Numerous reviews of Miss Potter have been published during the past few days. Instead of posting them all here and filling up space, here are the best parts from several of them:
Potter finds an obstacle in her class-conscious mother (Barbara Flynn) and support from her newbie publisher Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor, bringing instant life and charisma to the screen in all of his scenes). (Window to the Movies)
Still, the movie is redeemed by excellent performances. McGregor, in particular, lights up the film, and in her scenes with him, when she is not forced to interact with watercolor rabbits, Zellweger seems to wake up from a long, cranky nap. His Norman is a pure, puppyish innocent with a bounding enthusiasm for Potter's work. "I put your drawings aside with great reluctance!" he tells her on the first day he comes to her house to talk business. (Los Angeles Times)
Zellweger does a fine job of fleshing out the plucky character despite the occasional simper. But it is the superlative supporting British cast, particularly McGregor and Watson, who really make the film. [...] Miss Potter is a well-told and sweetly enchanting tale with gorgeous scenery of some of the most beautiful spots in Britain. It is a family film that, told in a sprightly 92 minutes, will keep parents' attention and won't annoy them with frenzied action scenes or boorish humor. (USA Today)
"Miss Potter" makes it easy to believe that the man in charge of publishing Beatrix's books, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), would be taken not just with her work but with her winningly no-nonsense personality. McGregor plays Warne with shy affability -- he's particularly wonderful in the scene in which he first meets Beatrix and can't hide how delighted he is by her drawings. [...] Zellweger's performance here is both winsome and disciplined. She avoids making Beatrix unbearably adorable (an accomplishment considering that this is, after all, a woman who considers bunny rabbits and hedgehogs her truest friends), and she doesn't make the mistake of simply playing traits, like "cleverness" and "mild eccentricity." She simply lets the character emerge through and between the movie's nicely wrought dialogue. (The script is by Richard Maltby Jr.) And her scenes with McGregor have a tender, casual quality that makes them effortlessly believable. (Salon.com)
Contributions from cast and technicians alike is uniformly excellent — Zellweger is a sheer pleasure, McGregor an intoxicating delight and Emily Watson, as Millie Warne, the brothers’ unmarried sister and eventual confidante to Beatrix, is positively magical. Other standout contributions include Andrew Dunn’s photography and Nigel Westlake’s score (with supplementary contribution from Rachel Portman). (Box Office.com)
"Potter" is also a romantic tale of distance, as Potter and Warne have to maneuver slowly to keep their love from being stamped out by society and the Potter family's social requirements. Noonan's blueprint of attraction is achieved though bright, beaming performances from Zellweger and McGregor, who play their forbidden romance with a jubilant moonwalk that embraces the most candied, rewarding moments of screen love. Noonan takes their relationship to idealized heights, staging stolen kisses and letter-bound longing in the style of classic Hollywood. If you've got any speck of black on your heart, this material is sure to drive you mad. (Oh My News)
Special Screening and Q&A of Miss Potter on Friday
The Fri 5 January 6.30pm show at Curzon Mayfair is followed by a Q&A with the crew members from Miss Potter: Andrew Dunn, cinematographer (Mrs Henderson Presents, History Boys, Stage Beauty, Gosford Park), Martin Childs, production designer (Lady In The Water, Calendar Girls, Shakespeare In Love and art director of Much Ado About Nothing), Anthony Powell, costume designer (101&102 Dalmatians, The Avengers, Papillion, Death On The Nile).
You can book tickets online, click on the link below and use the scroll arrows to go down a bit in the Miss Potter section of the screen.
'My brother does a proper job. I wear make-up for a living'
24/12/2006
Ewan McGregor has been involved in no fewer than six films this year. But that doesn't stop his fellow countrymen telling him: 'You're not as good as Alec Guinness.' Interview by Nigel Farndale
Being Ewan McGregor, that must be a laugh. I don't just mean the being paid millions to act out male fantasies – firing a 50-cal machine gun in a war zone one day, sharing a bed with Nicole Kidman the next – because that applies to other Hollywood actors, too. I mean the being him particularly: having his temperament, his restlessness bordering on immaturity.
Take this comment, made over lunch in London as he vigorously saws his way through a rib-eye steak. 'I was climbing a tree the other day and …' Hang on a minute. Climbing a tree? Why was he climbing a tree? 'Because it looked like a good tree to climb.' He chews, swallows and starts cutting again. 'Anyway, I was about three-quarters of the way up and I bottled. When I was younger I would have kept going until I could stick my head out of the top branches, even if it was swaying around. I was fearless, then.'
And at the age of 35 he's lost his nerve? 'Well I did get frightened up there. Maybe it's to do with being a father, having responsibilities.'
But, hang on again, he's about to set off on another of his motorbike rides with his friend Charlie Boorman, this time taking 'the Long Way Down' to Cape Town, a distance of 14,000 miles through countries where they have coups every 10 minutes and like nothing better than a good kidnapping before breakfast. 'Yeah, yeah, but I'm not losing sleep about it. In fact I'm blindly optimistic about the whole thing. We'll try and be careful about the route.'
Blind optimism has served McGregor well. He went the Long Way Round two years ago, 18,000 miles that time, over three months, largely because he felt he needed to get out of his comfort zone. What may have started as a premature mid-life crisis turned out to be a sound career move. They took a cameraman with them. The subsequent documentary and book were both huge hits. He was also able to raise funds for Unicef – he is a UN goodwill ambassador – something he intends to do again this time, stopping off to visit African orphanages as he takes the Long Way Down.
Part of the appeal of Long Way Round was in seeing a Hollywood star removed from the trappings of fame, bonding with his mate, enjoying his anonymity (he grew a bushy Viking beard). McGregor came across as being unaffected, open and likeable. Unusually for an actor, he is unpretentious and has little interest in talking about acting, though he will, out of politeness. His watch has a big face. Circling his ring finger there is a big band of gold. Today he is in ripped jeans and a white T-shirt, which shows the big red-and-blue tattoo on his right bicep. There is a bigness to his personality, too. He has a room-filling laugh.
I wonder if, on Long Way Round, he ever caught himself playing Ewan McGregor? 'No, but I did learn some things about myself. There were times when I felt isolated in those vast landscapes. I become much more dark and moody than I thought I was capable of being. We were very undisciplined about eating. We would get so into our riding that we wouldn't stop for lunch and sometimes by five I was so empty I started getting depressed. We won't repeat that mistake on the Long Way Down.'
McGregor is – how can one put this? – promiscuous as an actor. This year alone he has been involved in six films, and he often seems to have two out at a time, as well as the odd musical on stage. The last time we met he had a darkly existentialist art-house film out, Young Adam, as well as a fluffy 1950s-style Doris Day romp called Down With Love. This time the contrast is just as great with Scenes of a Sexual Nature, in which he plays a homosexual man in a long-term relationship, and Miss Potter, a partly animated family film about the life of Beatrix Potter (played by Renée Zellweger). In that, he plays Norman, the doomed love interest.
I suppose when you consider that McGregor is best known for playing a junkie in Trainspotting and a Jedi knight in the Star Wars prequels, this odd mix of roles is not so surprising. But what is behind this scattergun approach, and the uneven quality of his work? Is it boredom? 'It just sort of happens because I'm quite easily pleased with scripts, I think. I'm impulsive. I don't plan.'
