“Ewan McGregor”
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Hey guys, my name is Sean Hayes. I know we haven't repeated our names in a while, but my name is Sean Hayes. Yeah, this is Jason Babin. Just to be clear, I got to get dressed. We're about to start, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But in case people don't know what the show's like, one of us brings on a guest, you don't know about it. It's a surprise. And I'm Will Arnett. Is it my turn yet? Sorry, I'm Will Arnett, and welcome to Smart Lessons. Smart Lessons.

Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Do you want to see a great photo I got? Do you like photos? Oh, yeah. That was today's golf outfit. Yeah, I went with the light pants today because it's warm out here in Los Angeles. Look at Jason. Jason's wife, Amanda, sent this to me.

Yeah. Dancing in the morning. Is that you, Jay? Well, I was happy about my outfit just looked great. You know, I was happy that it was. Those particular pants, you've worn them before. And I got to say, they're not my favorite. Oh. They're not. Is there a compliment on the end of it? Because they're white? You look great, which is, first of all, you don't look bad in them. I said they're not my favorite. Right. No, I know. That front piece. It kind of looks like a. That's a penis. No. That's what we call it. The front penis. Yeah.

The front piece, you mean the... It's kind of like a fold over. It almost looks like a formal slack. Oh, right. Yeah, it is. I think it is a bit of a trouser that they made there. Yeah, yeah.

I'm sorry, listener, just going over latest golf wear. Hang on, I'm trying to put this into Sean, just so that Sean can feel included. I came on a little late today. You did come on late. What's going on? You're still in the city. Still in the city. Don't you have to change clothes like two, three times a day because the humidity is just... You walk outside, I'm just drenched in sweat. What are you doing outside? Just stay inside. You have a beautiful apartment. He's walking around, man. No, I try to because it's air conditioned in here. Is it real humid back east right now? Yes. It's cold.

Unbelievable. It's unbelievably humid right now. Yeah. It's humid out here, so it must be terrible out there. Oh, because it travels. It's... So then, Sean, what do you... So you and Scotty, you just... You pop out of the apartment and you just start walking around. Do you have some favorite places you like to go to? Well, we do...

I mean, there's one restaurant... Do you bring misters? Do you guys bring misters? No, we bring misses. Mystically. No, there's one French restaurant we like on the east side. Oh, this is what I did for the first time in my entire life. I walked through Central Park. What? First time ever? What are you talking about first time ever? Oh, I get real into that. I mean, I walked like...

I've walked, like, you know, just from, you know, like, to that restaurant that I can't remember. Tavern on the Green? That's it. Yeah, Tavern on the Green. I walked there once, but I never walked from, like, Upper West Side all the way through it, all the way down. It's kind of scary because they have, in the center, they have all those paths that go in, like, 10,000 different directions. Oh, granddad. But then, yeah. Did you see the skating rink over there, too? I did, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the roller skating rink. It was a roller skating rink. No, in the summertime, yeah. Wow.

Ma, you can't believe how big it is. Mama. Well, they had people walking everywhere and people just seemingly going. They were busy. It was wild. Just walls and walls of buildings. We used to, back when I was first living in New York 45 years ago and I was very broke...

We used to just walk through the park because we had nothing else to do and it was free and we'd just have a head full of rope and we'd just walk around with shades on. That's weed. Giggler. Head full of... I've never heard of that before. Head full of rope? Yeah. And we'd just walk around and sit on the grass and, I don't know, maybe smoke some butts and just walk over a different part. Yeah, because it was free. We had nothing to do and we were...

You know, we were broke, broke, broke. But it was great. I love Central Park. But, you know, do you guys go to a chiropractor? Because all you do is walk, right, in New York?

My back is fucking killing me. What kind of shoes you got right now? By the way, this is an opportunity for you to get some new shoes. Are you ready? Speak smartly here. Speak a brand right now. What do you like, Sean? I forget what they're called. We all have them. They're called... The on shoes, those swizzles? You might need like leg braces or something if you're blowing your back out just walking. What?

How would you feel about a wagon and then Scotty pulls it? Would you sit in a wagon? Look, I'm not above it. You've seen the dogs with the blown out backs? Yeah. Right? With the little carts? I would walk around. What about a Segway? Yeah, what about a Segway? Why don't you get electric bikes and park them in your apartment? Yeah, yeah. I think we have to do bikes. I think it'd be kind of fun. Get bikes. You're coming out here tomorrow. Yes. And hopefully we'll go for a bike ride. And by the way, Will, like, honestly, you don't, like...

We'll come in. You don't have to do anything. We'll just go where you want. You're going for lunch at our friend's house, and then you're going to look around, and then we have a dinner tomorrow night. Perfect. And then we leave first thing in the morning.

Chappy's here. Chappy's on his way here. He's in... Bob is here. My sister is here right now with my brother-in-law, Ed. It's a house full. Yeah. Except for... It's going to be a lot of fun. Hey, Jason, have fun, eh? Yeah. You got everybody there except me, I guess. Why didn't you come out, Jay, and then just go down to the room? I know, you should come out. Because we've got other plans, okay? All right, well... We're doing other things, okay? Yeah, you guys are going on a different vacay, which I don't... I don't know. Finish the sentence?

I just don't know why you don't come out to where we are. All your friends are out here is what I'm saying. You know, it's not up to me. I'm not living in a dictatorship. This is a democratic house, and there's a lot of complications to our trips. Maybe that's your problem. As you know. By the way, that's the thing. You think it's a democracy. You do live in a dictatorship. The problem is you're not the dictator. Yeah.

That's so funny. It's true. Speaking of dictator, terrible segue because it does not apply to this person at all. But I will say this is somebody I'm really excited. I'm excited because, Sean, I can't wait to see how excited you are because this is going to hit you right in a sweet spot. Must be an athlete. I'm excited.

Right in a sweet spot for you. And also for me, he's been in a lot of films that I just absolutely love. I remember his first film. I'm not going to say the title yet. I think it was his first film, maybe his second film, but the first film that really had a lot of sort of wide acclaim, went on to be a very famous director as well. And I remember thinking, like, this guy, he just has...

