Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Ewan McGregor

Episode Date: February 9, 2020

Ewan McGregor’s rise to stardom started in the small Scottish town of Crieff, where he was just a teenager when he dropped out of school to chase his dream of becoming an actor. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist talks to the Hollywood star about that journey, from starring in films like Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge, and Star Wars, to his latest role as the villain in the highly-anticipated new superhero movie Birds of Prey. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My big thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along with me again this week. Good one for you. I think this week again, Ewan McGregor, Golden Globe winning actor Ewan McGregor, who, as you probably know, got his break in train spotting where he played a heroin addict, became a darling sort of of the independent film community. And then soon after, agonized over the decision, believe it or not, but was cast in Star Wars episode one, the Phantom Menace. as Obi-Wan Kenobi and did three Star Wars movies. Somewhere in there, he did Mulan Rouge as well, and kept that balance of big movies, big blockbustery Hollywood productions, and also keeping that sort of small film cred. He won his Golden Globe for the FX series Fargo just a couple of years ago.

Really interesting guy who's lived a lot of life, whose parents gave him permission at 16 years old in his tiny village in Scotland to leave school and go chase his dream of being an actor. his uncle actually was an actor as well and his inspiration his uncle was one of the ex-wing fighter pilots in the original star wars movie and you'll hear in our conversation the advice surprising advice i think you'll find that his uncle gave him about whether or not he should do the star wars movies he's now starring as the villain roman black mask in birds of prey the dc movie that stars margot roby as harley quinn and it's a band of five badass women, if I may be so bold, fighting Ewan McGregor. It's directed by a woman. It's written by a woman.

It's all about power. It's all about women empowerment. And Ewan McGregor finds himself in the middle of it. We got together at a cool spot called Gold Bar in New York City. And just to paint a visual picture, our great producer Hannah thought this would be the perfect spot for the villain Black Mask because it's got gold skulls on the wall. And in the film, he owns a nightclub, the character. does and it just kind of felt like that kind of place. A little dark, a little edgy. I don't know if it was creepy, but there definitely were gold skulls staring at us over the course of the interview. I hope you enjoy our conversation right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast with Ewan McGregor. Thank you for doing this, sir. My pleasure.

Nice to meet you. You as well. We brought you to a place we thought would fit both of us so well. Skulls on the walls, gold chains behind us. Yeah, it's very, it's a good touch for the character. I play in birds of praise. Very like his club. You're right, and that's what our brilliant producer thought as well,

was that this would be good for Roman. Roman. So let's talk about Roman, who he is. Yes. What appealed to you about that character when you read it on the page? Yeah, Roman, well, I think there's, as an actor, there's something exciting to play a character that has great polar opposites in him. So Roman is in one hand incredibly charming and gregarious and people like to be around him.

And he has a club and it's a very popular club because he makes people feel good. They like to be around him. And in the blinking of an eye, he can be unbelievably horrendous and violent and horrible and cutting. And that, I think, is exciting to play. as an actor and to see if you can sort of believably flip from one to the next. And then to sort of further dig into why he might be that way was of interest to me. He comes from a very rich, Gotham family. And he's been sort of ousted from his family.

You know, he's probably not very good at what he does. He's probably not a very good business person. And he's also just despicable. So his family have got rid of him, and he's horribly rageful about it. And he's got a very thin skin. And doesn't like... He's starting to sound like someone we know.

Somebody who's in charge. So I liked that sort of exploration of why he behaves the way he is, does, and it was fun to play. Do you have to empathize with a character before you play them? I've heard actors who play villains or clearly bad guys say, I've got to find something, maybe not that I like about them, but something I can plug into a little bit.

I think you can't play the bad guy. You know, you can't play just being the bad guy because otherwise it doesn't, so you have to understand it. And I think whenever somebody is being rageful or horrendous or in my case in this film, there's some moments of massive misogyny, which was another thing I was interested in this film about because it's a female driven piece. It's four leading ladies.

It's five leading ladies. It's directed by a lady Kathy and written by Christina and produced by Suez. It's a female driven piece that tackles, albeit that it is just a great kick-ass sort of superhero film. It also explores the world of misogyny. You know, and I'm playing the sort of misogyner, if you like. So you have to, to be able to play those scenes, you can't just play the bad guy or it won't feel true. You have to play what he's feeling.

And I think when people are in the moment of violence or the moment of rage, they're completely connected with it. They're not putting it on, you know, it's happening for a reason. So you have to get into that, you have to understand that moment, I suppose, to be able to play it. I told you a minute ago I'd interviewed over a year ago, Margot Robbie, when this was all being shot. and developed.

And she was excited about the prospect of of being a woman dream of film. And her production company, they produce it. What was the appeal for you to step into that world? You've got four girls. Yeah. Not strange territory for you.

Yeah. What was it the appeal of you to step into that world and make some kind of commentary about misogyny? Yes, yeah. I thought it's, you know, because it's time. It's just time.

And you come across, you know, we're open to it and we're learning all the time, men, I think. we've got a lot of catching up to do for a long, long time. We've had it in a certain way, and it's got to, it's changing, and it's got to change. And, but change doesn't come easy, I think, for a lot of people.

