There was a lot of excitement in the Filmhouse Bar around 6.00pm this evening. Photographers were perched on stepladders in the foyer, journalists lined up for a short interview opportunity with one of Scotland’s sons, and regular cinema-goers tried hard to get a clear view.
And then he arrived. Our Scottish film star who now lives in Hollywood, but who is perhaps best known in Edinburgh as Renton in Trainspotting.
Ewan McGregor OBE, still apparently sporting a Trainspotting haircut, who played Obi-Wan-Kenobi in Star Wars and who has spent 25 years in front of the camera, has finally gone to the other side as director of the film adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, American Pastoral. He plays the father of Dakota Fanning’s troubled Merry, and although set in Newark the film was for the large part shot in Pittsburgh.
He explained that he continually gave the wrong directions to his Director of Photography, as he was so used to looking at scenes from the other angle!
Accompanied by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon he proceeded up the line and on into Filmhouse 1 where the audience awaited the premiere of his newest film.
And it is a very good debut indeed. Full of angst and exploring the dark side of family life with real conviction, this is a film to go and see.
McGregor explained that he has learned a lot about directing from Danny Boyle, and has copied his lead in clearing the set of all technical staff at the beginning of each new shot to allow some rehearsal with only the actors.
He spent around half an hour after the film in a Q & A, and answering questions from the audience before going off with his father on whom the prosthetics for the older ‘Swede’ are perhaps based!
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
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Hi, thankyou for advice on camera tilt to get the full picture as I stood behind you at the interview. I found the film to be completely enthralling, and feel he made a wonderful choice for his first direction, and the Q&A session at the end informative and compelling, all in all I had a wonderful evening seeing one of Scotland’s famous sons.
Thanks Ronnie – good to meet you. I have some audio of the Q & A and hope to get a moment to edit that later on!
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