Ewan McGregor brings his directorial debut to Edinburgh

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!