He and his wife, Ève Mavrakis, a French production designer, have two daughters, Clara, 10, and Esther, five, and have just adopted a third, a four-year-old girl from Mongolia. (He came across her in an orphanage while on the Long Way Round and managed to sort out the bureaucracy of adoption with much less fuss than Madonna.) He often reads the Beatrix Potter books to his youngest children. 'Some of the stories are quite bizarre,' he says. 'My kids love them. We've got the box set. That was part of the appeal for me of doing the film.'
There is a sentimental side to him, then. But also a laddish side. McGregor has appeared naked in several of his films, never passing up an opportunity to show off his appendage. I tell him I was quite surprised he didn't find an excuse to get it out in Miss Potter. He grins broadly. 'I did try to. They said, "It's nice Ewan, but we don't think it quite works with this film." They tried animating it: put Peter Rabbit's face on it and it spoke to Beatrix, but they didn't think it was tasteful enough in the end.'
So one day he was playing a staid and virginal Victorian gentleman with a big moustache, the next a gay man on Hampstead Heath. I ask if he needed to empathise with these characters in order to play them. 'Yes, but essentially you must play the words on the page. In Scenes of a Sexual Nature I have to tell another man I love him and at first I thought it doesn't matter whether it is a man or a woman, but actually it does – because the themes they are discussing are absolutely informed by the fact that they are gay men.
'Discussing infidelity is different for these two gay men because in their relationship it is allowed. However, I didn't want to try and play gay, as in camp, because there are as many different types of gay men as there are heterosexual.'
He has played a gay man before, in Velvet Goldmine. 'That was more in your face because I had to French-kiss Jonnie Rhys Meyers. It was no coincidence that the entire electrical department walked off the set next day. I think they found it too uncomfortable. I was harangued on set for wearing my platforms and my spray-on jeans and make-up. Technicians were shouting: "Oy! Facking pretty boy." It was a weird insight. I very much enjoy the company of gay men.
'I have a fun time with them but because of the theatrical circles I move in I don't often see the other side of the story, which is the bigotry and the homophobic stuff. I was subject to homophobic anger and that in turn made me feel angry. I said: F--- this! This is my work. I don't come and harangue you when you are doing your work. I don't slag you off for being sparks plugging in lights.'
Can he look after himself in a fight? 'Probably, if I was angry enough my inner Scotsman would come out. But I've never had a proper fight with anyone apart from silly scraps at school.'
School was in Perthshire, the private Morrison's Academy. He left there to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and immediately afterwards, in 1993, won his first starring role, in Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar. He returns to Perthshire regularly to see his parents, who are teachers, and his older brother, who is a fighter pilot. He has always been conscious that what his brother does for a living is manlier than what he does. 'I can't think of two more diverse professions than what my brother and I do. He does a proper job. He flies at 500 miles an hour 200 feet above the ground. F---ing incredible. Whereas I wear make-up for a living.'
McGregor has sometimes fantasised about being a soldier. He revelled in training with the US Rangers for the film Black Hawk Down, a dramatic reconstruction of the American assault on Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. 'One of the reasons I was desperate to be in that film was that I wanted to try and work out how I would cope. It made me question how brave I might be in the same circumstances. My brother has flown in the Gulf many times and it fascinates me. Men and war and how they cope. I read books about it. I can almost imagine myself dealing with it once you're in the situation but not before, when it is building up; I think I would go to pieces then.'
That said, there was an accident on a set once when a dolly fell on a grip and split his head open. 'I became absolutely calm saying: "Right, let's do this, he'll go to hospital and be stitched up and everything will be fine." I quite surprised myself by that.'
He also finds he is like that when anything happens to his children. 'It's horrible when your kids hurt themselves but if one of mine falls, or something, I do stay calm. My youngest one has a nice boxer's scar here...' he points to his face. 'And one down here.' He points to his ear. She's a high-spirited child who seems to cut herself a lot falling over.'
The family live in St John's Wood, where McGregor likes to do the school run. He is protective about his children, refusing to allow them to be filmed or photographed, and threatening legal action against the paparazzi who try. He has become more relaxed about being papped himself, though, he says. 'When I was dressed up as a tomato in Trafalgar Square for the Film 4 campaign there were paparazzi everywhere – and who can blame them? I mean, I was dressed as a tomato in Trafalgar Square – but I thought I can either let this ruin my day or I can have a laugh.'
He learnt that attitude from Woody Allen, whose next film he is in. 'In New York no one has the power to stop these people so you just have to get on with it. I watch Woody and he just doesn't give a shit, he wanders around.'
When I ask whether there are any chinks in his armour of positivism, other than that he gets depressed when he doesn't eat, he says, 'Yeah, I can't stand cynicism. And I do resent it when people come up just to be rude about my work. You know, why do they feel the need to tell me: "That film was shit." You can think it but don't come up and tell me. It happens quite a lot in Scotland for some reason. "You're not as big as you think you are, McGregor." I think it's because they have this attitude that: "He is one of us and we have to keep his feet on the ground."
'I was with my mum and my daughter the other day and I watched this guy get up and walk over and say: "I've got to tell you this. Got to say it. You're not nearly as good as Alec Guinness." I went, "Thanks." Then he walked away and I was left thinking: "Oh great, now I feel pissed off and my time with my daughter has been ruined".'
He is on location in New York at the moment, filming a thriller called The Tourist. His family usually join him on location but this time it would have meant his children coming out of school, so he has gone on his own. 'Being away on location is part of being an actor. I do miss my wife and children though.'
He lights up a cigarette. 'But there are two sides to it because it is easier for the work when there are no family distractions. You have to be selfish because of the unsociable hours and the intensity of the work. In that respect it is better to come home to an empty apartment and just learn your lines for the next day and go to bed. But the other side is your heart. Your kids aren't there and your wife isn't there. This time we have sorted out some video conferencing, having dinner together with your laptops either side of the Atlantic. Nice idea. The sexual possibilities are endless.'
When I tell him to be careful it isn't recorded somewhere, he looks worried. 'Is it?' Well it has to go somewhere. 'I'll bear that in mind.' He shakes his head and grins. 'Thanks.'
Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck and Squirrel Nutkin are familiar to most people, but few know about the life of the surprisingly feisty Victorian lady who created them. That should change quickly thanks to the enchanting Miss Potter, starring Renée Zellweger as Beatrix. The film follows the children’s author from young adulthood to middle age—surviving her tortured relationship with her overly critical mother, defying convention by publishing her books, becoming a famous woman of independent means, suffering the tragic death of her publisher/fiancé and enrolling as prime supporter of Britain’s National Trust, eventually donating 4,000 acres of land and 14 farms to be conserved for enjoyment of future generations who are still delighting in her books.
Miss Potter is Australian director Chris Noonan’s second feature—made 10 years after his phenomenally successful directorial debut with Babe. “I felt tremendous pressure following Babe,” explains Noonan. “Its success wasn’t a shock because I believed in the film completely, but everyone was asking, ‘So what’re you going to do now?’ Subtext: prove yourself.
“The big stir made many people interested in hiring me. I didn’t want to jump aboard the first train entering the station, nor do rehashes of rehashes. I wanted to do original work—work that made a difference. Those projects are few and far between. So, I made TV commercials to put bread on the table. And fiddled with my own ideas—some are still in development. And I came across two scripts I liked and thought I could do something with. But, in both cases, the producers didn’t like my take on the scripts. They had other ideas...”
