard to achieve a balance in
their relationship and take their responsibilities as parents
seriously, in a bid to ensure their children are brought
up to be well-behaved.
"We don't have an old-fashioned relationship where I come home and my dinner
is on the table," he says. "But at the same time we don't have an ultra-modern
one, where we're ultra-liberal and let our kids do what they want.
"No, there is discipline. I got a really good upbringing from my parents and
I try to treat my daughters in a similar way to how I was treated.
"There are people we know who have no rules for their kids and allow them to
do anything because they think they should be free.
"But that really annoys me. When you get covered in food because some five-year-old
is throwing it in your face, it's your right to tell them to stop."
Ève is currently taking time off from designing to be a full-time mother.
But she has also adapted a French screenplay into English for a film thriller
called For The Love Of Art, although Ewan doubts it will ever be produced.
"My wife said to me, 'Do you know who I'd really like to play the detective?'" he
recalls. "I said, 'Who, darling?' knowing it would be me. And she
said 'Johnny Depp!'" Laughing, he adds. "I said, 'Thank you very
much. That's nice'.
"But there's some dark stuff going on - probably too dark for anyone who
makes films - so maybe we should do it as a home movie with our friends."
His last attempt at making movies with his friends was not
a great success.
Natural Nylon, formed with Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Sean Pertwee
and Jonny Lee Miller, to make quality, low-budget films,
folded soon after he left, amid rumours of behind-the-scenes
rows over finances and the films being produced.
"There was no animosity," Ewan stresses. "None at all.
"I left because I didn't have any time to commit to it any more. I was always
away working, so I was merely a name on a bit of paper. I wasn't involved
in any of the decisions or projects and hadn't been for a year.
"I haven't been in Britain for more than six months so I haven't been
in touch with any of the guys there."
The Trainspotting star's next project - in just a couple
of weeks - will be donning the robes of Obi-Wan Kenobi once
more for the final Star Wars film.
Ewan has never been very enthusiastic about the series and
knows nothing about the next one, even though he is only
days away from going back on to the set.
"I still haven't read the script because they haven't sent me one," he
says. "They claim not to have written it yet, so that doesn't bode well.
I'm afraid that I can't be excited about it because I don't know
what it's about or anything. I'm not a Star Wars buff.
"There are some fans who could tell us now what the story will be because they've
worked it out.
"But all I can imagine is there will be a big fight at the end between me and
Hayden Christensen. And that's good because I like all the fighting - it
gives me something to do."
Ewan's PR tour for Down With Love will take him back
to Hollywood, a place he used to detest but has now come
to terms with.
"I've realised that the things that frustrated me about Hollywood are the
same everywhere else," he said. "There's the same A-lists and B-lists in
London and the same stuff goes on. But you can be a party to it or not."
For Ewan, though, it is clear that his heart is not in the
Hollywood Hills or at swanky London clubs, but very much
at home.
Source: The
Mirror
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, June 5, 2003 // 07:28
a.m.
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Down With Love in theatres
now!
Support this stylish, hilarious, clever, and fun film now
before it's too late! Spread the word about Down
With Love! |
Posted by ewanspotting.com on
Tuesday, June 3, 2003 // 11:21 a.m.
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Don't wait to see Down With Love!
After two weeks in theaters, Down With Love has
started disappearing from many cinemas, thanks to the questionable
marketing "genius" of Twentieth Century Fox. In order to
make room for the usual summer blockbusters: X-men, The
Matrix, Daddy Day Care, Finding Nemo and Bruce Almighty,
cinemas have dropped Down With Love.
Down With Love has gotten excellent reviews yet Fox
threw it to the wolves, at the worst possible time of the
year for a film like this. Counter-programming against one
film is fine, but against 5 big films, it just got lost in
the shuffle. What were they thinking? Were they
thinking???
The marketing campaign started well: the paper dolls, the
funky martini glasses, but then it went downhill. Fox forgot
to secure the "downwithlove.com" domain name and a squatter
purchased it, hoping to get big bucks out of Fox. Well, Fox
wouldn't budge, the squatter posted negative things
on the site. Nice going, Fox! (Here's some free advice:
you buy the domain name as soon as you start production!)