And you notice it when you, I don't know, when you step outside of, when you go into the countryside, or just in a different environment, you can see that people have got some catching up to do. And a film like this can do that. A film like this can put that out there, you know. and I was just sort of proud to be part of that. Like you say, I've got four girls myself. I'm just, I'm lucky to be working in an industry where we're aware of how things were

and how things need to be and are actively taking part and making that different and changing that. So to be in a movie that sort of tackles that, and I love the fact that it wasn't, a lot of pieces are about extreme, the extreme ends of misogyny, rape or beating or... And we have horrible moments in this film,

but we also have the sort of general, mundane, man-splaining, all of the, all of the mundane everyday misogyny that women have to put up with is tackled in this film too. And that's because it's written by a woman and it's performed by women. So as a result, I just really liked that. I thought it was a good... For me, I was like, oh, yeah, you know.

I could have been guilty of the darling thing or, you know, or mansplating or something like that. So I thought that was good to be involved in it for those reasons, too. So there's the deeper part of the piece, which you've described here, but also I have to imagine on another level, perhaps more shallow level. It's just fun to play a bad guy sometimes. Is that fun? It was fun to play him. Except for the, there's one, there's a scene where he humiliates a woman in a nightclub. and that wasn't nice.

It just wasn't fun to play because it was just awful. And it had to be, you know, but it just didn't feel in any way good. The sort of, the stuff I did with Chris Messina, Chris plays my sort of henchman or my right-hand man. And we did develop this very odd and funny relationship. He's brilliant.

I've known him a little while sort of socially, but never worked with him. And I loved working with him a lot. And I, And I got to play the real bad guy with him because I'm the boss and he's looking to me for instruction all the time. And also wants my favor and wants me to, you know, wants my affection and I just don't want to give it to him.

So that stuff was fun to play. That was really sort of more the villain-esque scenes, you know. But sort of like I say, the moments of humiliation and stuff weren't all that much fun to play at all. We were just talking about the big premieres and all the fans. events that come with doing a film like this. You're no stranger to it, having been the three Star Wars films. Are you ready to jump in now to this big DC universe and to be a part of that story and to have the fans have some expectation of how you play the character?

It's quite interesting. I don't sort of get into it, really. I mean, I don't like look to see what people are saying, really. I get told. People go, well, you should, you said this and they I'm happy about that. I've told you already, haven't they about it? But some people, yeah, sort of threats. With the Star Wars, because I'm doing another Star Wars series. I'm going to do an Obi-1 series. It's now turned into a series for Disney and for Lucasfilm.

So that people are quite happy to come up and tell you what they think it should be or not to mess it up, you know. That's the polite version of what they tell you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it belongs to them. a way, you know, and I think that kind of fandom is, is, is, is, uh, it does belong to them in a way. I mean, but, but I don't really come into, I don't come into contact with it very much. I don't, um, I have never done the sort of convention circuit yet.

Oh, you're in. Oh, I'm in now, though. Maybe I should go now, but I haven't done that yet. So I don't come face to face with it an awful lot. And I don't do social media or anything anymore. And I, so I don't, I don't come to, I don't come across it there, which is where you really get confronted with it usually. Yes.

So I don't really see it very much, but I think I do understand that there's a sort of belonging that the fans feel like these characters and these storylines sort of belong to them because they love it so much. You know, there's a real connection there. So I understand that. But at the same time, you know, we're making the films and the choices that I made or the choices that I made working with the people I'm working with, with Kathy, the director and Margot and, you know, the choices we made for.

Black Mask, our creative conversation between all of us. So this is where we ended up. I'm curious what those conversations were like with Margot, for example, because like I said, it's her production company. They were sort of driving it. Yeah. Did you work intimately and talk about here's who we want Roman to be? And did she have ideas for you on him? Well, I did. Through Kathy, really. I mean, I would work mainly with the director. And, but I'm sure they've had all those conversations before. And my interaction. With Margot was mainly on set, because I believe she was, I think she's so busy, you know, she's going from one film to the next. So she was shooting something during the prep period.

Or at least when I was sort of having my meetings with Kathy. And then I met her properly, you know, when we started shooting. She's really impressive. She's so great. She's very, she's very professional and private almost on set. She's playing her part, you know, and her part is so extreme. Harley Quinn, that maybe that makes her, you know, she's very thoughtful and pensive on set. And then I've gotten to know more since we finished making the film in a way.

And when we're doing press and stuff, you see more of her own character. And she's very funny and very fun to be around. Is it fun to be back in these big budget films like this? You've done everything as an actor. You've done independent films and small, gritty movies. Do you like being on a big film set with special effects and all the rest of it once in a while? I do. I do. I do like the, I do.

I like the variety of it, it's true. I like, I like all of it. I've always enjoyed what I do and I love acting and I love, I love the moment when you're, when the camera's rolling and you're, and you're coming up with what's going to be your performance in a story is, is still very exciting to me. I do love being lost in that moment. And I like the variety, yeah.

There's different energies, you know, a big film, it just takes long, It just necessarily takes longer. There's, there's, very often you'll be going to work to play the same scene day after, not on this film, because Birds of Prairie wasn't like in the massive end of the financial spectrum for movies, but it was, it was a big film nonetheless. And it had a good pace, you know, we were, we were shooting not slowly, but I've done big movies where you shoot the same scene for days and days. And it gets really, it could get quite tedious.

Sure. It could get boring. Your, your job then is to keep it fresh and keep it real, you know. And then the indie films you're shooting in five weeks. You literally are like running around, changing costume on the hoof. You know, it's good. You don't seem to me like the kind of guy who calculates a career arc. It seems like you've just taken good projects as they come along.