MERIN: Did they flop?
NOONAN: Yeah, one got made and flopped. Miss Potter was the first project that came along that really moved me. The script moved me to tears. That was the alert that made me think carefully about this one.
[Beatrix Potter’s] story is so good, and she’s such a fascinating person—nothing like what you’d expect. I suppose people think of her as a Victorian fuddy-duddy and not of interest to modern people. But everything I found out about her while reading the script won me over, and I thought this story should be part of everyone’s upbringing. People should know about it.
Everyone knows Beatrix as a writer, but they don’t know what a remarkable person she was. I knew nothing about her before I read the script. Then, I had to make this film.
In this milieu of genre films—crime, sci-fi, horror, slick comedies and others that involve high tech flourishes and violence—was it tough to get this rather traditional period/biopic/love story produced?
It was a long process. When I signed on, it was only partially funded. My first task was to figure out how much we needed to make the film. Then there was a period of raising money from various sources. It came together slowly. While we were shooting, Weinstein Company signed on, and we got funds that allowed us to readdress the film’s ending to make it work.
This is a strangely, unconventionally structured film—defying basic rules. When telling a romantic story, you don’t kill the romantic lead at the end of the second act of a three-act structure. That’s hard to recover from, but that’s what happened with Beatrix. It took a lot of figuring to make it work—which we hadn’t done when began shooting.
Initially, we thought Beatrix would mourn her fiancé’s death [played by Ewan McGregor], then we’d start another romance with the man who eventually became her husband. But in preliminary editing, we realized audiences would fall so in love with Ewan...
Isn’t he ever? His performance is pure—nothing showy, and, for that reason, he wins you even more.
I wanted understatement from the actors. I’m allergic to overstatement of emotion in films. For me, when actors demand responses from me, indicating what my responses should be, I withdraw. But if it’s left to me to respond, and I’m responding to situations that are true and believable arcs in the story, I’ll truly respond as though I’m watching someone’s real life. I hate corn, and I hate overstatement of emotion.
How do you get actors to underplay?
It starts with casting. You cast people who have that ability. And with Miss Potter, I ran a two-week workshop, a boot camp, for the entire cast—servants and all—where we discussed our approach to the film. A historian talked about the world at that time, and we learned about wars were being fought and about etiquette of communication between the classes, which was very important in Britain... It’s a theatrical approach, really, but it works well for films. We’re all professional illusionists building a world for audiences to believe in: If everyone on screen inhabits the same world, audiences believe it’s real.
IGN has several interviews for Miss Potter with Ewan, Renée, Emily and the film's director, Chris Noonan. The videos are huge and of great quality. Check them out!
Miss Potter will be Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4
Next week, Monday (December 25th) to Friday, BBC Radio 4 is doing Miss Potter as their Book of the Week, from 9.45am-10.00am, repeated 00.30-00.45am. It will also be available online on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week website for one week.
Film star Ewan McGregor yesterday told of his joy over adopting a little girl from Mongolia.
The Star Wars actor said he and his wife Ève Mavrakis, 40, are thrilled with four-year-old Jamiyan.
The girl touched his heart during a round-the-world motorcycle trip two years ago.
Ewan, 35, said the youngster has settled in and is best of friends with their other girls, five-year-old Esther and Clara, 10.
He added: "We adopted a little girl called Jamiyan. We're very happy, it's good. But that's all I'll say. It's personal and I'd rather keep it private."
The Hollywood heart-throb met Jamiyan when he and his best friend Charley Boorman were motorcycling round the world for three months making documentary The Long Way Round.
The 19,000-mile trip from London to New York took them across Europe and Asia to Alaska and then down through Canada to the Big Apple.
UNICEF ambassador Ewan met homeless kids when he visited a children's shelter in the Mongolian capital of Ulaan Baatar.
That is where he is believed to have first met Jamiyan when she was just two.
He said: "Nothing could've prepared me for how young they are.
"There was a little family of four - the girl was barely two and the wee boy was looking after her like he was her father.
"I was shocked - I just could not speak."
He is sure she will enjoy life in London with his family.
But the Crieff-born Trainspotting star, who also played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, developed a special bond with the homeland of his new daughter.
He told Glamour magazine: "I love the country - I'm just kind of sad to be out of it.
"I was really blown away by the place. It was everything I had wanted it to be."
The Isle of Man is celebrating its part as the backdrop to the new Golden Globe-nominated Beatrix Potter film, Miss Potter.
A special holiday package is being offered for holidaymakers to get a chance to experience the hotel Miss Potter's stars, Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, were staying at.
Located in a restored Victorian building in the Isle of Man capital Douglas, the Sefton Hotel was so popular with McGregor the star held his birthday party at the hotel's Tanrogan seafood bistro.
For £175 per person holidaymakers are being offered two-nights' bed and breakfast accommodation at the hotel including return flights from Liverpool.
The offer coincides with the release of Miss Potter on January 5th, 2007 and is valid throughout January.
Last week the royal equestrian sleb Zara Phillips took flak from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade for promoting "unethical" Land Rover.
Now Ewan McGregor finds himself pursued down the street by protester types, this lot a (fragrant) enviro bunch.
The actor accepted Land Rover's dollar to narrate a recent sales film marketing the steel box as the means to achieve your dreams.
His endorsement is strange because he has worked with Greenpeace and is a "Goodwill Ambassador" for Unicef children's charity.
The Alliance Against Urban 4x4s wrote to McGregor two weeks ago, asking if he might donate his fee to charity. Says spokeslady Sian Berry: "Supporting 4x4s doesn't fit with child welfare. Aside from the accidents outside school gates, they hasten global warming, which will increase droughts, floods and child suffering." McGregor hasn't replied.
Motorbike fanatic EWAN McGREGOR is whizzing around London on a vintage racing bike after buying it from a museum in the Isle of Man, while shooting new movie MISS POTTER.
The actor couldn't resist a visit to the British island's famous TT rally museum while he was filming, and, when he discovered the owner was selling off his classic bikes, McGregor felt he had to add to his collection.
He explains, "The Isle of Man is a very famous location for motorcycle racing. There's been an Isle of Man TT race, on a mountain circuit, for years; it's about 38 miles long. They've raced there since 1902.
"It (the race) goes through several villages and through this mountain section. It's an extraordinarily dangerous race. I love it.
"There's a museum at the very top of the circuit and I went to visit it, and the guy who ran it was selling all the bikes. I went, 'Oh no!' I phoned my wife and said, 'I've gone to this museum and you know he's selling all the bikes.' She went, 'Oh no!' "I bought a 1929 Rex Acme TT racing bike, 350 single. It's a beautiful piece of machinery; beautiful. I've got it running and I've been riding around London." Meanwhile, McGregor has confirmed he's planning another biking documentary series with pal CHARLIE BOORMAN following the success of their show LONG WAY ROUND, which took the intrepid friends through Europe, the former Soviet Union, Alaska and America.
He adds, "Our Long Way Round trip was so successful and enjoyable that next year we're gonna go from the very north of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa and to visit UNICEF charity projects along the way. It'll be great."
It is the perfect pick me up after a heavy night's drinking at the Oxford Bar.
Now the restorative powers of Irn-Bru have inspired Ian Rankin to help create what must be the world's most expensive fizzy drinks bottle.
The airtight silver flask - which comes complete with a gold goblet - has been made by craftsman John Creed from the best-selling crime writer's idea.
