FEATURE EWAN MCGREGOR

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. . .surting along in Blue Juice . . .

not forget in a long time.’ His main complaint is that ‘it’s fucking freezing cold in Luxembourg”. where the film was shot. but obviously not cold enough to. chm, cause a shortage of talent. judging by what’s visible on screen.

Greenaway‘s saturated art. With politics as hard-hitting as Ken Loach and affectionate comedy to rival the old Ealing classics. it gave McGregor the chance to provide the romantic lead opposite Tara Fitzgerald in a film with plenty of substance. ‘I play Andy. a young coal miner,’ is how he describes the part. 'l-le’s a bit dour and very pessimistic about the future of the coal industry. because that future is his future. He’s in a desperate situation and is genuinely trying to hold on to the final threads ofoptimism. But it’s an uphill struggle.”

Unlike Andy. the future is golden as far as McGregor is concerned. He already has two

other movies in the can The Serpent 's Kiss. in which he plays a l7th century gardener who seduces Greta Scacchi. the wife of his wealthy landowner employer: and Nightwateh. his first

‘I was a very humble - very humble - stagehand. But I did learn a Brassed 017' is miles away from lot watching what the other actors did. That’s often the best way

to gain experience’

American film (a remake of the tight European thriller from a couple of years ago). playing a morgue security guard framed for murder and featuring in the credits with Nick Nolte and Patricia Arquette.

He is also in with the l-lollywood A-Iist in A Life Less ()rtlt'nary. the third film he's made with the Danny Boyle-Andrew Macdonald-John Hodge triumvirate. currently shooting on a £10 million budget in Utah. McGregor plays a Scottish janitor who kidnaps his boss’s daughter (Cameron Diaz) when he‘s sacked and replaced by a robot. On the run. they‘re chased by a pair

. . . and rocking the joint in Lipstick on your collar

of assassins (Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo) who turn out to be angels who want to get the youngsters into a loving relationship. Rumour has it Sean Connery might even appear in a cameo. As God.

As his body of work grows. McGrcgor is steadily proving he

has ‘range'. but not in the chameleon manner of De Niro. 'l‘here's always a distinctively ‘Ewan McGregor" presence in his wardrobe of

characters that's more in the Connery or Cary Grant mould: a star potential that’s infinitely watchable regardless of the movie in question. If only we can keep him working in the British film industry. we might just have an actor bankablc on a world scale.

Brass-ed (Iiigm’x an general release on Fri I Nav; The I’t'l/mv Bank opens at the Glasgow l-‘i/tn Theatre and ('atnea, lz'tlt'ttlnajelt. on Fri 8 Nat“.

1 No one can swim around in a toilet bowl quite like him. nor emerge from the detritus coughing and spluttering with such clan. thereby single-handedly bringing back the wet look.

2 His ability to upstage the romantic lead in Iz'mma with one dimpled impish smile. All this. despite one of the least flattering wigs in costume drama history. Only Rowan Atkinson in the original series of Blackmlder has had to undergo such humiliation by hairpiece. and at least that was for laughs.

3 He’s cute and he can act notebook out Keanu . . .

4 He can blow his own trumpet for the colliery band but he’s basically a modest,

@unded chappy.

8The List l-I4 Nov l996

1ft) reasons why Ewan McGregor is hot property

5 To paraphrase Shakespeare: his body is an open page on which women may write many things before joining him in the bath . . .

6 . . . where he doesn‘t go all wrinkly. no matter how often he washes and goes.

7 He’s a dab hand at waste disposal in the home. particularly if you have a dead junky flatmate you’d like removed.

8 He's a fox of Terence Stamp-like proportions in uniform even though scarlet and black are definitely not in this season.

9 His ‘persuasive’ chat-up technique. To wit. ‘You’re going home now‘.’ Great! I‘m not promising anything though . . .

10 Who else could make the journey from Cricff to Cannes so quickly? (Fiona Shepherd)