Some actors, I think, probably think, oh, I need to do a big budget movie or something like that. Do you have a philosophy on the roles you take, or is it just good script, good director, people I want to work with at this point? I don't know, because it's always changing. I don't have a great sense of it. And I like that.

I don't, because I think if you're trying to mould something, it's a very difficult thing to do. I mean, it's hard enough just to be, you know, convincing and good in a movie. That's enough for me. I like to put my energy there. And, you know, I have a great, I've had great agents.

I have a very good agent who think more along those lines. So I'm advised, of course. by those people. I actually think it's admirable because you famously, with your star as big as it could be in the middle of the Star Wars run, and I'm sure all your agents were saying, you've got to do this next. You said, I'm going to go take a 19,000 mile bike ride with my buddy.

Probably not what they advised you to do. No, they were very happy about that. But I just been lucky. Look, I've been really lucky, and I do, I wouldn't be able to do work on a film I didn't believe in. you know now there's different degrees of that of course and there are moments where you think the idea being in a big in a film with exposure is a good idea it's you know if you if i love making indie films and small i like i like that probably the most just the feeling of it that

small crew you know i made a film with rodrigo garcia we went to the desert outside of l. and we made this film called last days in the desert where i played jesus for five weeks and we and it was an amazing experience. So that's probably the most satisfying feeling for an actor. But if you did those movies, one after the other after the other, then, you know, you still have to, people still have to know that you were there and see you. But you still have to believe in those films. Like playing Roman in this film,

you couldn't do that if you didn't believe in it somehow. You didn't have a reason to do it or a gut feeling that you wanted to do it. But that's sort of where it ends. I've been lucky to be able to pick and choose a little bit, I suppose. it all started with train spotting, which I don't make to make you feel old, but a couple of weeks from now will be 24 years old, which I believe is half your life. That's not right. Did I drive that home hard enough to you?

No, no, no, but I think you've made an error. There's been some sort of mathematical. I actually couldn't believe it, because I remember when it came out and it was so different and cool and dark and funny and all the things train spotting was. Did you have a sense when you were shooting that film that you were on to something special? You couldn't have imagined it was going to become this iconic movie. But did you know you had something?

I mean, I was, it was the fourth movie I'd ever made. I made Shallow Grave with the same team with Danny Boyle and Andrew McDonald producing and John Hodge writing. And we made this film Shallow Grave, which was a three-hander. It was a, it was a, I felt my first movie and their first movie, Danny's first movie, and with Chris Ackleston and Kerry Fox and I. And it was an amazing experience. But up until then, I'd done a few, I've done a few,

I'd played the lead in the BBC adaptation of Stan Dahl's novel, The Scarlet and the Black, the Rue de Noir. And I had started my career in a Dennis Potter series called Lipstick on Your Polly, which was a six-hour TV one-off TV show. He was one of our best TV writers, Dennis Potter, in Britain. So I'd had those experiences. And when I made Shallow Grave, I didn't realize what was different. You know, I'd had these two filmmaking experiences, and this felt similar.

And when I saw it, I realized that I was involved in something very new, something different. And then British cinema is something important, you know, with Danny. And his great camera, his cinematographer Brian Tafano shot both Shallowgrave and Train Spotting. And they came up with this new feeling, a look and an energy. And it was like real, it was just so exciting to be part of. It was so exciting. And then when they then asked me to play Renton and then train spotting, they asked me when we were in, we went to Sundance with Shallow Grave.

And that was my first trip to Utah. And then from there I went to L.A. It was my first time going to L.A. Really? Yeah. It was just, I'd been in America when I was a kid, but hadn't been back since then. It was pretty, it was mind-blowing. And on that trip, they said, look, we want you to read this train-spotting.

And by that time, Irvin Welsh's novel train-spotting had, certainly in Scotland, had sort of swept the country and people were mad about this book and in London in the tube train you could see everybody was reading it. It was like a phenomenon, the novel. So when they went to adapt the novel,

it was already quite an exciting idea. And when they gave me the script and I read it, I don't even know to date how many times I felt like that about a part because I read it and I just had to play that part. I had to be me, you know.

And they were quite clever. They didn't, they didn't, John didn't, he's told me since, didn't think I was right for it, you know. I wasn't skinny or, you know, I didn't look very heroin-esque or, but I just, I immediately started losing weight. I just had to prove to them. And then the next time I went to see them, I was just like, you know, I was already quite gaunt and they were like, oh, okay. And they asked me to do it. But so I did have a good feeling about it. It was just, I really believed in them.

and still do and always have done, that being part of that filmmaking group has sort of defined me as an actor. And it set the bar very high for me in terms of what to expect of yourself in a piece of work, but also what to expect from a director and that relationship can be very special

like it always has been with me and Danny. And so it taught me a great deal. And they got just brilliant actors in it and they had great writing from Irvin Welsh's novel on John Hodges' screenplay and then brilliant music and it just felt like

when we were making it I was watching a bit of it yesterday it holds up too it's just a great film it's so it's so beautifully done was there a moment where you remembered

okay this is taken on a life of its own this is really taking off I mean it was one thing to make a cool movie you were proud of but then it became something else in the culture

have you seen Trainspot you got to see Trainspot you got to see Trainspotting And the words started to spread. Did you guys have a sense of a moment that it blew up? I can't remember because it was the 90s. I don't remember very much about it. No, I do remember moments.