I don't know. I can't not watch him when he's on screen. He's got that thing. You know, there are certain performers who have that. He's got that thing where you're just like you're glued to and you're with him on everything he says no matter the role. This is this guy. And he's won Emmys and he's won Golden Globes and he's been a globe trotter in that he's gone around the globe on his motorcycle. He's an incredible actor. He is Obi-Wan Kenobi. What? Ewan McGregor. I got it right on the motorcycle. Oh, my God.

How's it going? Why is Ewan McGregor in Sean's wheelhouse? What are you talking about? Because Sean is the most massive Star Wars fan of all time. Are you joking me? Oh, right, right, right. I was thinking song and dance. I was thinking song and dance. Oh, I see. Wait, Ewan. Oh, my God. This is so cool to meet you. How are you doing? I'm so nervous. I don't know why I'm so nervous. Why? Don't be nervous. Sean does that to everybody. It's weird. You have nothing to be nervous about. We are absolute fools, and there's nothing to this show. It's...

It's titled appropriately. You're immediately the smartest guy in the room. Scotty, come over here. Here comes Scotty. Don't worry about it. Scotty's going to lose it. Do you know who the guest is? Just let him look and don't tell him. Look who that is. Oh, my God.

That's my husband. Ewan McGregor, welcome, man. Welcome, welcome. What an honor to have you here on the show. Well, it's such a great pleasure for me to be on. I was just an enormous fan of yours, buddy. Do you know Trainspotting is one of my favorite movies of all time? What has he done that has been bad? Well, Ewan, you answer that. Wait, hang on. I was going to start with this. That film I'm talking about, Ewan, is Shallowgrave, of course. Of course. Okay, yeah, yeah. Can you talk to us a little bit about how that came together and what that experience was like?

and where it met you in your life at that time, that film? - Yeah, it was the first film I ever made. You were right. Is this good? - Yes. - Brilliant. - Okay. You were right, it was the first film I ever made. I'd left drama school and I did a six month shoot on a Dennis Potter series called Lipstick on Your Collar. So I sort of got out of drama school and straight in front of a camera for six months, which was amazing training, if you like.

In that respect. And then I did a play, and then I did a period drama called The Red and the Black. And then I went for an audition for this film called Shallow Grave. So I'd done a couple of things on television, and I guess... But did you know Danny Boyle before that? No. I didn't know any of them. And they were really very much like a three-person team. Danny, the director, of course, and then Andrew McDonald was the producer, and John Hodge, the writer. And the three of them were very much like a...

creative team, like really truly they were. And did they, was Trainspotting the same team? That was them, yeah. And that's when I met them the first time and

I was just lucky to get, I was so hungry and so fucking like, let me at it, you know. I felt like I'd been ready for a long time, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I got on a, you know, we shot it so quickly. We built that apartment in Shallowgrave in a factory in Glasgow, you know. And it was all, it was so, Brian Tufano shot it, who went on to shoot Trainspotting and Life Less Ordinary. And he's a brilliant actor.

- A cinematographer. - I auditioned for "A Life Less Ordinary." - Did you really? - Oh, did you? - Yeah, and for Danny Boyle, I was so nervous. I had just moved to Los Angeles, and in the scene, he's supposed to throw keys at me, so I brought keys to act like they were just thrown at me, and he threw me his set of keys, so then I had two set of keys. - Oh boy.

Did you know that he was going to do it, though? He might have heard you. No, I didn't. Wow, that's risky. I didn't know he was going to do it. So how was the shoot, Sean? How was the shoot? I didn't get it. So I'll bet you were great in the audition, but I would imagine that those guys, that you also got the job also because it seems like you kind of fit in with their kind of fabric. They just seem like good dudes like you, and did that kind of bring about Trainspotting as well? I mean, aside from your talent.

Yeah, yeah. It was interesting because it was all of our first movies. You know, Danny had been a director in the theatre for years and I think that's why he's so very good, you know. Oh, I didn't know that. And this was his first movie and Andrew's first movie and John was a doctor who wrote this brilliant script about these people. I guess he trained in Edinburgh so he knew about Edinburgh life and living in that city. And...

Yeah, it was just the most amazing experience. But I felt like it was like the other things I'd done. You know, I did that period drama and I'd done that Lipstick In Your Collar was set in the 50s and it was all single camera work anyway. So it felt much the same until I saw it and I saw what they'd been doing, you know, visually and what Brian, the shots that Danny and Brian dreamt up. And it sort of felt like...

It really felt like we'd sort of made a mark on British cinema. That's how it felt when it came out. Yes, you did. And then we took it to, it was my first adult trip to America. We came to Sundance with it.

And I'd been in the States when I was nine with my parents, which was ridiculous. Nobody comes to America for holidays. Like, it's too big of a deal, you know. But when I was nine, we came over. So this was my first time back as a sort of grown-up. And I went to Sundance with Shallow Grave, and they gave me the script there for Trainspotting. Oh, my God. How cool. And they always, he said, he said, it was very, like, we're not offering you this, and it's not an offer. And just, you know, we just want to know what you think of it. And so I read that on the plane.

I was like, fucking hell. I mean, it's the role of a lifetime, isn't it? It's like one of the great leading roles. But John, I think I'm right in saying, John didn't think I was right for it. Because in the novel, in Irvin Welsh's novel...

Ewan Bremner, who played Spud, had played Rent in the stage version before we made the movie. Oh, it was a play? Trainspotting was a play? It was a novel first, and then they made a play of it, and Ewan Bremner was in the play as Rent. And in fact, he's much more... He's much better casting in terms of the Renton that's written in the novel, you know? He's much more Ewan Bremner-esque than me-esque. So...

I think John wasn't quite convinced and I just had to do it. So I went away and I just lost loads of weight. I didn't eat. Yeah. When you say you went away, where did you go? Like a hole in the ground? Where did you go? Where do you got to go to lose weight? Well, I just did it. They still hadn't offered it to me, you know? They still hadn't said that it was my role. But I just thought, fuck it, I'm going to make them know that it's my role. So I went away and...

