'It's horrible to suggest that I would cheat on Eve'
Marie Claire September 2003

When dealing with Ewan McGregor, sex, inevitably, rears its saucy head. Within minutes of stepping into the lounge room of the Dorchester Hotel suite where he waits to be interviewed, we've worked out our way through at least half a dozen positions. Exuberant and tantalising, cheerily babbling on about 'humping' his co-stars, Ewan is an impressive package. Right from his cream crocodile-skin pimp shoes to the charismatic way he scatters anecdotes, this is a man who is comfortable in his own (often naked) skin. Team that with the fact that he's incredibly handsome (although much shorter than I'd imagined) and perfectly willing to talk dirty on the first date, Ewan need never worry about making a decent living out of his assets. If acting ever lost its appeal, he could utilise that polished Scottish burr on the end of a 0898 phone line.

It's easy to fall under the spell of 32-year-old McGregor. Stoked on black coffee, Diet Coke and Marlboros, his eyes tunnel into yours as he reasons the necessity for masturbation on screen. When you ask if he feels embarrassed about flaunting his tackle for film roles, a fruity laugh precedes the answer, 'Why should I? It's all in working order.' If you want to check out Ewan's nether regions for yourself then see his new film, Young Adam. You get a full frontal, bird's-eye flash, plus plenty of carnal couplings with various females (and custard is even involved). Yet although the sex scenes are sure to be dissected by the viewing public, there's more to the film than naked bodies.

Based on novel by 1950's Scottish beat writer Alexander Trocchi, it tells the story of Joe (McGregor), a young drifter who finds work on a barge owned by a couple travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Not only does Joe develop an intense relationship with Ella, the wife (Tilda Swinton), there's a sinister connection with the corpse of a woman found floating in the water. It's a low-budget, back-to-his-roots production, a far cry from the Star Wars trilogy, but Ewan is passionate about the film. 'I want people to really love it,' he enthuses taking a fierce drag on his cigarette and hearty slurp of coke. 'Yes the sex scenes are a huge chunk of it. They reflect Joe's character, but the script was so unique it just blew me away. As an actor, it was a real challenge because it's so sparse in dialogue. That meant that the acting had to do all the work.'

Well, you know what they say, actions speak louder than words. Cue the custard.

MC: Could you relate to you character, Joe, and his obsession with women?
EM: Hmmm, it was hard for me to pin his character down. For a while, I couldn’t understand anything about him. Then it struck me more and more that he was looking for experience. Joe uses sex to fill his emotional holes, but he never ends up feeling anything. As a husband and father who feels a lot of love I can’t relate to that at all. Young Adam is a real turn on film. That’s good. Is it? Yeah, it’s great. At the time, after that Second World War, men have been missing from women’s lives for so long, people were really at it a lot. The film reflects the period and is very honest about what was going on. Because most people were either living in lodging or with their parents, they were forced to have sex outdoors. You can imagine the countryside as this writhing sex beast. The sex scenes are very graphic. Yeah, we were really trying to push it. Gratuitous sex scenes are embarrassing, but we felt the sex furthered the story. It could have been just a lot of humping away, but we came up with more detailed stuff ourselves, like when Ella wanks me off. I really wanted it to happen because you don’t often see much of that in the cinema. But it happens to us all, so lets be realistic. Why not? And anyway, the book is very much about sex. Trocchi was obsessed with thighs and bellies and vaginas. He wasn’t a leg man or an arse man. He just wants that bit there. [Draws and imaginary circle around his groin.] In the film, we tried to show that.

Are sex scenes difficult for you?
No. I’m not nervous about being naked on screen. I never have been, because there’s nothing worse than an actor grabbing a sheet to cover his bits when he climbs out of bed. That’s not realistic. Why would somebody grab a sheet if they’ve been humping? Cinema should be about truth. The first sex scene is particularly ‘in-your-face’. [Laughs like a drain.] Yes, I’m defiantly down there. But you do realise I wasn’t really doing anything to Tilda while I was down there. It is acting. [Laughs.]

Ewan’s reputation has often leaped before him. Not only is he credited with a string of movies (mainly successful, a few duff), he’s also been pigeonholed as the kind of bloke who gets journalists drunk during interviews and leaves Soho House just as the street cleaners are reporting for duty. But no more, claims a reformed Ewan. ‘I don’t have any time for getting wasted. I’m either working or at home with my family. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, being a dad and an actor – in that order.’ Ewan has two daughters – Clara Mathilde, seven and Esther Rose, eighteen months – with his French born wife, set designer Eve Mavrakis. Although he’s passionate about ‘his girls’, he’s rarely seen with them in public. In fact, Ewan is so protective of their privacy, he once sent a letter to the major magazines and newspapers asking them to avoid printing pictures of his family.

‘On the whole people have been great,’ he says. ‘But once I was photographed flying a kite with Clara. It really upset me because that moment belonged to us, no one else. It was a blatant intrusion and took away my right to protect them as a parent.’