Then the trailer came out and at the end it announced the
official site: down-with-love.com. Except the site wasn't
ready. It took a few months before it was actually up. Nice
going, Fox!
So, if you want to see it, hurry. In two weeks I managed
to see it 4 times. I was looking forward to seeing it all
summer. Nice going, Fox.
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, June 1, 2003 // 10:01
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Terrific Young Adam review
All of the promise that was evident in Scottish helmer
David Mackenzie's flawed freshman feature, "The Last
Great Wilderness" (2002), is richly achieved in his second
pic, "Young Adam," a resonant, beautifully modulated relationships
drama set amid the canals and gray stone buildings of early '50s
Scotland. Strongly cast, with an especially fine perf by
Ewan McGregor as an amoral drifter caught up in a couple's
passionless marriage, this gently atmospheric pic establishes
Mackenzie as an accessible stylist within mid-range contempo
British cinema. Film looks set for a long fest career, with
moderately warm biz in upscale venues on the back of strong
critical support.
Script is based on a novel by Scottish-Italian writer Alexander
Trocchi, a bohemian, Beat Generation figure who grew up in
Glasgow, got involved in the Paris literary avant-garde,
and in 1955 moved to New York. He became a serious heroin
addict and (like his characters in "Young Adam") lived on
a barge. A friend of such figures as Leonard Cohen, William
Burroughs and Norman Mailer, he died from his addiction in
Britain in the '60s.
Though set in the socially and sexually hidebound Britain
of the early '50s, sex is the defining force in all
the characters' lives. From the opening shot of a young
woman's body, naked except for a petticoat, pulled from
the waters around Glasgow, film has an undercurrent of charged
sexuality in which copulation is portrayed devoid of romance
and as a purely physical release from social or emotional
frustrations.
When pic begins, young Joe Taylor (McGregor) is working on
a barge plying between Glasgow and Edinburgh. It's owned
by an average working class stiff, Les Gault (Peter Mullan),
and is also a cramped home to him, nagging wife Ella (Tilda
Swinton), and their young son, Jim (Jack McElhone).
After they fish the body out of the water, the incident forms
a topic of conversation as they chug along the River Clyde
to Edinburgh. It's not long, however, before Joe starts
making advances to Ella, whose marriage is devoid of physical
passion.
Many of the sexual encounters take place in the open, rather
than in more cozy surroundings. After leaving Les at a pub
one night, Joe -- who endears himself to the couple by rescuing
Jim from drowning -- and Ella have a frantic bout of fully-clothed
sex on the towpath prior to Les' drunken return. Soon
the two are exchanging bodily juices with Les only a few
feet away on the barge.
Not far into the drama, without any warning, pic starts to
flashback to an unspecified time when Joe took up with a
beautiful young woman, Cathie (Emily Mortimer), whom he met
on a beach. Scenes from that relationship run side by side
with the present.
In Edinburgh, Joe is introduced to Ella's sister, Gwen
(Therese Bradley). In a nicely written cameo that introduces
a welcome breath of humor, boozy Gwen promptly takes Joe
round a corner and gets him to service her standing up --
all in the space of a single cigarette.
Pic is more a sustained mood piece than a plot-driven mystery
or drama. Relationships remain open-ended, unresolved or
simply passing liaisons of sexual convenience. These are
all characters literally drifting along through a still stratified
society that's mostly joyless and make-do.
Joe is an unfettered spirit who touches many people's
lives without ever engaging with their day-to-day responsibilities,
and the film's only real drama lies in whether he'll
sacrifice his personal freedom for the benefit of others.
Some auds may feel that, at the end of the day, the pic doesn't
actually add up to much.
Given the relative lack of dimension, atmosphere and performances
are everything here, and pic scores on both fronts. Giles
Nuttgens' widescreen lensing -- cold and blue-tinged
in exteriors and warmer and ruddier in the cramped barge's
interiors (agilely shot in a studio) -- is pointed without
being showy. David Byrne's melancholy, gently churning
chamber score adds texture to the visuals. Pic is classically
composed and directed, sans handheld naturalism.