I saw them now and again, but we'd made that movie together and Andrew had an office in Soho in London that I would drop into now and again. So I just didn't see them for a wee while.

Just like shed loads of weight because I was young and it was easier to do then, you know. And I was a big, I was a nasty drinker back in the day. And I remember I like, I just started drinking like white wine and clear stuff, you know, instead of the alcoholic sort of dieting, you know, just drink the clear ones, you know. And it seemed to work actually to a degree. Anyway, I lost all the weight and then I went back in to see them and

I think they were like, okay, because I looked more right then. I was more sort of emaciated and stuff. But, well, I mean, it was the most amazing experience making that film, too. By the way, that film just took the world by, I was going to say surprise, but it just took it by storm, really. I feel like that movie kind of shifted the way, for a while there, the way people made movies because it was...

It was very edgy, and obviously it was very raw, but it wasn't just for the sake of it. There was kind of a point to all of it, and there was something deeper happening. It was very cool. Sean, by the way, I can see the wheel is turning. You're just hoping, like, God, Trainspotting the musical. If there's any way...

then Ewan could find a way to get you involved with that. Five, six, seven, eight. Hero in here. And then it's one more hero in there. Sean, now, by the way, if Danny... That's really hero in the song. If Danny decides to do it, you go in, and this time maybe you wouldn't bring your own keys. Wait, Ewan, speaking of that, when you guys did the drugs in the movie, it was, like, both, you know, incredibly... Incredible to watch just as actors, but...

just like it looks so real. Like I can't imagine-- Did Danny ever talk you through like-- -Yeah, it was hardcore. -What the experience was for a hardcore-- I don't even-- I want to ask you if you actually did it to get into character. -But like-- -Yeah. How did you get there? Because it did look so real. By saying I don't want to ask you, by the way, I know that's a soft ask. -Totally just an ask, isn't it? -Yeah, it's an ask. -It really is. -I'm not going to ask you. I'm just going to put you in a difficult position, but go ahead, Ewan. No, it's quite an interesting point because

I didn't do heroin, I've never done heroin, but I did think about it and I thought, I don't want to do heroin addicts a disservice by getting it wrong. So I did think, it did cross my mind, and I did say to Danny-- You don't want to disrespect the heroin addicts. Officer, I was just researching. I was just trying not to disrespect the addicts. What do you mean, why do you mean, why do I have a lighter under this spoon? I start shooting in three weeks.

So I brought it up and I said, look, do you think we should do it? And I really thought about it because I thought, well, John, our writer, he's a doctor. Like, he could do it to us properly, you know, so that we don't die and stuff. He could probably administer that. Oh, my God. Yeah, right? So that we were safe-ish. But it just became apparent that that was just really a disrespectful idea to the people we were working with. And we went up to Glasgow and we worked with this group of –

recovering addicts called the Carlton Athletic Club and they're a group of

It was predominantly guys then. And they have soccer teams. And they're all ex-junkies. But they have these football competitions and they're five-a-side competitions. And they kicked our ass. Like, the five actors, you know. We got our asses handed to us by all these ex-junkies. But once we started working with those guys... And we had this guy, Eamon, who was our advisor on set. And he...

He took us to some meetings and I started listening to all these guys. And, you know, I saw guys who'd been sober a long time, clean a long time. And then some guys who just, you know, who were still in withdrawal. And I felt like once I met those guys and saw what was going on in their eyes, you know, I thought it would be just massively disrespectful to them.

to not have all your faculties together. So it was... From then on, we just... Yeah, we didn't take care of it. What was the feedback from the junkie community? Was it positive response to the film? I'm actually kind of serious. No, no, there was...

Yeah, I had both. There was a backlash on the film because people said it, you know, thought it glorified drug taking. And I don't think so. And I've never thought so. But some people did think that. And I met a couple. I remember I was passing a guy, a homeless guy in Soho one night and he'd seen the movie and...

He's like, you're one of us, brother. You know, come on. He was totally on the wrong side of the fence. He was like, yeah, fucking come on. Oh, dear. Wow. I guess it's better than getting stopped by the gang that loves Star Wars, right? Yeah. What are you saying? We'll be right back. And now, back to the show.

I just finished Obi-Wan and it's so fucking good. You're so great in it. I love that. How did they get James Earl Jones to come back to do the voice of Vader? I mean, that's crazy. I know. Amazing. I'm just glad they did. It's so amazing. We had such a good time doing it. It was a long time...

um since we since we shot episode three it was 2003 and um yeah but it felt good you know it felt quite good to come i really i was in a much better place with it and um because our prequels came out and sort of universally weren't liked by uh and and it was all pre um social media and everything so then the sort of voice that we heard were the critics voices and

They didn't like them much, and so it was pretty disappointing at the time. But the fans liked them, though. That was the thing. I feel like the fans liked them. For the story. And you're right. Boy, that's an interesting distinction that you've made, that we do live in a time now where the critics' voices have just been completely drowned out, haven't they? Yeah, they're just aggregated now. It's just rotten tomatoes, period. Right, but even that doesn't

really matter as much as what social media is saying. And that's not necessarily critics, it's people, right? -Yeah. -I mean, it's other people. -I think so. -Yeah, yeah. Do you-- Yeah, that's interesting. So...