The writer, who lives in Merchiston, is one of the celebrities to have designed silverware vessels for a new exhibition in Edinburgh. Others include Sir Sean Connery, Billy Connolly, Ewan McGregor, Sharleen Spiteri and Nicola Benedetti.
The Irn-Bru set, part of a collection worth around £1 million, has been valued at £50,000.
The Fife-born writer - who, like his fictional creation Inspector Rebus, enjoys a pint or two in the Oxford Bar - was delighted when he tested it out at the Goldsmith's Hall in Broughton Street.
"I chose Irn-Bru because it reminds me of fish suppers with my family when I was a child.
"Over the years I've also found it an excellent restorative on many a morning after the night before, and I still drink it a couple of times every week. It's definitely the best hangover cure around," he said.
"I never thought, however, that one day it would be possible to drink it out of a silver tumbler, lined with gold. I did get the opportunity on a visit to Goldsmith's Hall when it was completed, which was very nice indeed. The whole concept is a great idea as it mixes together a lot of great things about Scotland and shows how the country is rich in all kinds of different talents."
The Irn-Bru set also includes a steel tray inspired by the girders of the Forth Bridge, in celebration of Scotland's industrial past.
It will go on show alongside a whisky set, teapot, absinthe goblet and several other designs in the exhibition, which will go on show in Edinburgh after a world tour.
The Edinburgh-based Incorporation of Goldsmiths, headed by city jeweller Michael Laing, has masterminded the Silver of the Stars exhibition, which will be open to the public for the first time at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, on January 31.
The National Museum of Scotland, on Chambers Street, will host the exhibition for several months from January 2008, after it has visited New York, St Petersburg, Beijing and Kyoto. Other celebrity pieces include a teapot inspired by a Harley Davidson three-wheeler for Billy Connolly and a silver and gold quaich for Sir Sean Connery.
Coffee pot designed by Marion Kane for Ewan McGregor
An absinthe goblet, described as "overflowing with decadence", has been created for fashion designer Alexander McQueen, while a mug and teapot with motorbike handles has been made in silver for Ewan McGregor.
Other pieces include a fringed and jewelled teapot for Sharleen Spiteri, a whisky set for Robbie Coltrane, a hot chocolate service for Nicola Benedetti, a claret set for theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh and a teapot for Lulu.
Mr Laing said: "The idea for Silver of the Stars was to find a way of uniting creative talent from many different disciplines.
"Scotland is in the unique position of fostering a community of world-class silversmiths and we have also produced some of the biggest names in entertainment."
Oscar File: Ewan McGregor And His Mustache Steal Show In 'Miss Potter'
December 14, 2006 by Josh Horowitz
"Miss Potter" is not Ewan McGregor's film, and that's just fine with him. Check out the poster, and all you'll see is
Renée Zellweger's smiling face, but it is McGregor, the sometime Jedi/crooner, who nearly steals the show as her shy
and awkward love interest.
The movie, which opens in limited release December 29 (just in time for Oscar consideration), fits into the "Finding Neverland" mold.
Zellweger plays famed author Beatrix Potter, the woman who brought "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" to life. McGregor took some
time to talk to MTV about his latest flick, whether he worries about schmaltz and his plans to get naked again.
MTV: That's some facial hair you sport in this. Was the mustache real or not?
Ewan McGregor: Real. [Director Chris Noonan] sent me a photograph of the real Norman Warne, and he had the most
extraordinarily long mustache you've ever seen. Years and years must have gone into this mustache. I had time, so I grew
mine for two or three months.
MTV: Do you worry about the schmaltz factor with a film like this?
McGregor: I didn't read it as schmaltzy. If I had, I wouldn't have wanted to do it. I only saw it as a very true
and beautiful piece about [Potter] and her life.
MTV: "Moulin Rouge!" was another film of yours that might have fallen into schmaltz territory if not for a filmmaker
like Baz Luhrmann.
McGregor: I never had anything but absolute trust in him. When I first met Baz years before, he described what
he wanted it to be and he described what was on the screen at the end of the day. It was absolutely that. And I never wavered.
It went over budget and over schedule and over everything, but through it all, I was absolutely sold on it. I've never
worried about schmaltz. You can lose trust in a director for other reasons. Sometimes with new directors you feel like
you're getting direction for the sake of them directing you as opposed to putting you on the right track. And that can
be tricky because then you have to navigate that line of pretending you're playing their note and doing what you believe
to be right at the same time.
MTV: Tell me about the film you've been shooting with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams in New York, "The Tourist."
McGregor: We've got a very classy team. I've loved working with Hugh, because I think he's just a gorgeous man.
Most of all I've been working with Michelle, and she's an absolute delight. She's an exceptional young actress — she's
got a quality about her that's quite unique.
MTV: This one has you navigating through the sex clubs of New York. Does this mean the return of Ewan McGregor
nudity?
McGregor: Yes. [He laughs.] I don't think there's any willy stuff, but there's certainly bum stuff in it.
It's funny over here. You're quite safe from penis shots in America because American people don't have penises, so you
can't see them in film. Whereas in Britain you can see your penis in film. [He laughs.] So since it's an American
picture, it's just a bum you see.
MTV: When do you shoot the sequel to your motorcycle travel show, "Long Way Round"?
McGregor: Next year. "The Long Way Down" — it's from the north of Scotland to Capetown [South Africa]. We'll
leave sometime in the summer.
MTV: How did you come up with the title? Does it have anything to do with the "ER" episode you were in that had
almost the exact same name?
McGregor: I was in Australia shooting the third "Star Wars" film. Our producers came out, and we shot a trailer
to take around to TV companies. We were having dinner, and the boys were getting quite drunk and coming up with titles.
They were coming up with the most ludicrous ones, like "Wakey Wakey Hands Off Snakey, Charley It's Time to Ride." I kept
coming back to "Long Way Round," and we settled on it. After the trip I remembered that the episode of "ER" I did was "The
Long Way Around." So that's where it must have come from, somewhere in my subconscious.
MTV: You recently finished filming a new Woody Allen movie, "Cassandra's Dream," opposite Colin Farrell. How was
that?
McGregor: Fantastic. I loved working with Woody Allen. You raise your game firstly because it's him but also from
the way he shoots. It's so satisfying and so quick! He just shoots the scene. You go in and out of frame. It's wonderful.
And then you get home every day by 4:30.
MTV: Did you know that you are a seven-time nominee for an MTV Movie Award?
McGregor: [Surprised] Am I? Seven times! For what?
MTV: A lot for the "Star Wars" films, but it goes all the way back to "Trainspotting."
McGregor: God, I had no idea!
MTV: What's your attitude about awards?
McGregor: It's lovely if you get one. [He laughs.] I would never want to be someone who's acting to try
to get one, and I know a few of those actors. I won't mention names. It's nice to get them, but I can't bring myself to
get involved in trying to get one.
MTV: I'm sorry I never got to see you perform in London in "Guys and Dolls." Our question is ...
McGregor: Was I good? Yes. Very. [He laughs.]
MTV: Well, besides that, are you interested in doing another musical on film, perhaps even "Guys and Dolls"?
McGregor: "Guys and Dolls" was a great movie with Sinatra and Brando. I don't think we should try to touch that.
I have no plans to make [a musical], but I love the whole process of making a movie with music. There's a whole other element
to it that makes it refreshing. It's wonderful.