McGregor is tops as Joe, underplaying the character's
opportunism without ladling on the charm. Swinton and Mortimer
are equally good as two very different women who fall for
Joe's sexual magnetism. Mullan, solid in a smaller role,
is more restrained than usual. Bradley is briefly terrific
as Gwen.
Period detail is good and natural looking, both in clothes
and props. Running time is just right, with no flab.
Source: Variety (site
requires a subscription)
Thanks to Perditum and Mary for the heads
up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, June 4, 2003 // 7:01
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Wonderful Ewan interview on video available
online
WFAA from
Forth-Worth, Texas, has a wonderful Real Video interview
with Ewan that was taped on May 6th.
Click on the link above to watch it!
Thank you ParisRouge for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 // 09:45
p.m.
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McGregor mulls 'Stay'
Script bought for $1.8 mil at spec auction
May 27, 2003
By MICHAEL FLEMING
New Regency is negotiating with Ewan McGregor to topline
the Marc Forster-directed drama "Stay."
McGregor will play a therapist at an Ivy League school who
tries to prevent one of his students from committing suicide.
"Stay," which has "Sixth Sense"-esque supernatural overtones, was scripted by
David Benioff, whose epic "Troy" is in production with Wolfgang Petersen directing
Brad Pitt and Eric Bana.
The script for "Stay" was the subject of one of the biggest
spec auctions in recent memory; New Regency won with a bid
of $1.8 million.
David Fincher originally was slated to direct, but Forster
("Monster's Ball";) came aboard the film in the spring.
Tom Lassally is producing, with Eric Kopeloff and Guymon
Casady exec producing. Regency's Sanford Panitch and
Kara Francis are overseeing the production.
McGregor is onscreen in New Regency's "Down With Love" and
next will be seen in "Big Fish" opposite Albert Finney.
Source: Variety (site
requires a subscription)
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 // 07:08
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Solid Geometry to play
at Toronto (Canada) film festival
 Solid
Geometry, which stars Ewan and was directed by his uncle
Denis Lawson, will be one of six Celebrity Shorts shown
starting at 9:15pm, Thursday June 5th at the Isabel
Bader Theatre as part of the World
Wide Short Film Festival.
Thank you Perditum for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 23, 2003 // 07:09
a.m.
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Pictures and video clip of Ewan in Cannes promoting Faster
Big
Picture USA has several pictures of Ewan (in larger format
than this picture) that are worth checking out!
MotoGP also
has many pictures in large format (click on Special Photogallery)
along with a video clip (click on the image on the right
above "Other Videos - free") that are also worth checking
out!
Thanks to Roxanne for the find!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 // 07:37
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Artsy Fare Tops Wish Lists for Cannes Buyers
Tue May 20, 2003 02:36 AM ET
By Stuart Kemp and Scott Roxborough
CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Wheeling and dealing at this
year's sluggish Festival de Cannes picked up Monday
as high rollers began to vie for a handful of gems.
Films previously thought too artsy for commercial audiences
captured the attention of acquisition and distribution executives
as a duo of highly anticipated titles hit the silver screen.
Sources said offers are on the table for several films,
led by Lars von Trier's "Dogville" and David Mackenzie's "Young
Adam."
A bidding war reportedly has broken out for the Nicole Kidman
competition entry "Dogville," which screened Monday night.
Danish sales group Trust Film is thought to have upped its
asking price from $4 million to $6 million for U.S. rights
and from $1.6 million to $3.3 million for the United Kingdom
following the picture's favorable reception.
"(Trust) has upped the price to $6 million, but I can't see that happening," one
industry insider said. "It just doesn't seem appropriate for such an art
house movie."
Companies eyeing "Dogville" include Miramax Films and Fine
Line Features, sources said. The film's whopping asking
price, its two-hours-plus length and its experimental flavor
-- which does away with sets in favor of chalk outlines and
minimal props -- has forced smaller indie labels out of the
running, leaving mini-majors and studios as potential bidders.
"We've had (U.S.) buyers say to us, 'We've always hated Lars von
Trier, but this picture is very interesting,"' Trust chief Peter Aalbaek
Jensen said. "There are so many offers; we are holding back on a deal to set
up more meetings."