I do. And it was sort of, I remember, I remember being out and about in London, you know, maybe a year after it or something. and just, and like walking in places and feeling like at clubs or wherever, just feeling the energy change around, it's quite hard, it's quite difficult to deal with, in fact, it's quite a hard thing to cope with, to be honest. But I'm not sure I coped with it very, very well, but...

Is that your first taste of celebrity? That was, yeah. Yeah. I think so. I mean, just that feeling, yeah, was crazy at the time. But also that, in that moment, you know, there was the sort of British music scene was kicking off with oasis and blur and pulp. And we were very much the movie element of that time, you know. And it was just amazing to be part of, really.

I mean, good and bad, I suppose. And so when the offer to do Star Wars comes along, I've read that you were reluctant to do it for reasons that you'll have to explain. but was part of that to sort of keep that train spotting cred and be that kind of actor and not jump into the big blockbuster? Yes. It was that. It was very much, um,

a very much, you know, was a very much, I felt like there, if I could just have carried on making films with them, I would have just done that, you know. And I remember,

and, um, I just didn't feel like anything I'd done before. And I was scared of it, probably. I mean, there is a kind of fear. involved in jumping into something that huge.

So I was probably a bit scared of it, but I was mainly just felt like I felt like I wanted to be this sort of urban, cool, grungy actor who does these kind of movies. And I still do. Like, I like to be that, really. So I worried about it. And then I worried also about what it might do to the, you know, can you come back from that?

Can you still be this person? And the truth is, you can be whoever you want. You just have to be doing the things that are right for you. And the closer I got to it, so I met, the casting director with, I don't know, however many hundreds of British actors at the time. And then I met again. And then it got down to me and two others, I think. And then I went to the studio in London and did a screen test for George and met George for the first time.

And just the closer I got, the more I wanted to do it and the more I was remembering seeing those films when I was a kid. Now my uncle is in all three of those original films. Dennis Lawson is in he plays wedge and tillies in the original three.

He's an ex-wing pilot. And so, and he'd always been very dismissive of it because, you know, he did a couple of weeks work in a sitting in a cardboard spaceship in Elstree or wherever they shot them in London. And yet he had this massive following and it sort of annoyed him, you know. And he was one of the people that said, don't do it.

Oh, really? He just said, don't do it. And I remember speaking to Danny Boyle and phoning. I remember people I respected who I'd worked with, I'd phoned up and asked. And ultimately, it just has to be your own decision. And the nearer I got to it, the more I wanted to do it. And so by the time that, and I, you know, I'm so glad I did because I, because it's, it was so interesting to be part of that.

It's so interesting. And now that I'm about to go step back. into it. I'm actually much, probably more excited to do it now than I, than I might have been then, you know. Sure. Because I feel like I'm, I'm older and I've got more, I've got more, I've got more understanding of it all now. And I want to be part of it still. I want to, you know, it was tricky. The film, the three I made were not hugely liked at the time when they came out, or at least the sort of diehard Star Wars fans of the day in the, when they came out in the late 90s.

wasn't it the first one, were very dismissive of them. And so it sort of, it was, it was, that was difficult to deal with as well, the fact that people didn't, some people didn't seem to like them as much as the other ones. But that's now changed into the, because, because those people were, you know, guys and girls in their 30s who, who were my age at the time, who wanted to feel like they did when they saw the films when there was seven or eight. Right. Well, of course you can't.

So now I meet the people who were seven. and eight who saw the films that I did and for them that's their Star Wars films you know that's where they start and the and the older ones are the older ones but those are those their ones you know so I'm quite excited to do to do my what will be a series now for them and also for people who my age who maybe have changed their tune a little bit and also for a brand new generation of kids you know who are getting into this world with Maldolary Mandalorian and it's exciting it'll be exciting to play him again. It's rare to go back and to play a character you've played a long time ago. And we did do it with train spotting. We shot a second, a sequel to train spotting a few years ago. And it was the first scene I had to play, I had to come into a bar and reunite with sick boy with Johnny Lee Miller. And that was my first scene as Renton again in 20, at that point, it was 20 years. And I walked into the bar and the cameras were rolling and I just, it was just there. I was just like, Renton had been alive in me for 20 years.

You felt it? Yeah. Straight away. I just didn't have to think about it. It was just amazing how it didn't have to really struggle to find him again. He was just there. And you'll do it with Obi-1 next. Well, let's hope so.

Step right back in. Yeah, let's see. Leadsaber comes right out. That, we talked about your first taste of celebrity with train spotting, walking into a club and feeling the eyes go to you. Star Wars clearly is something else entirely. Were you fully prepared for what it would do to your life in terms of your celebrity and the intention that you would have in the screen?

scrutiny you would have and everything that comes with being a star of the most beloved movie franchise of all time. Yeah. I can honestly say I didn't really feel it very, I didn't really feel it very much. I sort of notice it more now in a way. I don't know if it's because of the the fact that there's all this, there has been all this talk about me doing another one and for the last four or five years or so. And so it's sort of in that world, it's sort of more in the air, I suppose. So I feel I'm more, I come into contact with it more nowadays than I did before. You do seem to have managed celebrity well, just watching from the outside.

I mean, you're right, you've been a family man, you've got four daughters. It doesn't seem to have dominated your life, the fact that wherever you walk, people know you. Right. It hasn't governed your life. No, I tried not, I try not to let it, you know. Yeah. It's really, it's really, because I really, because I really, As an actor, you have to be, you have to put yourself in the shoes of other people.