How do you feel about your two daughters seeing your more risqué films one day?
It doesn’t worry me. I hope they’ll simply see a great film and be really proud of their old man. I look forward to the day when they can watch my films. Clara has seen the Star Wars movies, but it doesn’t seem important to her that I’m in them. To her, I’m just daddy. She understands that I’m not Obi-wan Kenobi, it’s just pretend.

What about Eve’s reaction?
It doesn’t bother her one way or the other. I don’t hide anything from her and she knows up front what’s going on at work. None of that stuff threatens us. She’s cool about it. She knows me and she knows it’s alright. I’m not sure if I’d be so cool if it was the other way round. And is getting plastered really a thing of the past? I honestly don’t go out and get pissed anymore. I just got fed up with it and felt like shit all the time. Waking up every day with a hangover is a f**king awful way of life. I tried the rock star thing and it didn’t suit me. I think I lost myself for a while after the success of Trainspotting. I wanted everything all at once, but now my priorities are the family and my work. I’ve realised you can’t do it all. If you do, you go bonkers. I’m more focused on what I want and where I’m going. I want to direct a movie one day, although I did have a step away from my production company because I didn’t have time and commitment for it.

What kind of father are you?
I’m the only dad I know how to be. Pretty hands on I suppose. Me and Eve share responsibility of the girls, I pick Clara up from school while Eve looks after the little one. Then again, that might swap around on another day. Ask Ewan McGregor about the rumours or affairs with leading ladies and his eyebrows shoot into his hair line. ‘Hhhuummph,’ he grunts with distaste. ‘There will always be rumours.’ Gossip couldn’t exist without celebrities and as soon as one famous face glances at another, the chatter declares them an item. Nicole Kidman recently said that Ewan was ‘one of the dearest most gorgeous men to walk the earth’, a chorus of ‘told you so’ resounded through medialand. Ewan finds it a ridiculous state of (celibate) affairs. ‘The whole Nicole Kidman thing was ludicrous,’ he says. ‘It was based on one person saying something was going on and it blew up from there. I went for lunch in LA with my publicist and Nicole, and by the time we’d finished eating the place was swarming with paparazzi. Then, of course, they take a picture of just me and Nicole and call it an intimate liaison. It’s hurtful, because I’m a married man with two children. It’s horrible to suggest that I would cheat on Eve.’

Unfortunately Ewan is a charming man, it’s easy to see how his playful smile and his tactile mannerisms could be misinterpreted. ‘I’m in this business to make films,’ he says, ‘not to meet gorgeous women. Although that does happen,’ he adds with the perkiest of grins.

How’s Stars Wars going?
I started the third one in June in Australia. They’re difficult to do because they’re so technical. Acting in front of the blue screen is tricky. For me, they are just two movies among loads of other stuff I’ve been in. People think they are the be-all and end-all of acting, but they’re not for me. I’m delighted to have made movies that children can enjoy because I love kids, but Star Wars isn’t the pinnacle of my career. I’ve also been in Alabama to shoot a film called Big Fish with Tim Burton and an incredible cast: Danny Devito, Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. I love doing all kinds of stuff. If it feels right, then I’ll get involved. Everybody’s asking me about Porno, the follow up to Trainspotting. I haven’t seen the script yet but, if it’s right, that might be a possibility.

Are you still anti-Hollywood?
No, I’ve had a bit of an about-turn. There are lots of things that I don’t like about the place, such as the obsession with being a commodity. You don’t have to get involved in ‘the scene’. No one is forcing you to go to parties. Of course, there’s stuff like Globes, which has a mile of f**king red carpet and endless camera crews, but I went and had such a laugh. You get a make up artist come and pile on the eyeliner, then you jump in a limo, pose for the camera while they’re asking, ‘Gee, Ewan, are you wearing make-up?’ Then you go inside, drink the free booze, have a big laugh and go home. It’s fantastic.

Do you aspire to an Oscar?
I don’t work to get awards, but then I wouldn’t turn one down. I work to be the best actor I can be. Making a great film is my goal. If it gets an Oscar, then fine. Vanity fair magazine recently named you as a member of Hollywood’s A-list.

Do you feel like a movie star?
No. Er, I mean yes. I am a movie star. [Roars with laughter.] Well I am because I star in movies. There are times when you do act like a movie star and that’s great. When I was promoting Moulin Rouge, I was jetting around in a private plane, going to premiers, surrounded by screaming fans. It’s great but it’s work. On the flip side, getting stopped in the street can be difficult. Yesterday a builder was pointing at me and shouting, ‘Oooh, it’s f**king Ewan McGregor’. I was only a few feet away from him and he was bellowing in my ear as though I couldn’t hear him. That’s rude. Fame brings great things, and some bloody awful things.

I read that a pair of pants was being sold with you as Obi-wan Kenobi on the front.
[Smiles proudly.] Imagine being on someone’s pants. I’ve been inside a few, but never actually on a pair. Oh, well.