Meanwhile, "Adam" -- a film noir erotic thriller starring
Ewan McGregor, Emily Mortimer and Tilda Swinton -- has Lions
Gate Films, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Focus Features and
United Artists circling, producer Jeremy Thomas said.
But Thomas is keeping his cool while fielding calls.
"I don't want to close the deal at the moment because I want to build the
film's reputation and get my investors out at the right price," he said.
"Adam" screened Saturday in Un Certain Regard, with McGregor
and Mortimer jetting in to see the film with an audience
for the first time. The duo has been lending their full support
to "Adam's" publicity machine by maintaining a high
profile in Cannes.
Based on a 1960s novel by Scottish beatnik author Alexander
Trocchi and written by Mackenzie, the movie -- which contains
healthy doses of nudity, sex and intrigue -- had potential
buyers kept hungry by Thomas, who showed it previously to
no one.
But warning bells may be going off among buyers who recall
being swept up in the past by festival frenzy, only to see
newfound "hot projects" shot down by general audiences. In
1999, Miramax won a bidding war for Palme d'Or winner "Vatel," which
went on to become a box office disappointment. And Fine Line
and other distributors worldwide were burned in 2000 after
a buying frenzy broke out over von Trier's Bjork starrer "Dancer
in the Dark," another Palme d' Or winner; the innovative
musical later stumbled in theaters.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Source: Reuters
Thanks to Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Tuesday, May 20, 2003 // 07:08
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Ewan McGregor, Up for Anything
In 'Down With Love,' The Scottish Actor Adds to
an Already Impressive Range
By Alona Wartofsky
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, May 18, 2003; Page N01
NEW YORK
The roundtable interviews, in which packs of eager journalists
gleaned quotes from the stars of the new comedy "Down With
Love," went pretty well, says actor Ewan McGregor.
Until someone asked the wrong question.
"People bring up stuff that they have no right to. Like personal things and rumors
from the past," he says, his voice rising in both pitch and volume. "Things that
I wouldn't ever even ask a best friend, never mind a complete stranger.
Somehow, because you're sitting in a room behind microphones and stuff,
they feel they've got the right to ask you incredible gob-smacking things."
McGregor does not state this explicitly, but it seems that
the wrong question had something to do with the icky insinuations
that McGregor provided a special kind of solace to his "Moulin
Rouge" co-star Nicole Kidman. "The idea that I slept with
so-and-so... when I didn't -- it's infuriating
because it's offensive to me and to my wife, to me as
a man and a human being," McGregor sputters.
His indignation spent, he leans back a little and shakes
his head. "Sometimes the most inappropriate things are asked
of you, deeply personal things that you just can't believe
you're being asked in an interview situation," he says. "And
I suddenly imagine really powerful actors, and [reporters]
asking them the same question. It would never happen."
It wouldn't?
"No. Because they'd just get up and walk out," he says. "You know, like
the big guys, you would never speak to them like that."
But one could argue that Ewan McGregor is a big guy. After
all, the 32-year-old Scottish actor starred as Jedi knight
Obi-Wan Kenobi in the "Star Wars" prequels "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack
of the Clones," which, combined, grossed more than $1.5 billion
worldwide, and next month he starts shooting the still-untitled
last of the three. He was paired with Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's
dazzling "Moulin Rouge"; the elegant actress got most of
the attention, but McGregor's charms were not overlooked.
This year alone he'll star in three films. "Down With
Love," which opened Friday, pairs him with Renée Zellweger
in a frothy spoof of the Rock Hudson-Doris Day so-called "sex
comedies" of the early '60s. McGregor portrays swinging
bachelor Catcher Block, "ladies' man, man's man,
man about town," who adopts a Texan accent to woo the one
girl he can't get. In this case, his quarry is Zellweger's
perky advice author, whose international sensation "Down
With Love" counsels women to substitute chocolate for sex
until they can learn to enjoy the latter "the way men do
-- à la carte."
The suave, smirking Block might not be a role you'd
expect McGregor to play, but then, he rarely chooses roles
you'd expect him to play. His wide-ranging roles have
included a Jedi knight and a junkie, a bisexual rock star
and a bisexual translator, a Yorkshire miner and a flighty
19th-century gentleman suitor. He portrayed a brooding James
Joyce in "Nora," an art-house film that depicted the tempestuous
relationship between Joyce and his wife. And he played an
awkward telephone installer who fancies pigeons and the Jane
Horrocks character in "Little Voice."