Renée Zelleweger nominated for a Golden Globe for Miss Potter
December 14, 2006
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominations for “The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” and Renée was nominated as Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. The other nominees in that category are Annette Bening (Running With Scissors), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), Beyoncé Knowles (Dreamgirls) and Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada).
“The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” will take place Monday, January 15, 2007, at The Beverly Hilton with a live telecast airing on NBC at 8 p.m. (EST).
Bid for a signed Obi-Wan Kenobi Action Figure Donated by Ewan
Fans of the epic Star Wars Saga will be excited by the opportunity to bid for this signed Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure, generously donated to us by Ewan McGregor. All proceeds from this sale will be donated to the National Library for the Blind.
This 2ft tall action figure comes in its original, unopened packaging and will be sold with a signed postcard of Ewan McGregor. This will make a wonderful gift for any Star Wars enthusiast (or Ewan fan!) this Christmas.
The National Library for the Blind (NLB) is a registered charity. Did you know that less than 5% of books ever make it into a format that blind people can read? This includes Braille, large print and audio. With your help, we can try and change this. To read more about NLB please go to our website at www.nlb-online.org.
Whether he's playing a drug addict, a hopeless romantic, or even a Jedi Knight, everyone loves Ewan McGregor. Now the Scot is back starring as Beatrix Potter's love interest, Norman Warne, in Miss Potter.
You have worked with Renee Zellwegger in the past. How was it being reunited with her again?
Me and Renee had such a fantastic time working on the film 'Down with Love.' It was a very specific kind of 1960s sex film comedy and I think I can speak for both of us, we love the film.
Although making it was very hard work. Sometimes if the timing wasn't exactly right on the dialogue then the scenes would fall flat on their face.
We would look at each other and think: ‘God, I just wish we could be doing something straight forward.'
So was this more straight forward?
Yeah, It's such a straight forward but beautiful story. To be sent this script from Renee was hugely flattering and absolutely what we were talking about.
It was wonderful to work with Renee, she's a beautiful and brilliant actress.
She has a beautiful sense of play when we work together, which is not always the case with other people I meet.
Obviously the characters in this film are based on real people, how much did you find out about the people you were playing?
I find the whole research into a character interesting.
And for each different character it dictates how much you have to do, or how much you feel is required.
There were some great photographs of Norman, Chris (the director) emailed me early. I feel there is a lot you can sense from photographs.
We went to the Warne Publishing house which still exists. I met two women who work there. They knew the Warne brothers inside out so they were a great source of information about Norman and the other brothers.
But I think his photographs said the most to me about him. Perhaps it is because I am a lazy reader.
Were you pleased to be singing again in this film?
Yeah, I have it written into my contract now, along with being naked. In my next film, I might do both at the same time!
Beatrix Potter would spend holidays in Perthshire which is close to your childhood home in Crieff. How did you feel about the film showing the Lake District as the location for the creation of her characters rather than Scotland?
What! I didn't know that... I'm taking my name off the end of the film!
Actually during shooting, I realised that there was a Perthshire connection but not before I started the film. And there is some filming around Glagow but it is posing as the Lake District so I suppose that makes up for it.
Clearly Beatrix Potter's work has touched children all over the world, have you read them to your children?
I read Beatrix Potter books to my children. Especially after we made this film because I was given the deluxe box set.
What was your favourite book when you were a child?
I remember very clearly being read Peter Pan when I was young. I even remember what the book looked like. It had a grey cover with beautiful pictures.
Harry Nilsson did an album called The Point! which in terms of a story would be the strongest childhood story that I have in my head.
My kids listen to it on a regular basis (because I make them).
And you're spending your pay from the movie on yet another motorcycle. Will you even grow out of them? How many of them do you have now?
No, I'm afraid I won't.
At the very top of the Isle of Man, there is a museum about the history of the Isle of Man TT, which is run by a guy called Paul Murray.
I went to visit it but it was shut.
So I phoned them up and found out he was closing down the museum and was selling all off all the bikes.
I thought that was a bad move so I went up there and I came back with a 1929 Rex Acme TT racer. My wife said ‘Oh no not again!.' I've got eleven now.
Ewan McGregor’s latest role in a film about Beatrix Potter marks a big break with his racy movie past. But he tells Brian Pendreigh that he still harbours dangerous passions
Motorbikes do something to Ewan McGregor. His eyes sparkle and his conversation revs up at the mention of his favourite machines. This is a man who travelled 19,000 miles across the world’s roughest terrain on a BMW and the experience has done nothing to diminish his passion.
“It’s a beautiful piece of kit,” he enthuses about his latest acquisition, the 11th bike in his collection. “Though my wife is going, ‘Oh no! Not another one!’”
The actor succumbed to temptation on location in the Isle of Man. “There’s a TT museum run by a guy called Paul Murray,” says McGregor. “I went to visit it, but I had to phone them because it was shut. He was closing down the museum and selling off all the bikes.
“I thought that was a bad move, so I went up there and came back with a 1929 Rex-Acme TT racer.”
Now he plans a new adventure with his best friend Charley Boorman and the cameraman Claudio von Planta.
Two years ago their trip through Europe, Asia and America was made into Long Way Round, a television series and book. Their next journey will take them from John o’Groats to Cape Town in the new year.
The trip is more than just a daring escapade with the lads. He will use it, like Long Way Round, to publicise the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, for which he is an ambassador. McGregor may look boyish, but he is a father of three who takes his responsibilities seriously.
With his neatly cut hair and sober jumper, the man in front of me resembles a distant, respectable cousin of Mark Renton, the cheeky junkie who burst onto cinema screens in the 1996 hit Trainspotting.
His new film, a biopic of the Edwardian children’s author Beatrix Potter, explores very different territory from Irvine Welsh, the poet laureate of the chemical generation and the author of Trainspotting, to whom McGregor owed much of his early fame.
Miss Potter is a gentle period drama in which McGregor plays Norman Warne, the publisher with whom the heroine develops a close, though chaste, relationship, leading to a secret engagement. It was filmed in the Lake District and the Isle of Man, affording him the opportunity to indulge his motorcycle obsession.
The star of Moulin Rouge and Star Wars was approached to appear in the film by Renée Zellweger, who was an executive producer as well as its star.
The two had played opposite one another before, in the 2003 film Down with Love. A romantic comedy in the style of the successful Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies, the quick-witted exchanges were exhausting for both actors.
“It was a very specific kind of 1960s’ sex film comedy,” he explains.
“It was very hard work. Sometimes if the timing wasn’t absolutely right on the dialogue, those scenes would fall flat on their faces.”
In these moments, the two stars often looked at each other and said: “I wish we could just be doing something straightforward.” Zellweger was true to her word. She sent McGregor the script of Miss Potter a couple of years later. He was hugely flattered.
“It was absolutely what we had been talking about, a beautiful story and a simple, kind of straightforward one.”
Beatrix Potter was born into a rich London family in 1866. As a girl she wrote illustrated stories inspired by her pet animals, including a rabbit called Peter and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle the hedgehog. The resulting stories reflect a passion for the countryside acquired during her family holidays in Perthshire and the Lake District.
It was an era when a young lady’s priority was securing a well-bred and wealthy husband. Pursuing a career and earning one’s own living were not thought respectable. The film presents Potter as a relatively independent- minded woman, whose values were not entirely in keeping with those of her class or time. Still single in her thirties, she made a little money creating illustrations for greetings cards.