And if you don't, if you don't get to be in the world, then your work isn't based on anything. And so I really like, and I don't want to have to not walk down the street, you know. But there are some places that are easier to do that than others, you know. And it's, I suppose it got harder for me in London, I felt, and I don't live in London anymore. probably maybe as a result. I don't know exactly, but I noticed that when I would go somewhere alone, I would go,

I would be walking very fast on my head down and just to so as not to, because it's sort of uncomfortable, it can be embarrassing and I'm, I'm always happy to speak to people if they want to come up and talk about my work and stuff. I really, but the,

but it's turned into just doing selfies with people. There's no, there's no, there's no, there's no, There's no conversation, there's no communication. All it is, is someone comes up and wants a photograph. So you stand and you take the photograph and then they're happy and off the go. They may have a senior movie. They just know that face.

They want to put it on Instagram. It's just there's no, it's a sort of soulless thing. There's no exchange of anything. Right. Whereas before it used to be, I saw you in that movie or even if people didn't like something, especially in Scotland, I guess, that movie you were in. by the way, you know. And then at least there, there's some sort of exchange.

It's real. There's an exchange or a question or you worked with, I don't know, you work with this, I don't know, a direct, it might be interested to know what it's like to work, Ron Howard or somebody or, you know, but then there's an exchange. And that's more satisfying for both parties, I would think. But that's sort of turned into just the selfie now. And if you're in a busy place,

like, and it's difficult because people don't really understand, but you know, I've been asked for selfies and stuff, you know, when you get to the airport and you're going through the line to get to passport control. Can you imagine a standing taking a photograph somewhere there? And then you're stuck there, like in the queue. And everyone's like, who's that? Who's that? Right. It's so embarrassing. When one person does it, then it becomes okay. And everybody does it, right? Yeah. So I realized I was just be walking with my head down really quickly, getting around London. And I don't really want to be like that in the world. I don't want to be able to interact with people.

So I just have done that. And I try and do that. And I don't let it sort of govern me, if you like. But that's not to say that it's not, I didn't always deal with it very well. I mean, I think during that time I probably didn't. I've sort of been denial about it a lot. Like my life hasn't changed and I'm still just, you know, partly you want it. And partly as an actor, you want the success and you want to be famous and you want the recognition.

and at the same time it can make you uncomfortable and difficult like that. So you're sort of wrestling with it. And I didn't deal with that very well, probably. But then I learned sort of more what it is. And I had more of a clear-headed angle on the world. And publicity is publicity for a reason. You know, I've managed to keep it all in perspective a little bit, I suppose, I hope. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

Stick around to hear more from Ewan McGregor. after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast, now more of my conversation with Ewan McGregor. I was reading about you as a young boy in Scotland, your parents who were teachers said, you told them when you were five years old that you were going to be a movie star,

or at least be an actor. Is that true? And if so, what put that idea in your little head? Well, it was my uncle. It was Dennis, my uncle, Dennis, who's always been my hero, really. You know, I come from Kreef, which is a very beautiful, small, high,

just before the highlands start in Scotland is this little town. And it's an old market town where, you know, people would come to sell their cattle. And so it's very agricultural. It's got a beautiful high street. And it's built on a hillside. It's a beautiful place. But it's very small and it's very,

there's a lot of farmers and small business people. And it's a wonderful place. And my uncle was an actor who lived in London. And when I was born in 71, so when I was a kid, he'd come up and he'd be wearing, you know, mainly people were wearing this, right? And there was a lot of tweeds where I came from. My uncle would come up in sheepskin waistcoat and beads and flares and no shoes. And he'd be like with flowers, smoking little cigars. And I was like, who is this guy?

Who's this? I want to be this guy, you know. And he was just an amazing character in my life. And I would go to see him. No, I remember the first time he did a... They used to do something called Armchair Theatre on British television where they would shoot a play. It was like little half-hour plays or an hour plays.

And they would do them on the television. And he was in one. And so I was going to... I remember the first night, you know, we were watching my... We're going to watch my uncle on the television. It was just blew my mind. And then when my parents took me to the Edinburgh or Glasgow

to see Star Wars for the first time in the cinema, to see my uncle on the screen. but also it was Star Wars. It blew my mind, you know. So it was him, I think. I just wanted to be like him. And I was so attracted to his character and who he was. And I suppose how different he was from most of the people I was in contact with in Kreef.

And I wanted to be an actor because he was an actor. And I thought that was it, really, I suppose, in my naive thinking. But I really did want to be one then. And then I just, I often wonder, would I still? have thought to do it if he hadn't been an actor. Right. You know, if there hadn't been someone in my family who had already paved the way, if you like.

Well, it probably wouldn't seem possible from that little town. That's right. How would you even know where to go? No. And to get there. No, I don't know. I don't know that it would have been.

So I'm, so I think I have to be always incredibly grateful to him and I am. And he's still the only person I would ever think. If I'm, I don't know if I get stuck or I'm on set and I'm not happy with what I'm doing or something. There's only one person I would ever phone about acting. and it's him, you know, it's Dennis. And so he's so important to me.