Anyway, it was hard to get back into it or it was easy? Well, I think when I finished the third one, if you'd asked me then, I'd be like, okay. I was always happy to be in it and I was always grateful to be involved in something that big and to be part of the legend of it because I loved it. When I was a kid, I loved those films. I was seven, I think, six or seven when the first one came out. And just like you can't.

you know, it's in you somehow. And I know it is because when I was working on this series and I was faced with Vader for the first time and all his like scary majesty, I was totally knocked the wind out of me. It was quite scary seeing him coming at you. And stormtroopers, like I never, I never acted with stormtroopers on the prequels. So,

We did scenes with Stormtrooper and I was like a boy again, you know, just like deep inside me. And talk about a huge difference in, I mean, I know there was a gang of work between, you know, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting and then the Star Wars work. There's tons of stuff you did in between there. But I mean, the difference between probably what, like a 28 day shoot on those earlier films and then Star Wars that take you probably a half a year to shoot.

those movies and working with green screens and all that kind of stuff. I mean, I would imagine your answer to which do you like better, you'd probably say, you know, little bits of each, but it's a totally different process, isn't it? It's a different process and it teaches you that you're always challenged, aren't we? By every job we do, there's some challenge that it throws at you. And in those prequels, it was very much the challenge of like being...

trying to be believable with this dialogue in front of a blue curtain, you know, for four months. Hey, is it true that George Lucas didn't give you guys the script until like two days before every scene or something like that? Is that true?

No. Okay, thanks. It was one of those, you know, I had to go to the studio and sit in a room sort of locked in to read it. Oh, I see. But we had the script. You know what made me laugh? This made me laugh so hard. I read somewhere, I saw you in an interview or something, saying you used the force, the Jedi force, to open automated doors at like supermarkets and stuff. Yeah.

But only if people are watching. If I think somebody's watching. I give it a little, you do a little like wave in front of the door. That is so funny. Oh,

And don't get anything away here. Now, you can go around to stores and supermarkets and movie theaters and stuff like that, or do you get tackled by fans and stuff? Or do you just kind of get stopped and say, oh, hey, I really like your stuff, and would you take a picture? And you kind of carry on. Are they nuts because of all the Star Wars stuff? Because of everything. Oh, of everything. Well, yeah, I think it's a really interesting story.

You've got this great level of fame, I think, like this perfect level of fame where you can... Your celebrity can get films financed and be a recruiting element for other cast elements and directors and stuff like that, yet you can still go out and have a... You maybe could find some anonymity if you just kind of dress right. You know, you can kind of... Yeah, I just try to just do it, do my life and not... Yeah, yeah. To a point. And then there's a point... It's always...

It's unavoidable when you're somewhere, you know, when you go to do press somewhere and they know the hotel you're staying in. That's unavoidable. And I guess that I have to learn to be better with that. I'm not great with the autograph hunters who stand outside your hotel because I don't really believe they're... They're just looking to make money. They don't really want the autograph. They want to sell the autographs. And I find that gets my...

I are up a bit. Yeah. Now, wait, Jason. Sean, can I just jump in and say my son Abel, who's 11 years old, and I've never done this, but I'm going to put you on the spot. He asked me to ask you, he was wondering, why did you accept the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi? Like, was there a reason besides the money? That's from Abel. Abel just asked me, he just asked me.

That's brilliant. That's hysterical. Because he knew that you were on the show today and he is, he is, again, he is such a massive fan, Abel. He is freaking out that you're here today. And he went, he left yesterday to go up and spend a couple days with his mom and he is like,

freaking out. He knew you were coming on today and then he just texted me that knowing that you're on now. That's cute. Well, I imagine you didn't probably even need to read the script, right? I mean, the yes was probably automatic given... No, I really had to think about it because it came quite shortly after that trend spotting period and I really, by that time, I was so...

full of myself. You know, I was like this, I'm Danny Boyle's actor. I'm like fucking urban grunge. Here I go. I am the oasis of the British movie industry, you know. And then when Star Wars came along, I thought, I don't know if I want to do this. This isn't me, you know. Right. And also I worried about sort of

I suppose I was worried about typecasting or something like that. Because you were going to be so famous from it. It was so, it's just going to be so big, I think. Yeah. And then I thought, well, I don't know. It didn't really, I was so into being the sort of anti-hero, if you like, you know. I live in America now, but for a long time I didn't. And I thought, I'm going to do it, you know, like a,

indie British actor is what I felt like. And I felt, more than anything, I felt like I was Danny Boyle's actor. And I felt that that sort of defined me. I really did. So I asked everybody, I spoke to them. My uncle was in all three of the original ones. He played Wedge Antilles. My uncle's an actor called Dennis Lawson. And I asked him and I said, what do you think? And he said,

if you want a career after 30, don't do it. That's what he said. Oh, really? What did Danny Boyle say? Did you ask Danny Boyle? I did ask Danny Boyle, yeah. I think he said that I should do it. But in the end, it just got closer and closer to...

Like, the closer I got to it, I remember doing, you know, going to recalls and recalls and screen tests and then meeting George. And it got down to like two or three of us, I think. And by that time, I just thought I just was so attached to the idea of it from when I was a kid that I thought...

You know, to get a chance to be that character and to be the younger Alec Guinness is pretty awesome. But you were also signing up for, what, three? Two or three at a minimum? Yeah. Three. But the other thing is, like, you asked your uncle, but the last thing you should do is ask another actor any advice on whether or not you should do something. I think it's, like, the worst thing to do because they can't help but put their own fucked up, you know, reasoning into it or their own desire or whatever. They can't help it.

-I remember one time-- -They didn't ask me to do it. Yeah, exactly. They didn't ask me. Right. And I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. I remember years ago, you were at the Golden Globes. And I remember because Bradley Cooper at the time was-- I think he was on Alias maybe. And so he was there. He had gone and he was like, "I'm going to the Golden Globes tonight." And we lived in the same-- And so then he came back and he was like, "Man,

He and I were just talking about this the other day, 'cause I told him you were on the show, and he goes, "Man, I just saw Ewan McGregor was there tonight, "and he had eyeliner on, and he was there, "and he looked so fucking cool." And he's like, "And we could never pull that off. "We could never do that." And he was right! - You had eyeliner on at the Globe? - And he was so cool. Ewan was, and we were like, "Fuck, man, we could never do this." - I did that film Velvet Goldmine.

With Todd Haynes. And I just loved it. And I really always had this rock and roll fantasy, you know, that I probably still have a little bit, that wouldn't it be amazing to be like a rock and roller on tour and stuff. And I don't think that... So for a while I did, I wore makeup and nail, you know, like nail varnish and stuff, but only for a little while. And I liked it. And I've always liked like...

