Ewan McGregor: I feel I’m not really a part of showbiz

By Sugandha Rawal

New Delhi, Nov 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Ewan McGregor is taking forward the story of the cult classic "The Shining" with "Doctor Sleep" and will soon return to the "Star Wars" universe as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. But the actor still feels like an outsider in showbiz. He says although he loves his job, he doesnt spend time trying to understand or be a part of the movie industry.

"I don't know if I'm old enough to feel like I remember... I'm remembering the way it used to be, which is sort of hard," McGregor laughed when asked about his understanding of the industry.

"It (showbusiness) has evolved and changed. And sometimes I feel I am not really a part of it. I like acting and I love doing my work. But there is no part of my day or my life that is spent trying to understand or be a part of the movie industry. I just happen to work in it because I'm an actor," McGregor told IANS in an exclusive interview, ahead of the release of his highly anticipated "Doctor Sleep".

"I like working in theatre as well, from time to time, and TV. So, I somewhat feel outside of it. I miss films. I miss working on films. It's a terrible shame that it has been so led into the digital look in cinema now, which is driven purely by finance and by the technology companies because an actual fight doesn't look very good anymore. It used to look beautiful (earlier)," he added.

"I just watched this beautiful documentary the other night about the Apollo mission, on man's Moon landing. It was obviously shot on film and it looked so beautiful and I was watching it and thinking, 'why did we move away from this?' It seems like such a shame to me," he exclaimed.

McGregor has made a name for himself by working in mainstream, musical as well as independent cinema. He is known for "Trainspotting", the "Star Wars" movies, "Moulin Rouge!", "Angels And Demons", "The Ghost Writer", "Beauty And The Beast" and "Christopher Robin".

McGregor will soon return to the "Star Wars" universe as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in an yet-untitled series for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. He played the character in the three "Star Wars" prequels -- "The Phantom Menace", "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith".

Before entering the galaxy far, far away, McGregor will be back on the big screen as Danny Torrance in "Doctor Sleep", the next chapter in the horror classic "The Shining". Warner Bros. will release the film in India on November 8.

"Doctor Sleep" takes forward the story of Danny Torrance, 40 years after his stay at the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining". It is directed by Mike Flanagan, from his own screenplay based upon the novel by Stephen King.

McGregor says there was "a sort of pressure and the weight of responsibility before I read the script".

"Once I read the script by Mike Flanagan, I didn't worry about it. I think the script was very well, and it is a quite different kind of movie than 'The Shining' in a way. I think Stephen King injected a very different element into his novel. And it felt like we weren't trying to recreate 'The Shining'," he said.

The actor explained: "We drew from it cinematically and in terms of how we shot the film and we tried to emulate some of Stanley Kubrick's cinematic genius, and that sort of was more on his shoulders than mine. I just had to play Danny as an adult and I liked the storyline very much."

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

Source: IANS