And anyway, then I wanted to be an actor. And I remember telling him when I was, he remembers it when I was nine, him, me telling him that I wanted to be an actor. And he just said, well, you know, come back to me in 10 years and if you still feel that way. And it was earlier than that when I was 16. My parents did an amazing thing because I was, my brother's two years older than me and he was very successful at school.

and he became headboy and he was the captain of the cricket team and then the rugby team and he was very, it's like a golden boy at school and I was not that, you know, and so as a result, not as a result of that,

but anyway, whatever it was, I wasn't very happy at school and started getting into trouble and my father taught at the school that I went to so it was probably quite embarrassing for him, you know, that I wasn't, that was always been sent to see the headmaster for this reason or another. And, and, and, and, and, and, I,

did six weeks of my penultimate year. So in Scotland you do in secondary school, it would be my fifth year, six years, their last year of school. So I was my fifth year. I did six weeks of it. And then I was driving in to Kreef with my mum one night and to see my friend. And she, it was raining. And I remember the windscreen wipe was going back and forth and the rain. And she just said, she said, listen, I've spoken to your dad. And if you want to leave school, you can. And I went, because it's like my world went into widescreen like that, you know. And I never went back. I didn't go back to school.

And what I did was a week later. I'd been writing to the local Repertory Theatre, Perth Repertory Theatre, for years, asking if I could go and do something there backstage, if I could help or work or whatever. And they always said, you have to train, you have to do training to be, you know, to be stage management or something.

So I could never do it. But that week that I left school, I wrote to them and they wrote back and they were doing a production of passage to India and they needed extras on stage. So it was just like how the world's collided in that moment. So a week after I left school, I was standing on stage in Perth Repertory Theatre, being directed by somebody down, you know, Joan Knight was her name.

She was a great Scottish theatre director. And she was, darling, darling, darling, move to the left. And I didn't know if I was, am I darling? Is he darling? new story. And it was just a minute. And I never looked back. You know, I was, I was sort of, I felt like at last in my, in my world where I was, where I was meant to be, you know, it was just great. That's an amazing story. And you were, what, 16 years old? And then I, and then I got into a theater arts course in, in a town, which was a good hour and a halfway. So I sort of left

home then to do that when I was only 16. So I don't know a lot of mothers who would say, 16 years old, you're free to go, you can leave school. What do you think it was? that brought your parents to that decision. Do they say, oh, he loves acting? He'll be better at that than he is at school, maybe. Why do you think they said that to you? Well, I think it was, I hope it was because they just knew me, and they knew that I was so passionate about being an actor,

just all I ever wanted to do. And I couldn't really do it at school. I did some school plays, but I did a lot of performance. I did a lot of music. I played in the pipe band. I was a drummer in the pipe band. I played French horn. and I did poetry nights.

I did anything that was sort of to do with the arts or performing. I was involved. I was in the choir. But everything else I was useless at, you know, I was trying to help my 8-year-old with her math homework the other night, and I was totally, I had to write in her book. I'm sorry I could not assist my daughter with question 8 to 10. I did not understand.

I'm not joking. I had to write it and then sign it. She said, you've got to sign it. Okay. So we've reached your limit at eight years old then? Is that where we are? I'm out. I'm out. Eight year old.

So I think, so I would hope it was that they understood me and that I wanted to act and that they could see that I wasn't happy at school and that I wasn't, and they had the courage to let me go. But I don't know. But the same thing happened to me with my eldest daughter, Clara, when she was 16. Because she was a very keen photographer and she said one day, She wanted to leave school and just do photography. So what do you say?

And I was thinking, oh, no. Because this has become like a family legend now that my parents let me leave school at 16, you know. It's part of our family history. And I was faced with the same chat. Although I didn't ask to be let out of school. But she was suggesting, Clara was saying, I think I should just live. I just want to be a photographer. I don't want to do this.

And I was thinking, oh, no. I don't know if I can laugh. How do you come back to that? Yeah, I can't say no, but I can't say. Anyway, luckily, it didn't ever come to the moment where she got back into school and she did very well. She went through university here in New York and NYU and stuff. Also, since it worked out pretty well for you, you don't have much of a case that it's a bad thing. You've had 16. I know. You've done well. Yes. You are now working with Clara? I did do a film with Clara this year which was lovely. It was amazing. We didn't get to act together sadly but I'm sure that will happen, I hope so.

But she, together with a boyfriend Jimmy, she produced a movie called The Birthday Cake and that Jimmy wrote and he's a great music producer and has done a lot of film work on his music videos and stuff and then found his way into this world and it's a very good film. So I did

a couple of days on it. playing a priest and we shot I sort of bookend the story a little bit but it was nice to be on set with her It must have been wild though Your little girl And it was crazy It was really nice and she was very professional

And she was taking some stills as well She's in the film but not in scenes with me And as I say is also producing the film So she was taking sort of behind the scenes Pictures and My little Esther was there And Jammin was there three My three older girls were there

So I was going to ask are the three other girls Also interested in what Dad does for a living? Is that something you think they may be geared toward the arts or acting? Esther, Esther's definitely, has always been an actor, I think, or a performer anyway. She's incredibly talented musically, and she's always done school plays, and she's very good on stage. She's done, she's done sort of summer theater things here in New York, and she's just so, you can't take your eyes off her on stage. She's really, she's really interesting. She's an interesting actor. She's written beautiful songs.

and I think she's going to come here to New York to go to college, but not to do acting, to do filmmaking and literature, which I think is very interesting that she's going to, she's sort of thrown her net a little broader, because she already is an actor, like she doesn't really need to. Sounds like you, always has been an actor, perhaps. I think we are quite similar, yes, Estherna, yeah. And Jamann's got, she's going to college to do something quite else.