Then she met Warne, a younger brother in a family publishing company. He encouraged her to write and helped build up her confidence. A regular visitor to tea at the Potter family home, he one day surprised Beatrix by proposing marriage.
They secretly became engaged despite fierce opposition from Potter’s parents, who did not want her to marry someone who was “in trade”. As the film details, their disapproval was not the only obstacle to the couple’s happiness.
McGregor’s principal inspiration for the role of Warne was a collection of photographs. “I think there’s a lot you can sense from photographs,” he said.
The young publisher is a gentleman in every sense of the word. This makes him a very different sort of leading man from those McGregor has played in notorious, sexually explicit films such as Young Adam and The Pillow Book. He believes he now gets the chance to play a wider range of roles, and jokes that he no longer has to show his penis in every film.
One might also be forgiven for assuming he was attracted to the Warne role because of Potter’s strong Scottish connections. She spent family holidays in Dunkeld, Perthshire, close to McGregor’s childhood home in Crieff. It was here, not the Lake District, that her most famous creature was born.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit first appeared as an illustrated letter to a friend’s son, written from Scotland in 1893. Mr. McGregor, the grumpy gardener who plans to put Peter in the pot, is almost certainly inspired by a local man from Dunkeld.
But film-makers do not like to be burdened with too much extraneous detail. So for the sake of simplicity, the genesis of Peter Rabbit is relocated from Perthshire to the Lake District, where Potter also spent childhood holidays and much of her adult life after becoming a bestselling author. Most of the filming was done in Cumbria and the Isle of Man.
McGregor was unaware that Peter Rabbit was practically a neighbour. As to the snubbing of his native land, he adopts an expression of mock horror: “I didn’t know that... I’m taking my name off the end of the film!”
If you look closely, however, Scotland does make it to the screen — disguised as the lakes. The director, Chris Noonan, whose previous credits include the 1995 hit Babe, spent a week shooting scenes around Loch Lomond. Boturich Castle estate, Finnich Malise at the southern end of the Loch and even Ben Lomond can be seen. The Scottish footage was included to accommodate Emily Watson, who plays Warne’s sister and who was working simultaneously on The Waterhorse, which was then being made in Scotland. Zellweger and Watson filmed for a week, though McGregor was not involved.
Despite his obvious enjoyment at being involved with the project, he admits an ignorance of Potter before Zellweger’s script landed in his lap. Generations of children have been entertained by the antics of Peter, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Jeremy Fisher. But young McGregor was not one of them. He preferred The Broons. He laughs at the suggestion that the moustache he grew to play Warne makes him look like Hen, the lanky older brother in the doughty Dundonian family.
“A Broons movie would be great for sure,” he says. “My friend Douglas Henshall was always talking about doing a Broons movie!”
He admits he was never a great reader and his favourite childhood story was Harry Nilsson’s The Point, which was a record rather than a book. “My uncle Denis [Lawson, the actor] got it for me I think.”
Once he started filming Miss Potter, though, he began to notice her work everywhere.
“My parents sent down the complete works of Beatrix Potter when my daughter, Clara, was born. Then I started noticing we had eggcups and plates, stuff all over the house.”
The film has given McGregor a new respect for the author — he now has a “deluxe” set of her books and reads them to his children.
“I didn’t know anything about her and that’s why I’ve enjoyed the script so much. You discover what an extraordinary woman she was.”
Miss Potter opens nationwide on January 5
When Potter captured Perthshire
Potter’s father, Rupert, rented a country house every summer, first in Perthshire then later on in the Lake District, and many of her characters were based on the small animals she “adopted” during childhood family holidays.
At the Birnam Institute (01350 727674; www.birnaminstitute.com) the exhibition The Fascinating Acquaintance details the story of the young author’s friendship with a local naturalist, Charles McIntosh. The two shared a mutual interest in wildlife and in particular fungi.
The nearby Beatrix Potter Garden re-creates the characters and settings of her work with footpaths that lead down to houses of Mr Tod and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.
Visitors can also see the stream and pond that was home to Mr Jeremy Fisher and, of course, Peter Rabbit’s burrow.
Perth Museum and Art Gallery (01738 632488; www.pkc.gov.uk) has a collection of 25 of Potter’s watercolours of fungi as well as specimens, correspondence and memorabilia belonging to Charles McIntosh
Miss Potter score by Nigel Westlake and Rachel Portman to be released in January 2007
12/06/2006
Republic Media will be releasing the soundtrack to Miss Potter, featuring music by Nigel Westlake and Rachel Portman, on January 8, 2007.
The life of Beatrix Potter, the most successful classic children's author of all time, is the most enchanting tale of all and the film Miss Potter is a magical love story inspired by her life. Starring Renée Zellweger (Bridget Jones, Chicago and Cold Mountain) & Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and Star Wars) the film is directed by Academy Award-nominated Chris Noonan.
Set in London and the Lake District in 1902, Beatrix Potter is a woman ahead of her time, a free spirit who defies the conventions of her Victorian upbringing to create a publishing phenomenon. Going against the wishes of her parents she secretly falls in love and becomes engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne.
The soundtrack to Miss Potter is an orchestral score composed by the award winning Nigel Westlake (Babe) with additional music by Rachel Portman (Oliver Twist, Benny & Joon and Chocolat). The lush, romantic and beautiful score takes the listener on a journey through Beatrix Potter's life, the creation of her much-loved characters, her personal turmoil and the beauty of the Cumbrian countryside (where the film is predominantly set).
Katie Melua performs When You Taught Me How To Dance, the vocal adaptation of the orchestral theme tune.
Track listing
1. Miss Potter
2. The Park
3. A Bunny Book to Conjure With
4. The Story of Peter Rabbit
5. Mother
6. Jemima Puddle Duck
7. The Rabbits' Christmas Party
8. "Mr Warne!"
9. Beatrix & Norman
10. Return to London
11. Beatrix Locks Herself Away
12. Recovery
13. 'I'm Painting Again'
14. The Lakes
15. When You Taught Me How To Dance - performed by Katie Melua
Music Composed by: Nigel Westlake Tracks 1, 3 - 10, 12 & 13
Additional Music Composed by: Rachel Portman Tracks 2, 11 & 14
Track 15 When You Taught Me How To Dance, performed by Katie Melua. Music by Nigel Westlake and Mike Batt. Lyrics by Mike Batt and Richard. Maltby jr.
Produced and arranged by Mike Batt.
All the stars of the film will be out and glammed up for the New York premiere of Miss Potter this Sunday, so expect to see more pictures of Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor in their sparkly best.
"Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker": (PG). Fourteen-year-old Alex Rider (Alex Pettyfer) is recruited by the British spy organization MI6. Ewan McGregor, Robbie Coltrane and Alicia Silverstone co-star. Opens Friday at Rave Motion Pictures Pensacola 18.
FREE tickets to a special preview screening of the Cumbrian-set Beatrix Potter story, Miss Potter, starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, are up for grabs at Carlisle’s Vue cinema.
The movie charts the life of the world-famous author and was filmed on location in Windermere and Keswick.
The film goes on general release in cinemas on January 5 but a special ticket-only preview is being held at the Vue Cinema on Tuesday.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated Chris Noonan, the film is a biopic that follows children’s author Beatrix Potter’s rise to being the most successful children’s author of all time with tales about characters including Jemima Puddleduck and Miss Tiggy-Winkle.