Yeah, this isn't probably what you should do, so I'm going to do it, you know, at the Globes. Maybe it's not the best. By the way, you pulled it off. It was very cool. And I get it, too, because I'm also a contrarian, I think, by nature. And I'm always like, if everybody else is doing it, then that means I absolutely cannot do that thing. Often, to my own, you know...

you know disservice or whatever i you know it's not always the best thing but i don't know if i'm sensing that there's a little bit of that in you as well i know there's definitely i i'm like that with movies that are hugely successful i'm like well i'm not gonna watch it you know and then i'll see it eight years later and i'm like that film's really good it's like yeah right yeah that film was really good eight years ago i do the same thing i do that with movies i do that with tv shows i was

I was like, "Hey man, during the pandemic." I was like, "Have you guys seen 'The American Office'? It's really good." And I'm friends with a lot of people on the show. I'm friends. Like Krasinski and I had to be like, I actually never watched it. And I'm like, "It's really, really good." - I did that with 'Breaking Bad'. 'Breaking Bad' I watched like two years ago. - I feel like I'm gonna be saying that about 'The Sopranos' when I get that watch. - Yeah, I've never seen 'The Sopranos'. - I did that. 'The Sopranos' was my one years later. Years, years late. Did you not watch it?

Not yet. It's really good. I mean, you know, like one here, one there. Ewan, this is a true story. One day when we were, Jason and I were working together years ago, he came after a weekend and he goes, hey, you know, this is a true story. He goes, hey, you know, Blues Brothers is pretty good. And I go, this is like 2004. 2004. And I go, Blues Brothers.

Blues Brothers, the 1978 film? Yeah, it's pretty good. I just figured everyone had sort of missed it, like me. Everyone's like me, right? That's the narcissist, Captain Narcissism in me. That's just terrible. That's funny. Ewan, where did the motorcycle passion come from?

I've always ridden motorbikes since I was, well, no, I wanted to ride motorbikes since I was a teenager and my parents would never let me. And so it was just after I finished drama school, I realized that I could do what I wanted, you know. And so I got my first little motorbike in London. And I used to park it outside and when they came to visit me, I'd...

There's a lovely girl upstairs called Elska. I used to take all my stuff up to my ride and get my helmets and gloves and I'd stash them in her place so they wouldn't see them, you know, and pretend that... Anyway, that went on for a while. And I started riding. I just love it. I still love it as much as I ever did. And I rode everywhere in London riding.

I'd use it to get about and I'd go for trips on it and I met my great mate Charlie Boorman when we made a film together called Serpent's Kiss in Ireland and we both had just had babies and we were both into bikes, he'd grew up riding motorbikes

And so we just sort of, we did a lot of track days together and we were involved in a race team, not riding, but we were sort of the sort of, I don't know, the sort of glam squad for this little motorcycle racing team. Like road bikes? Road bikes, yeah. Like track racing. Wow. And then I read this book written by Ted Simon called

who wrote a beautiful book called Jupiter's Travels in the 70s. And he was a journalist, I think for the Sunday Times. And he decided he wanted to travel the world. And he wasn't a biker, but he just thought that's the best way to see the world. And he's right. It really is the best way. There's something about it. So he got a triumphant. He rode around the world. And it took him four and a half years. And his book started...

He starts like three and a half years in and he's run out of petrol and he's sitting underneath a tree in India somewhere and his bike's propped up there because it's got no gas. And he just said, I'm sitting here safe in the knowledge that someone will come and help. And that's sort of how the book starts. And it had taken him three years to realize that that was a truth, you know.

And there's something beautiful about his writing and the book, and it just sort of boiled away in the back of my brain until one day I was thinking of, Charlie and I were always talking about looking for somewhere to ride and we thought we'd go to Spain from London on some sports tours and we'd take our wives on the back and then maybe they could fly home and we'll race back. And I just started thinking, well, I don't know. And then I started looking further afield and I got a world map and I looked at, I thought we could go to China and back. That would be cool.

And then I thought, well, what, we'll just come back along the same route? And so I kept looking right on the map, and it was sort of a direct line round to America and, you know, Canada. And I just thought, well, we could do that. So that was our first trip in 2004. Wait, you went all the way around the world?

We went from, well, it's officially not a round-the-world trip because it's only the Northern Hemisphere, but we rode from London round to New York. So we rode from London. Oh, my God. And we went in the Channel Tunnel to France, and then we rode to Far Eastern Russia and Siberia, and then we got a plane with the bikes to Anchorage, and then we rode from Anchorage to New York. And that was the, like, four and a half months of...

And we shot it. We shot it as a documentary with this amazing journalistic cameraman, Claudio Von Planter, who's our guy. And he just rode with us. Fake name. So a third bike. Three bikes. And then we had a couple of pickup trucks that we saw once in a while. And we'd, you know...

And then we did Africa. We did the whole African continent in 2007. And we did from Tierra del Fuego, which is the tip of South America, to Los Angeles just before the pandemic in 2019 on electric bikes, on the electric Harley Davidson. All of these are filmed? Oh, yeah. I saw footage of that where you guys were in Chile, I think, going across the flat, yeah? Yeah. In those electric bikes. Patagonia. Yeah.

Yeah. That's pretty cool. They're all on Apple. They're three documentaries, Long Way Round, Long Way Down, and Long Way Up. Okay, excellent. That's the order to watch them. Oh, my God. Yeah, that's pretty cool. That's great. I have a question. Do you... Okay, go ahead, sir, and state your name first. Where are you calling from? LAUGHTER

Ewan, do you... But do you and Jason, do you guys ever get mistaken for each other? Because I always thought you guys kind of look similarly. I've always thought that. My wife wants us to play brothers forever. Me too. I've always said that. I've always said that. Because you're beautiful, Ewan. You're really, really handsome. What a compliment to Jason that is. That's an incredible compliment to Jason. No, I see it. I definitely am, no. Ewan, do you feel like playing his much younger brother?