She's interested in criminology and prison reform, and she's in a very different direction. And I love that, that she's found her own interest, her own passion, you know. We were talking before we started here about being the father of four girls. Yes. And what that's like. And that's been front and center this week because of Kobe Bryant's death. And he had four girls.

Yeah. So what does it mean to you to be a girl dad, as people are saying? Well, I, all I can tell you is is the most important thing in my life. I don't know any differently. You know, I don't have a boy or a son or anything, but I love it. I love being the father of my girls. I mean, I don't think of it, really. I just love being their dad, you know.

Whether they'd been boys or girls wouldn't have mattered to my love for them. But it's wonderful to be, it's been wonderful to be growing up with them. Stick around to hear more from Ewan McGregor on the Sunday Sit Down podcast including what it was like to work on the hit musical film Moulin Rouge. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Ewan McGregor. We're talking about the range of films you've made. On the big budget end of them,

there's, of course, Star Wars, Birds of Prey, and Moulon Rouge, which was like this fabulous spectacle. Yes. What was that experience like for you? It was just, it was sort of like a dream. Like you might imagine it would be, It was so magnificent. It was a long endeavour.

Like, we were out there for, we went out to, we shot the whole thing in Australia. Baz, we were there in the studios there. And we went out for two or three, two weeks to do a workshop of the script. I think six months before we started working on it properly. We went over there, we read scenes,

we learned songs, and then we performed after two weeks, a sort of on the, book play reading of it and we burst into song here and there whatever but we and then we went away home for six months and came back and then when we

came back we rehearsed for another it was like I think three months or something it was such a long time and it was partly extended because Nicole injured a rib and Baz's lost a parent and I forget whether it's his mother

or father I'm sorry Baz but I can't remember but on on our first day of photography. And so that further pushed us back a week or so. But it was an amazing experience. You never get a chance to really get into... So by the time we were shooting,

you know, it was second nature to burst into song. It didn't feel in any way sort of unusual to do that. Right. And I think that can be the odd thing about musicals sometimes. But for us, it was just wonderful. And we also tried lots of... We tried lots of songs that didn't make it into... We recorded songs that.

songs that didn't make it in. I did a version of Harry Nielsen's song I can't live if living is without you for the end, which would have been a belittle on the nose, right? You know, I think you should just sing it for us here now. No, I'm not ready to do it. But I remember every now and again on the radio, there's another one, father to a son, what's that song?

Anyway, every now and again, I'll hear something in the radio going, oh, I recorded that song in Australia, but it didn't end up getting into the mix. And were you up for singing? right away when you heard about the project? He said, sure, a little song and dance. I love it. I love, I've always loved singing. When I met Baz, I did my first audition with him for Romeo and Juliet, the film he'd made

before. I think that's right. Yeah, he made the, he made the, the ballroom one, what was that called? Strictly Ballroom, yeah. He made that. Then he made Romeo and Juliet, and I had auditioned for that with him. And he's an amazing, he's an amazing artist because he really meets people and he worked with us for, you know, an hour, two hours in the audition and asked us to play things different

ways. And it was really a great experience for the actor and for him, you know, I think, hope. And the auditions. I mean, spending that much time to get it through the audition and the rehearsal and everything that comes with. Yeah, no, it was really, really good. So when I, when I auditioned, so he didn't cast me in that. When he got me back to audition for Mulan Rouge, I was doing a play in the West End called Little Malcolm and the struggle against the Unix. And I'd lost my, just ripped my voice to bits doing this play. So when I met him and I had to sing, I sang a U-2 song, but I was so, I was so husky and croaky. And he was like, look, I'd just take it you

can sing. And I was like, yeah, I really can. Don't worry, I can. He didn't really get a very good take my word for it. Take my word for it. And but luckily, and then we worked with Marius DeFries on the music, which was a great pleasure to work with him and record the music with him. Amazing. And now, looking forward to today and the future, as we sit here right now, you're working on this amazing Ryan Murphy project. Yeah. What can you say about that at this point?

Well, we've, you know, we've, Christine Vichon, who I worked with from Killer Films, I worked with on, um, um, um, Velvet Gold Mine. I can't remember that name of anything. Velvet Gold Mine. Close one there. Oh, yeah, it was close. All those years were going to have to ask. What was that film called I made?

Um, all those years ago. And I loved working with her. and I've kept in touch with her every now and again. We've almost worked in other projects. And she approached me with Dan Minnehan, who's going to direct about this series of Holston. And Holston, I wasn't really very familiar with Holston. And so I read about him.

I found out a little bit about him, and I started really liking him, falling for him, you know. And we pitched this, we went all around all the usual suspects in L.A. We did all these pitch meetings, which I'd never really done before. It was quite interesting with our writer Shar and we went around and then nobody would pick it up. I think because there's no murder or nobody gets killed in it, you know, so they're not really

that interested. And then when Ryan found out, it was speaking to Christine that it wasn't, it didn't look like it was going to happen. He went, oh no, that's got to happen. So we're going to make it with Ryan at Netflix. And I'm just here to start prep now. I've got meetings with people who worked and knew and loved all. And I'm just super excited about it.