McGregor sings, he dances, and he routinely takes off his
clothes. No mainstream film actors display their penises
on-screen as frequently as he does. In Peter Greenaway's
erotic "Pillow Book," to cite just one example, his lover
paints Japanese calligraphy on every inch -- literally --
of his naked body. And what he does as the unhinged rock
star of "Velvet Goldmine" cannot even be described here.
Which raises the question: Is there anything he won't
do in front of the cameras?
"I really don't think you can know that," he says. "I couldn't consider
myself truly an actor if I had a list of things I won't do. There are actresses
and actors who've said, 'I won't do any nudity ever again,' and
you think, well, how do you know? What if there's a [expletive] amazing
part and you're naked in the whole play or the whole film, how do you know
you won't do it?... You could be denying yourself the best role in the
world that could be your role, the role of a lifetime. But because your bum's
in it, you're not going to do the part. That's stupid."
McGregor's most indelible performance was in the film
that made him famous: "Trainspotting," the 1996 adaptation
of Irvine Welsh's chronicle of Edinburgh heroin addicts.
Gaunt and hunch-shouldered with a grayish tint to his skin
and dark circles under his eyes, McGregor's junkie was
a riveting screen presence.
"Down With Love" director Peyton Reed says that people don't necessarily
think of McGregor as a comic actor, "but 'Trainspotting' is an extremely
dark comedy. He's very funny in that movie."
"Ewan has this kind of punk rock sensibility about him, where he's just
game to try anything and he's a really, really brave actor. Punk rock is
all about an energy and a vitality and an immediacy, and he as an actor has that...
He has this intense sex appeal, and kind of this sense of danger," says Reed. "It's
easy to imagine he's going to be one of those actors who's going to
be around 40 or 50 years from now with a 'Sir' in front of his name."
McGregor had not arrived on this Earth when the films that
inspired "Down With Love" were made, but he grew up watching
them and other vintage movies on weekend afternoons. Before
starting "Down With Love," McGregor went back and watched
the old sex comedies again. Well, some of them: "Some I didn't
make it through all the way because... they are really wandering
stories that didn't really get anywhere," he confesses.
Lounging on a couch in a hotel suite, McGregor is more handsome
than he is on-screen. His hair is sandy brown with blond
highlights. And his eyes, the color of which would be most
accurately described as gray, literally sparkle. He's
wearing a black leather jacket and scruffy jeans with a hole
at the right knee.
He is holding a matchstick, which he works between his teeth
like it's a toothpick, until it snaps. Then he works
the smaller pieces until they splinter. After that, he sucks
on the cap of an Evian bottle. McGregor gestures when he
talks, so it is inevitable than he will knock over the open
water bottle on the coffee table in front of him. Several
publicists and personal assistants hover just outside the
door, but he fetches a towel and mops up the spill himself.
McGregor has often said he gets depressed after interviews,
which he describes as "a completely unnatural situation." Part
of his discomfort has to do with "feeling invaded," he says. "Secondly,
it's the idea that... you're talking about yourself
all day long, which is a slightly unnatural thing to do,
even for an actor."
He used to get drunk before meeting with journalists. "I
thought it would get me through. But then it leads to you
saying things that you just wished you never said -- stupid
things that... are basically self-aggrandizing statements
by putting other people down." In those muzzy old days, McGregor
slagged television talk show hosts Jay Leno and David Letterman
("rather arrogant and uninteresting men"). And British actress
Minnie Driver ("She's gone mad, mad. She goes to the
opening of an envelope"). And, obliquely, Hugh Grant, in
the course of grumbling about the sorry state of British
cinema: "British films have always been slightly off-the-wall,
powerful movies. And now if it's the case that we're
only meant to do romantic comedies with stammering, stuttering
leading guys... I'll do films wherever."
A few years ago, McGregor also got on the wrong side of Scotland's
other, old-school heartthrob, Sean Connery. Asked at a news
conference if he shared Connery's support of Scottish
nationalism, McGregor reportedly replied that he didn't
care to be told how to feel about Scotland, "especially by
someone who hasn't lived there for 25 years."