You could. No, no, no, no. I would definitely play his kid brother. Twins. You know, just sort of like, hey. Jay, you could be his dad almost. I swear to God. Let me look. Will, can I talk to you for a second? Move your camera a little bit. I think we should put it out there, Jason. It should happen. Don't you think? Yes, please. We should do some...

I'm ready. Indie Brothers thing. Ewan, how's your American accent? Is it quite good? I think it's okay. Of course it's good. This guy's been working his whole life. I work with Liz Hemelstein. Does anyone work with Liz Hemelstein? No. Well, you probably don't have to work with someone with your American accent, but I do. Well, I'm Canadian. I had to work. Will, wait. Did you really work on getting rid of your outs and abouts? No, I didn't. Out and about? God, yeah.

Out and about. Did you? No, I didn't. But there were certain things that I just tried to get rid of. Oh, sure. So that I didn't go up at the end of every sentence. You didn't have to take the question mark off every sentence. And I didn't say how so. But I used to do...

I used to say, "It's an absolutely brutal day for motor car racing." That's good. I used to do that. Is that Jackie Stewart? Do you do Jackie Stewart? Yeah, it's Jackie Stewart. It's Jackie Stewart. Jackie Stewart. Oh, yeah. He's still knocking about. He's still at all the races, Jackie. Is he? Is he still around? Yeah, yeah. He seems to be very present. Now, are you a golf fan? No, I just was interested in your outfit, your golfing outfit that you were discussing at the beginning with the funny trouser thing at the front. It wasn't bad. How do you-- Do you all play golf?

Sean does not. Will and I do. Jason and I do, yeah. You do? Yeah. Do you play any at all?

I grew up playing because in Scotland everybody plays. And then I've done it from time to time. And I can never get over the fact that I'm not as good as I think I am. So I always end up in horrible mood. Is that just the way it is? That's all of us. But then, you know, Roy McIlroy, he says, don't let golf affect your attitude. Let your attitude affect your golf. Oh, okay. That's good. Yeah. Oh.

I think I'm good at golf. If I could just get out of my way, I think I'd probably be a good player. No, you stick to motorcycles and rock and roll. You're a stud. You're a man's man. Will and I, you know, we're just golfers, you know? Yeah, we're delicate golfers. But here it's different. I feel like it's different. There's a sort of...

I don't know if it's different. It's always struck me as being different here. In Britain, it seems to be a little bit, feels a bit more elitist. Here it's elitist. Here I feel like everybody plays golf and, you know, golf clubs are, I don't know, because the big golf clubs here in LA are so expensive, aren't they? Like, you have to be... Yeah, it's a real status thing. I'm not proud of it. I just love the game. Yeah, I will say this. I think the thing that I struggle with the most with golf are a lot of the people who do play golf. And I'm sure we're going to get a lot of pushback from...

- People online. - From the golfing community. - And now we've enraged the heroin addicts and now the golfing community. And if they ever got together, if they ever got together. - There should be a golf championship for heroin addicts. And that would be... - They just fall asleep as they're putting. - It would be amazing. But you do have, it does, there is that sort of part of golf that does have this very sort of elitist and kind of exclusionary feel, vibe to it. And people who are completely out of touch

And so you never want to become that. That's the part that I don't like as well. Yeah, but I mean, it's like, if you like doing it, like who don't, right? No, I know, of course, of course. But you just hope that you don't become that, you know? I think you're right. I think that seems to be like the golf club style.

side of things. And then, because the idea of being part of a club, it lends itself to that anyway, doesn't it? It's something you have to pay in to, to be, feel special at your club. But the actual game of golf when you're on the, on the beautiful fairway is a, is, is really challenging. No question. I mean,

Will, do I grind or what? I mean, I'm out there just trying to really shoot a low number. He's not even really fun to play with anymore. No, not at all. Oh, you're too serious about it. Yeah, way too serious. Well, yeah, but I'm only out there for the challenge of it. And the slowest golfer in California. I'm speeding up. I'm trying to get faster. You are speeding up. You are getting faster. See, I find that difficult. If there's someone behind me on the tee waiting, I get so stressed. Yeah, there's stress on his hip. Oh, don't worry. He doesn't get stressed.

I tried golfing in Ireland once with my brother. Did you? Yeah, one of my friends, my brother Kevin, I played golf with him in Ireland and they didn't have carts so he'd carry our bags everywhere and I said, I'm out. And then I golfed. Wait, that's when you came out?

Oh, oh, you're out of, sorry. On a golf club in Ireland? Wow. I'm out. What? This seems like a good spot. Jesus Christ. And I screamed it. I'm out! So wait, how come we haven't heard of Kevin before? How many siblings do you have, Sean? We have heard of Dennis, Kevin, Mike, who passed away sadly, my sister Tracy, and me. Kevin, you, Tracy, me.

And Dennis. And Dennis. Dennis is no longer with us. No, Mike passed away. Michael. You've been friends with Sean for a long time, by the way. This is embarrassing for you. Will, why don't you tell me the name of your brother real quick? Chuck.

That was pretty fast. You're getting faster. My other sister is here. She has a Scottish name. Her name is Shanley. Yeah, and the other one is Tennis. Tennis. Tennis. That's my joke. But Shanley is here. Yeah, go ahead. And then I played golf with Jimmy Burrows, who was on our podcast. Great golfer. And Alan Thicke, who sadly passed away as well. But that was really fun. That was in Cabo San Lucas. And I did really well.

Okay. Ewan McGregor's with us. And he's joining us from a very handsome kitchen. Where is your house there, Ewan? I'm in my tiny house. I've got a little tiny house in my garden. Looks handsome. It's just quiet in here because there's no one in here. Are you in California? I'm in California, yeah. We'll be right back. All right, back to the show.

So you've lived in America for a long time? You're like five years, six years? I moved here in 2008. Okay. And I became an American two years ago. Uh,

Welcome. Welcome. Yeah, thank you. I just love it. I love living here and I have no intention to not live here. I just love it. What was that process like? What did you have to know? You have to know like the Star Spangled Banner or basic history? How does that go? It's a bit...