The movie cost £30m to make and is expected to boost tourism and interest in The Lakes.
Tickets will only be available online, from www.myvue.com, for the 6.30pm screening.
No tax incentives for film-makers to shoot in Britain
Penny Sukhraj, Accountancy Age, 05 Dec 2006
Hollywood star criticises UK taxman for not offering tax-breaks to film-makers who want to make movies in Britain
Hollywood heart-throb Ewan McGregor has blasted the lack of tax incentives for filmmakers to work in the UK.
The Scottish-born actor – whose latest role is Norman Warne, Beatrix Potter's publisher and secret love in Miss Potter – made the comment during an interview, adding that he relished the opportunity of filming in London and the Lake District, the Daily Express reported.
'We should be making more and more films over here. But the problem is there are no tax incentives to work here.
'It's crazy. We have such fantastic studios, technicians and some of the best actors in the world – so it's just lunacy. They don't make it attractive for actors to work here,' he said.
As star Renée Zellweger braved the chill to step out in a little black dress last night at the world premiere of her new film Miss Potter, co-star Ewan McGregor spoke of his family's love for Beatrix Potter's characters.
Joining the Bridget Jones star on the red carpet at the Odeon in London's Leicester Square, McGregor said his young children were fans of the stories.
"I think there's not many houses in the country that don't have a Beatrix Potter book or two lying around – people with kids anyway," he said.
He said the family's favourite character was Peter Rabbit.
"Peter Rabbit's great – I have got the whole Mr McGregor thing going on."
Following her role in the Bridget Jones films, Zellweger revealed she had developed a taste for British cuisine. "I understand the beans on toast breakfast. I crave it," said the star.
But the Oscar-winning actress said she didn't have any plans to move to England permanently just yet.
"I don't know if I can afford it," she joked.
"I move around so much with work that I kind of don't live anywhere. But I would not be opposed to the idea of it at all."
Set in London and the Lake District, Miss Potter is a love story inspired by the life of Beatrix Potter, the most successful classic children's author of all times.
The film follows the development of her early career and views on the world as she opens her eyes to the true nature of her relationship with her publisher Norman Warne.
Zellweger had nothing but praise for the Lake District, where part of the film was shot, and said she hoped to go back there some day. "Oh, I hope so, isn't it gorgeous up there?" she said.
"It's absolutely stunning, I would love to go back." McGregor, who plays publisher Norman Warne, said he signed up to do the film for the chance to work with Zellweger again.
"We did a film together called Down With Love and I had a great time working on that so it was nice to work with her again" said McGregor.
London's Leicester Square harks back to the era of Britain's Queen Victoria for world premiere of "Miss Potter".
Reuters showbiz reporter Mirja Spernal braved the cold weather for the screening of the world premiere of `Miss Potter' the story and life of Beatrix Potter. Potter - one of the most successful classic children's author of all time - wrote her books during the era of Britain's Queen Victoria at the beginning of the 20th century.
The movie follows the development of her early career and views on the world as she opens her eyes to the true nature of her relationship with her publisher Norman Warne. Joining her, were the stars of the film, Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.
Click on the link below for a video interview with Renée and Ewan.
Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger walked the red carpet earlier today at London’s premiere of Miss Potter in Odeon Leicester Square. IMDB poster DomBiLijah_Live_On reports from the premiere: “Met Ewan, who screamed back at us after me and a few other girls were screaming for him, he grinned and did this fangirly scream back.”
Miss Potter tells the story of of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children’s book, “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, and her struggle for love, happiness and success. US release dates: Dec. 29 (limited), Jan. 12. UK release date: Jan. 5.
Here are some pictures from the premiere, click on them for full versions.
Back Stage, in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter, is pleased to continue its "An Evening with..." series with a special New York screening of Miss Potter, the upcoming drama from director Chris Noonan featuring Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, and Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger.
A question-and-answer session with Zellweger and Watson will follow the screening.
Zellweger stars as Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The story follows the writer as she shoots to fame, leaves his fiance, Norman Warne, played by McGregor, and struggles to find happiness and success. Watson plays Warne's sister, Millie.
The film will combine biographic stories from Potter's life with animated sequences from her short stories.
The screening will be held:
Thursday, Dec. 7, at 6:30 p.m.
AMC Loews 14 Cinema
312 W. 34th St.
NYC
No RSVP is required. Seating is first-come, first-serve.
For quarter of a century, campaigners have struggled to secure funding for the fight against Aids and HIV. Stars rally to the cause now, but it remains a tough battle.
[...]
As an ambassador for Unicef, Ewan McGregor has made a World Aids Day documentary (to be shown on Sky Three at 8pm tonight) in which he visited Malawi to report on children as the "missing face of Aids". He says: "I met children in Malawi who have lost one or both parents to Aids and have been left to grow up alone. In the run-up to Christmas and the New Year, don't buy your friends and family the same old soap or socks. Why not buy one of Unicef's gifts instead? Last year I bought my parents a ton of porridge for a village. For about £14, your could give a child orphaned by Aids the basic health care, nutrition, school uniform and supplies it needs, as well as psychosocial support during times of distress."
[...]
If you would like to read the entire article, please click on the link below.
Ewan McGregor travelled to Malawi in his role as UNICEF Ambassador to see first-hand how AIDS is devastating the lives of so many children here - and what UNICEF is doing to help.
During this visit Ewan met a boy called Evans who has lost both his parents to AIDS-related illness and must now care for his siblings alone, in a situation of extreme poverty.
Watch the film (by clicking on the link below) and hear Ewan describing how the children are struggling to cope.
Renée and Mr McGregor to star at Cumbria’s Potter premiere?
Published on 01/12/2006
By Pam McClounie
The Miss Potter film starring Renée Zellweger will get its own premiere in Cumbria later this month.
Invited guests will watch the film, which was partly shot in the county, at the Royalty cinema in Bowness-on-Windermere on Sunday December 17.
It is not yet known if any of the cast will attend the local premiere.
Zellweger, who plays Beatrix Potter, and her co-stars Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson will walk down the famous red carpet in London’s Leicester Square on Sunday for its UK premiere.
The film goes on general release in cinemas on January 5 but a special ticket-only preview is being held at the Vue Cinema in Carlisle on Tuesday December 12.
Directed by Academy Award-nominated Chris Noonan, the film is a biopic that follows children’s author Beatrix Potter’s rise to being the most successful children’s author of all time with tales about characters including Jemima Puddleduck and Miss Tiggy-Winkle.
It is set in London and the Lake District in 1902, where Beatrix Potter is a woman ahead of her time, a free spirit who defies the conventions of her Victorian upbringing to create a publishing phenomenon.
Going against the wishes of her parents, she secretly falls in love and becomes engaged to her publisher, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor).
Film crews came to the Lake District in March and April to film Miss Potter.
Some of the filming took place in the Windermere and Keswick areas including scenes on Derwentwater, Lamplugh, Loweswater, the Rum Story in Whitehaven and a closed set during which the film makers hired Keswick School for a day.
Zellweger stayed with other cast members at the luxurious Holbeck Ghyll Hotel overlooking Windermere and at the Washington Central Hotel in Workington. She also unveiled a statue at The World of Beatrix Potter in Bowness.