About 2 1/2 years ago -- after the junket for "Attack of
the Clones," McGregor stopped drinking for interviews. He
once called the process of making the effects-driven "Star
Wars" films "the epitome of tedium." Now an older, soberer
McGregor insists he's very happy to be in them. "I really
am. And I like being Obi-Wan Kenobi. I like it when kids
speak to me about it... because I remember being that way
about the first three myself. So there's no disappointment
of being in them at all."
The "Star Wars" films are hard work, he says, in some ways
harder than anything else he's done. "Which isn't
necessarily a bad thing, but it's an unrewarding day
to spend, standing in front of a blue screen speaking to
thin air," he says. "It's rewarding when you see them,
but it's a fairly unrewarding job to make them."
McGregor evinces more enthusiasm for "Young Adam," a low-budget
thriller based on a book by Scottish Beat novelist Alexander
Trocchi. The film, which premieres this weekend at the Cannes
Film Festival, is "very introspective and quiet and dark
-- and really erotic," says McGregor. "I was longing to do
some acting like that, where you had time to experience the
scene... letting the scene dictate how long it should take,
as opposed to the continuity lady with the stopwatch. It
was a phenomenal experience.
"It's great to do the smaller films because you can't really put anything
off, you can't throw money at any of the problems, so you have to just solve
the problems on the set and get on with it," he says. "We were struggling and
actually losing bits of scenes because the light went and we didn't finish."
McGregor has railed against Hollywood conventions in the
past, but he's figured out how to balance big-budget
roles with smaller, more adventurous parts. "It's a
really lovely position to be in when you can do them both," he
says.
Still, prod him just a little, and he'll rail again.
For example: He thinks it's ridiculous that mainstream
movies rarely depict unpleasant central characters. "Try
getting a film made where the central character's not
likable. You can hardly do it. It's very difficult to
get money for a film about somebody you don't like.
And there's probably more people [out there] that I
don't like than I do like."
He laughs, his mouth wide open. "That's not true. That
sounds like I'm a real miserable bastard. But you know
what I mean: There's an equal amount of people that
you meet who you don't really like as you do like. And
yet you're only meant to make films about the good ones."
McGregor grew up in Crieff, a resort town at the southern
end of the Scottish Highlands. His parents were teachers.
His older brother, who joined the Royal Air Force, pilots
Tornado jets, a vocation McGregor learned to admire only
after filming the 2001 war drama "Black Hawk Down." "Now
I respect the work that he does much more than I did when
I was at drama school, because I didn't really have
any understanding about it," he says.
Inspired partly by his love of old movies and even more so
by the allure surrounding his uncle, actor Denis Lawson,
McGregor left home at 16 to pursue acting. He studied at
Scotland's Perth Repertory Theatre and eventually moved
to London, where he attended the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama. Parts in a couple of British miniseries launched
his career, and one also irrevocably changed his life: On
the set, he met his wife, French production designer Ève
Mavrakis. Now they have two daughters, and the family lives
in North London.
McGregor's first big role, the cynical journalist in
the dark 1994 comedy "Shallow Grave," was also his first
collaboration with director Danny Boyle, screenwriter John
Hodge and producer Andrew MacDonald. That team collaborated
again on "Trainspotting," an international sensation that
proved to be a landmark in British cinema. "We needed a film
that had our stamp on it instead of an American stamp," says
McGregor. "It seemed, at the time anyway, that Danny and
Andrew and John were truly committed to being a kind of British
visionary filmmaking team."
But the trio's next collaboration with McGregor -- and
their first outing for a Hollywood studio -- "A Life Less
Ordinary," was perhaps too idiosyncratic to appeal to American
audiences. Boyle had talked publicly about giving McGregor
the lead in their next effort, "The Beach," but that part
eventually went to a more bankable star, Leonardo DiCaprio.
McGregor has pointed out that the betrayal of friendship
was a theme of both "Shallow Grave" and "Trainspotting." Now,
asked about his relationship with Boyle, Hodge and MacDonald,
he says only: "I don't have one with them anymore."