Well, it's probably a bit like a driving test, you know, when you learn all this stuff and then as soon as they say you can drive a car, you forget all of it. So it's a lot of American history, how the political system works here, which is difficult for a Brit because it's quite complicated, it seems. And then you've got to know names of your local...

Oh, senators and then congressmen? Yeah. Congress people, senators, stuff like that. Yeah. And then history and dates and stuff. They ask you dates of when things were written and what have you. Oh, wow. I did it in 2007. I did the same thing. And I remember they did the thing, you had to remember which were the original 13 states, et cetera, and all those sort of things. So I studied. I wanted to get 100%.

And the guy, it's really up to the discretion of the person who's giving you that final interview, right? It was anyway back then. And the guy goes, he starts asking me a couple questions. And then he could see that I knew what I was, I knew what the answers were. He's like, okay, well, you got this. And he moves on. I was like, no, no, no. You're not moving on. I studied this. Yeah. Right? I had the same thing. Because you have to get 10 questions.

No, you have to get six questions right out of 10. Yeah. That's it? I got six right. Yeah. It's like a hundred. I think there's a hundred potential questions and they ask you 10 and you have to get at least six of them right. And so once you get six of them right, they go, okay, that's it. You're in. And I was like, I was like you. I was like, no, no. What are the other four? Yeah.

Spent a lot of time learning this stuff, you know. Now, Ewan McGregor, talk to me about your domestic situation there. You got one kid, two kids, one wife, boyfriend. It doesn't matter. This is a real liberal show. Yeah.

I'm recently married. I'm married this year to my love, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Oh, congratulations. You got married this year? I got married this year. Nice. I have four daughters with my ex-wife, Ev. Yeah. And Mary and I have a one-year-old son. So I have five children. Oh, amazing. Oh, that's so great. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm really lucky and very much in love and I'm very, very happy. How old is your son? Yeah, I'm blessed with all my kids. He's just turned one. What?

Wow. Okay, I have a two-year-old. I have two older boys from my first, and I have a two-year-old as well. How old are your girls? My eldest girl, Clara, is 26. Yeah. And then I have two 20-year-olds, Esther and Jemian, and my youngest daughter, Anouk, is 11.

Oh, great. I love it so much. I love it so much being a dad. I really do. Did you think you were going to love it as much as you did? I mean, I thought, yeah, this is going to be cool. And now I'm just like a baby. I mean, I cry watching commercials if there's a little kid in it. I just love it. I think I was totally old. Yeah, I had Clara when I was 24 years old. And I was just always...

I always knew that I wanted children and I really love it. I really do. It makes me incredibly happy. Now, quick math there. That puts you at 50? 51. 51. When's your birthday? What sign are you? Sorry, I'm asking for a friend.

And then I want to know what your rising is. What are you? I'm born on the end of, I was the last day of March, 31st of March, 1971. So I'm an Aries. Aries. Where are you guys at? What ages are we here in the? Oh, I'm just 35, but I think that we should. Move on. Will can't play older than 40. I skew late 30s, but I...

I'm 50. I'm 52. Sean and I are both 52. We're only a couple weeks apart. I'm 53. I'm the adult here. Okay. Growing up. That's why you're so good at golf because you're just that bit older than us. Yeah, but I just don't hit it as far anymore. Hey, tell me about, because I've seen, I think, everything you've ever done. By the way, I also auditioned for Down With Love. I didn't get that. Oh, yeah. Boy, this make-a-wish is going great with you. Great average.

But tell me what it's like, because you, didn't you do, are you in Pinocchio coming out? Are you in it? Yeah. Do you voice it or you're in it? I voice it. It's totally stop frame animation. Wow. And that's Guillermo del Toro. Yeah. Yeah. That's wild. It's embarrassing. I had an experience. I don't know if you've ever done this. It's sort of an actor's nightmare of...

of being in a situation where you're absolutely unprepared. And that's what happened with this. I went to meet Guillermo and I thought to discuss the role and to discuss what we were going to do with it. And I arrived and I was in a sound studio with the front of a mic with a lectern with the script on there and he's behind the glass and he's going, okay, let's start off with Q1. What? And I hadn't read the script because...

I just thought we were having a chat. So I was busy and I hadn't read it and...

I started trying to do it. I just didn't tell him. And I thought, I'll just, I just have to go. So I started, and of course I had an idea of who Jiminy Cricket was, but it didn't seem to be anything like what I was reading on the page. And I didn't know what accent to use or what. The sweating. I almost was crying. I almost got to the point where I wanted to cry. You know, I was so embarrassed. And I just asked him to come in the room after about 20, I did about 25 minutes of this nightmare. Yeah.

So he comes round into the room and I went, look, really tearing up, and I went...

I have to tell you, I haven't read the script. I wasn't sent it. I thought we were having a discussion about... And it turned out, thank God, I hadn't been sent it, although I didn't know that for absolute sure. But anyway, then he was just great because he just went, no, what you're doing is good. And he talked to me for about half an hour and then we just went and we recorded the whole thing. No way. And then I read it and we went back in. So it's been one of those things, you've probably all done them, where you go back several times, you go in and out and...

But I think it's gonna be really-- I love him and I love his take on things, and so to be involved in this is really cool. Yeah. Explain the whole-- Will wants to do some voiceover work. We're talking through the process of it. Hey, you and-- So the crazy story-- I told you guys this story about when I did Ratatouille, right?

Did I tell you guys this? I didn't know you were in that. I was in that, yeah, and Brad Bird directed, so similar thing. So I get a call. This is crazy that you just told this story.