They also filmed in London and on the Isle of Man.
Alan Sewell, Cumbria’s film liaison officer, worked with the film-makers to ensure they came to this county for the making of a picture about one of its best-known and best-loved characters.
Mr Sewell thinks the £30m movie can only be good news for Cumbria. “Having a film made here is great from the economic investment point of view,” he said.
Hotels are hoping to cash in on the new film.
Tourism chiefs hope Miss Potter will inspire fans of the author to visit Cumbria.
The Regent Hotel, Lake House Hotel and Lakes Lodge in Ambleside have already launched special holiday packages to entice people to visit the shores of Windermere ahead of the film’s release.
They include optional trips to any of nine lakes, a visit to the World of Beatrix Potter attraction at Windermere and freshly-produced local meals.
Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, stars of Long Way Round have put down their motorbikes for a week or two and embarked on a different kind of journey from their last, this time to raise awareness and funds for children affected by AIDS.
The well-known pair have fronted an exclusive documentary called 'The Missing Face' that will be broadcast on World AIDS Day, Friday 1 December 2006 at 8pm, on SKY 3, telling the stories of individual children's lives in Swaziland and Malawi.
The hour long programme follows Ewan and Charley on their respective journeys to Malawi and Swaziland, two countries hard hit by HIV in Southern Africa, exploring how children are missing out on their childhoods because of HIV, giving deeply personal accounts of their experiences.
During the programme, the pair meet children like Majaba, orphaned by AIDS at just 13 years old and living alone in a rural area in Swaziland. They spend time to hear how children like Majabha cope alone, their hopes, struggles and dreams. They delve into the issues of stigma, the problems facing children orphaned by AIDS and are shocked to learn that with the right drugs and healthcare pregnant HIV positive mothers can give birth to babies free from HIV.
Ewan, Charley and Big Earth Director Russ Malkin are committed to raising awareness of HIV through the film and generating funds for UNICEF's five year campaign helping children affected by AIDS. Viewers and fans can donate to UNICEF's campaign helping children affected by AIDS by text, online or by phone.
Charley Boorman meets orphaned and vulnerable children in a UNICEF-supported Neighbourhood Care Point, Swaziland.
UNICEF/2006/Sarah Epstein
Long Way Round stars Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have put down their motorbikes for a week or two and embarked on a different kind of journey from their last, this time to raise awareness and funds for children affected by AIDS.
The pair are fronting ‘The Missing Face’, an exclusive documentary to be broadcast on World AIDS Day, Friday 1 December, at 8pm on Sky Three. The film, a deeply personal account of Ewan and Charley’s experiences, tells the stories of individual children’s lives in Swaziland and Malawi in communities devastated by AIDS. It highlights the missing faces of children that are so often lost in all the statistics.
The hard-hitting, one-off documentary has been produced by Big Earth, makers of Long Way Round, to increase awareness of children affected by AIDS and encourage donations for UNICEF’s current campaign ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’. The hour-long programme follows Ewan and Charley on their respective journeys to Malawi and Swaziland, two countries struggling with the HIV virus in Southern Africa. They explore how children miss out on their childhoods because of HIV.
UNICEF Ambassador Ewan McGregor commented, “HIV is a virus that has left virtually no country untouched and it is children that are paying a particularly high price. The documentary is called the ‘Missing Face’ because in the ocean of statistics about HIV and AIDS, it’s very easy to forget that what we’re talking about are the faces and lives of individual children. Charley and I wanted to go and fill in that missing face and help others go beyond the statistics too.”
Charley Boorman added, “About two years ago, Ewan and I did a trip called the Long Way Round and one of the highlights of our journey was working with UNICEF visiting a few different projects helping children. When we came back we wanted to do more, particularly about HIV and AIDS. I went to Swaziland, Ewan went to Malawi, to see the kind of things happening to children affected by AIDS in both countries. This documentary is not about statistics but tries to get to the individual child and show what happens to them and their individual families.”
During the programme, the pair meet children like Majabha, orphaned by AIDS at just 13 and living alone in a rural area in Swaziland. They hear how children like Majabha cope alone, their hopes, struggles and dreams in life. They delve into the issues of stigma amongst young people, the problems facing children orphaned by AIDS, and are shocked to learn that with the right drugs and healthcare pregnant HIV-positive mothers can give birth to babies free from HIV.
Boorman adds, “The UK government and all the G8 governments must keep their promises and make sure that everyone who needs anti-retroviral treatment gets it by 2010. These drugs are essential for HIV-positive children that need them and would also keep parents alive and prevent more children being orphaned. Ewan and I both believe that children should be given a future and are asking people to call on the UK government to keep the Promise to drugs for all by 2010. Log on to www.unicef.org.uk/aids to sign up now.”
Ewan, Charley and Big Earth Producer/Director Russ Malkin, are committed to raising awareness of the issues through the film and generate funds for UNICEF's five year campaign helping children affected by AIDS. Viewers who are moved to donate to help children affected by AIDS will be asked to either press the red button whilst watching or to log on at www.missingface.com where they will be able to donate by text, online or on the phone.
Transmission of ‘Missing Face’ is at 8pm on Friday December 1st 2006 on SKY Three.
Who has the higher ground now? Michelle Williams gets the slightest height advantage over costar Ewan McGregor while filming The Tourist in downtown New York on Tuesday.
Miss Potter Sneak Preview! Emily Watson and Director Chris Noonan in Person!
American Cinematheque Presents... Miss Potter at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California. Discussion following with director Chris Noonan and actress and Emily Watson.
Sign up to get passes to a free advance screening of Miss Potter from Entertainment Weekly.
If you live near Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco or Washington, D.C., you can get passes to an advance screening to be held in December 2006. Click on the link below to enter! Sign up will end on December 7.
The Doctor, The Tornado and The Kentucky Kid released today on DVD
The Doctor, The Tornado and The Kentucky Kid is being released today onto DVD. The DVD relives the 2005 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix through the eyes of Valentino Rossi (The Doctor), Colin Edwards (The Tornado) and Nicky Hayden (The Kentucky Kid) and it is narrated by Ewan McGregor. You can watch the trailer by clicking here.
To celebrate the release of Miss Potter, in cinemas across the UK from 5th January 2007, we are giving you the chance to enter a fantastic competition for some exclusive prizes!
For your chance to win, answer the questions on the site (link below) and complete the tie-breaker.
Competition ends midnight 23rd November 2006, Terms and Conditions apply.
A new trailer for Miss Potter has been released at Moviefone. Unfortunately, it requires ActiveX to play from the web site, which is a huge security risk. However, there is a Quicktime version that everyone can view safely: Miss Potter Trailer (direct link).
The sound problem from the first version of the trailer has also been fixed.
"Miss Potter" has a lot in common with 2003's J.M. Barrie-inspired "Finding Neverland": It's about a turn-of-the-century British children's author whose most famous character is called Peter, it stars Academy favorites and the plot involves a tragic loss.
"Neverland" was nominated for seven statuettes, including picture and actor, while taking home just one, for original score.
Somewhat similar to the incorporation of Barrie's book characters in "Neverland," Beatrix Potter's illustrations -- Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddleduck included -- come to life on screen in sequences interwov
Ewan McGregor has been involved in no fewer than six films this year. But that doesn't stop his fellow countrymen telling him: 'You're not as good as Alec Guinness.' Interview by Nigel Farndale