We start in about 18 days. And it's a great, he's such an amazing character. And the more I watch him and listen to him, the more I love him. So I'm really excited to play. And it was in this amazing time here in New York City with Andy Warhol and all of these, and Victor Hugo and these very Liza Manelli and all these great characters. So it'll be a wonderful world to create, you know. You like to create a world, don't you?

Yeah, you do. I know. There's a running theme here. Yes. Thanks, man. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you very much. Thank you.

It's great. My big thanks to Ewan McGregor for a great conversation. You can catch his latest movie, Birds of Prey, in theaters now. And I'm joined now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast by the producer of this fine podcast, Maggie Law. Hey, Maggie. Hi, Willie. And the producer of the Sunday Today interview with Ewan McGregor, the aforementioned Hannah Van Winkle. Hello, Hannah.

Hello, Willie. I like that guy. Me too. Had never met him before. Just a charmer. Walked into the room. Could listen to that Scottish bro. I was going to say, I love the voice.

For hours. He just came in and was cool to everybody and was happy to sit and hang for as long as we wanted. Shook hands with every single person on the whole. I love that. Yep. Which was so kind, you know, from the audio guy to every single camera person, our intern was the just height of politeness and class. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about the spot, the gold bar?

because I walked in there. I was like, wow, this place is intense. And you said, watch, it will make sense. And the minute he sat down, he said, this place is perfect for Roman. So Roman in the movie is this club owner. And, you know, as he mentions in the interview that we just heard, his character is kind of, you know, really cool and fun. And he's got this club, but he's also can be really terrible. And the club that he owns in the film has these gold walls to it.

So I found this club downtown. And I just, it sort of had vibes to me. It sort of spoke to me. Yes. It was very Romanesque for him. And so I thought it would be a great setting. And it turned out that he picked up on that. And it worked out really well.

It's an underrated part of the job that you guys do, which is to find the locations. Maggie, you do this too. Everyone I talk to say they love the interviews, partly because they're outside and they're somewhere cool and they're not in a studio or hotel room. And a lot of thought goes into that. Yeah. It can be really challenging to find something that is, you know, willing to have us be there. and, you know, opens their location to us.

And that also suits the guests that you have every day. I feel like it's sometimes that tricky line between suiting them as just an actor, who they are, or trying to maybe match the vibe of whatever project they're promoting or, you know, what they're there for. Actually, the night before we shot you in McGregor, Maggie and I shot an interview for a future Sunday today with Luke Combs, the country superstar. In a bit of a different setting than Gold Bar. Slightly different, the basement of a country juke joint. Barbecue.

Just drinking Jack Daniels out of solo cups, slightly different energy. Stay tuned for that. You are like a lot of people in that you love Moulon Rouge. Oh, yeah. I love Moulon Rouge. That was such a cool, well-done movie. Yeah. And you were intent on getting some answers out of that kind about Moulon.

Well, I had sort of drunkenly rewatched it a couple days before this interview. Yes. I'm being totally honest. And I just, you know, Swoon City for me and Ewan McGregor. So I really wanted to know. You hit it well, by the way. Oh, thank you. Very professional.

I wanted to know. I had just also seen it on Broadway. It's been playing here in Broadway in New York. And I wanted to know if he had seen the Broadway version. And he told me off camera that he had not seen it. But I was like, it's this spectacular, spectacular. If I can borrow a line from the movie, it's really just a visual feast. And so, you know, maybe if you're going to go watch the musical here in New York, you know, check both sides of you.

You might come and take in the show. You never know. But he has not seen it on Broadway. And I think that was just an interesting thing that I wanted to know. You know, maybe he'll want to take on the role. I was going to say, would he ever step into the show? He should drop in and play it. There you go.

So, Maggie, if I say the name Ewan McGregor to you, do you have a favorite? Do you have Star Wars? I think Star Wars. I think, yeah, his big blockbuster. That was sort of my generation, I guess, of watching Star Wars, which he kind of talked about when I was young and my brother made me sit down and watch him. watch literally every single one of the Star Wars movies. So, yeah, that's definitely what I know him best from.

You know, even as you say that, I'm remembering, he and I spoke, we were talking off camera before we started, and we were talking about how those Star Wars movies were poorly received. But what he said, exactly what you're saying is they were poorly received by the people who grew up on the first movies. Right. But for another generation, they were the first movies. They were.

And they loved them, despite Jar Jar Jar Bang. I was going to say everybody doesn't like Jar Jar Bank. Yeah. We can all agree on that. Right. Jar Jar Brinks is terrible. Well, it was a really fun interview. Great location, Hannah.

Thank you. And I so enjoyed sitting with him. He's just such a great guy who, again, got permission from his parents to drop out of school at 16. Crazy. And here he is. What faith they had. Here he is. And they were right.

Yeah. They bet on their son. They were right. And they still are watching his star continue to rise and continue to just be at the top of his game. They go to his premier sometimes. They were there. I think when he got his OBE, I think. I think they were there.

Sure. I have to fact check myself on that. I'm not entirely sure that that's right, but I mean, it's just a podcast. We don't have to do fact checks. You're fine. They continue to support him, and it's really sweet to see. And how wise of him to ignore his uncle's advice way back then not to do the Star Wars movies. His life would be very different.

Hannah, great job. Thank you. Maggie. Thank you as well. Thank you. And thanks to all of you, as always, for tuning in to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. If you want to hear more of our full-length conversations with my guests every week, be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.

And of course, don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown podcast.