But maybe McGregor doesn't need them anymore. After "Trainspotting," his
box office pull briefly seemed questionable; "Velvet Goldmine" and
the thriller "Nightwatch," both released in 1998, were both
considered disappointments. But he was nominated for an Emmy
Award for a 1997 guest appearance on the television drama "ER," in
which he played a convenience store thief.
Then he landed the coveted "Star Wars" role, and Luhrmann
cast him in "Moulin Rouge." For McGregor, filming Luhrmann's
musical was just the way he envisioned moviemaking to be
as a child. "There was everything in there that cinema can
be -- great color and movement and music, and dance and drama," he
says. "And walking on the sets -- they were just beautifully
made and painted... You'd walk out there and just couldn't
believe it."
The end of this year will bring the release of the high-profile "Big
Fish," directed by Tim Burton. Based on the Daniel Wallace
novel, it depicts the complicated relationship between a
dying traveling salesman, played by Albert Finney, and his
son. "The father's only ever told these massive big
flamboyant exaggerated stories about his own life," says
McGregor, who plays the father in a series of flashbacks.
"It's Tim Burton's film, and it couldn't have been anyone else's," he
adds. "He can pitch a story in that kind of gray area... It's like fantastical,
but not fantasy, if you like."
There is, perhaps, another reason why McGregor is uneasy
giving interviews.
It seems he is not particularly insightful about his work
-- or if he is, he's not letting on.
"I'm terrible at analyzing it or talking about it," he insists. "Even in
rehearsals, I try, but I'm not very good at discussing it. I'm much
better at getting up and seeing what happens."
From time to time, journalists have suggested that his roles
share common themes. He is drawn to outsiders, they say.
Or to dark, edgy characters. "People say that you're
this and you're that, and it always takes me by surprise," he
says. "I suppose you could look through them all and go,
well, maybe. But they're all such individual experiences
to do, and the people you're working with are always
different, so there's a different energy in them. For
me, they're all completely unique."
Ten years into his professional career, McGregor still isn't
even sure that he's a good actor.
"I like to think that I am one. But you can never be sure, really, can you, because
there's no real mark of it. It's not winning an award. It's even
not necessarily being successful at the box office," he says. "There's no
gauge, really, other than I still just [expletive] love it."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
Source: The Washington Post
Thank you Terri for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Sunday, May 18, 2003 // 01:18
p.m.
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Ewan at Cannes
British actor Ewan McGregor, right, and French motorcycle
champion Olivier Jacques, left, pose for photographer to
promote their film'Faster'during the 56th Film
Festival in Cannes, France, Friday, May 16, 2003. (AP Photo/Michel
Euler)
Thanks to lukaya for the find!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Friday, May 16, 2003 // 10:06
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Launch of MotoGP movie `Faster´ at the Cannes
Festival
14/05/03
Over the past two years, a documentary about the MotoGP
World Championship has been filmed at several GPs by a production
company from Hollywood. Now the movie, called `Faster´, is
finished and ready for its international launch in Cannes
during the famous Festival.
The screening will take place in the Riviera 8 Theatre on
Friday 16th May at 8pm, but before that launch a party will
be hosted at The Majestic Hotel. The high point of the evening
however will be the arrival of six MotoGP stars (Valentino
Rossi, Olivier Jacque, Loris Capirossi, John Hopkins, Colin
Edwards, Alex Hofmann) on their racing bikes along La Croisette,
the famous frontbeach boulevard in Cannes that is the centre
of attention during the Festival. Narrator Ewan McGregor
(Star Wars, Moulin Rouge, etc), will arrive at the launch
riding a bike alongside the MotoGP stars.
Source: MotoGP
Thank you Mary for the heads up!
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Posted by Best
of Ewan McGregor on Thursday, May 15, 2003 // 10:55
p.m.
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At the Movies: 'Down With Love'
May 15, 2003
By BEN NUCKOLS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Down With Love" is the most exhilarating piece of old-meets-new
moviemaking since "Moulin Rouge," and it's no coincidence
that Ewan McGregor is at the center of both.
Director Peyton Reed ("Bring It On") and his team have drawn
their inspiration from the Rock Hudson-Doris Day vehicles
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