When was that? That was like at least 15 years ago, maybe more. We were still doing original Arrested Development at the time. So anyway, he goes, they sent me the thing and they go, you're going to go up to Disney to record this stuff. And I'm like, great. Yeah, no problem. I get up there. I guess it sent me materials, but I'm not sure. Either I didn't see it or ignored it or whatever. And I was not prepared for what I was walking into. Same thing. Walk into a soundstage, into a recording studio, and I'm like,

at Disney, Brad's there, and he's like, and he's in the booth with me, and they bring out all their, he's like, you've seen all the art for your character, Horst, the sous chef. And I go, yeah, of course I've seen the art. This one's my favorite. Look at that. And I'm looking at it going, absorb everything, absorb everything, you know. And then he goes, so obviously, and as you know, because Horst is German, and I'm like, yeah, right, because he's German. And I'm thinking like, what the fuck? And I'm thinking, I don't,

think I do a German apart from like what you do in a bar to a friend I don't know and he goes and then he's like okay let's go and I'm like what the fuck am I going to do same thing the panic the sweat the fucking and he's right there and Brad Bird I revere the guy who made The Incredibles he's a great director he's gone on super sweet guy

And I just did it. I just bullshitted my way through. I did this fucking... The movie exists to this day. Oh, my God. Do it. Do it. Three, two, one. German accent. Three, two, one. With this thumb, I kill three men. LAUGHTER

That's pretty good. Now, you and Jiminy Cricket, is he Scottish? Yeah, sort of very like my voice, because I didn't really know what else to do, so he's very close to me. Did you go higher? Did you go higher at all? He's just small. He's tiny, so I like... He's wee. I'm always shouting everything, because everyone's so far away, you know. So it's a very shouty performance. LAUGHTER

Pinocchio! This summer, in his shoutiest performance to date, Ewan McGregor is... Ewan, I want to hear a little bit of an American accent. Just for a second, just a little bit. Hi, I'm Jason Bateman. Hey, I'm Jason Bateman. Yeah, that's pretty good. There's so many American accents. Unbelievable, too many. That was two. Okay.

Are you excited about something next? Because you always just pick the coolest stuff. You always work the greatest people. And do you like working that much? I tell you what, I've really learned that I like not working too. Now that we had the experience of being off for that year, you know, with lockdown. And I've never really been that great at not working. I like working and I enjoy it so much what we do and everything.

um but I realized that I was actually much better at not working than I thought I was so now I now I've got this little boy and I'm with Mary and um I feel like I just want to I do want to spend less time away and more time at home and so um this year I've done very little I've done a lot of promotion for the Star Wars show this year and um

I don't know exactly what I was supposed to be making. I had the experience that hasn't happened to me a lot, where I was going to be making a movie in Scotland. And so I sort of planned my year about making this movie in Scotland for the whole of the autumn, and it totally just disappeared. I was just texting the director one day about a question about something else, and he went, "Oh no, we're not doing it." I was like, "Oh." Thanks for letting me know. - Wait, what about "Moulin Rouge?" 'Cause you were so great in that. Would you ever do another musical?

Yes, totally. I loved it. And I did a musical on stage after that. I did Guys and Dolls in London for six months. Oh, that's right. That's right. And I really liked it. It was what an amazing...

What an amazing thing to do. It's quite something to get on stage and do something like that every night. A. Burroughs, right? A. Burroughs? Did A. Burroughs write that? Yeah, A. Burroughs wrote that. The guy Jimmy Burroughs we were just talking about who's on the show. He's our friend. He's a great television director, one of the greatest. And his dad, A. Burroughs, wrote it. Oh, wow. So when you're not being a great dad and a great husband, to fill your days...

What would you do? Aside from being a dad and a husband, do you have any dumbass hobby like me and Will playing golf? I do. I have always loved motorbikes and old VWs, like old Beetles and buses and stuff. So I'm a bit of a... You're out there fixing them up and stuff? Yeah, I like to putter. I'm not great. I'm not like a mechanic or anything, but I do...

faff around. I like faffing around in there. And I spend hours, like, in my shed. Now, what is the goal? When I see people working on engines and stuff, it's not just about the difference between making them run and not run. Isn't there, like, fine-tuning, like, you can make it run a little bit quieter or make it run a little faster? Like, what are you out there... What do you do when you're faffering? Um...

He's generally just trying to make them move. Okay, so it is about on or off. With the kind of stuff that I like. It's not that fine-tuning, really. The VWs are pretty simple. I just love them. I love them so much. How many you got? I have three Beetles, and I've got two buses. I got an old 1960 Rolls-Royce that I love. Did you see the new VW electric car?

Yeah, I am. It's pretty cool, huh? I'm actually doing, I'm working with VW. No way. Helping them promote the new electric bus, yeah. Wow. Because I did that big trip on an electric motorbike and I've been an enthusiast of VW's for years and...

So we got in touch and we made a couple of commercials with my old stuff and moving into this new electric bus. Don't they own Porsche now? They always have. Yeah, so many. Porsche and Lamborghini and Ducati. VW owns Audi, Audi and Porsche. I drive the new Audi. Who's got a new Audi? Yeah, I drive the new Audi all-electric vehicle. It is my favorite car of all time. It's less written, Sean. Still rolling, less written.

and action. No, it really is my favorite car of all time. Ewan, what's the ad that you do for the travel company? I love, hang on, I just have to say this. Expedia. Expedia. As a voiceover guy, I love your intonation on, it's not about the things we have, it's about the...

What is it? What's the final line? It's the places we go? Are we going to live our lives and regret the things that we didn't buy or the places we didn't go? Or the places we didn't go. And the way you say it, I fucking love it, man. It's so good, right? They play it on sports all the time. It's so good.

It's so good. I like that. None of my Hyundai reads. No, Jason, Hyundai. On Hyundai, you know, it's your journey. You don't like the way I say it's your journey. You know, the way it really hit your, no? Ewan, when you're on the Expedia, so good. So good.

Have you heard my lemons? Have you heard my lemons? Yes, lemons. I like the lemons one. Lemons, lemons, lemons. Yes, you come in on that lemons, right? Lemons, lemons, lemons. It's very difficult. Is it wrong that I really, like, I think there was a time back in the train spotting days where I would have been like, fuck that, I'm not doing a fucking advert. And now I'm like...

Can I do another Expedia? Can we get in touch with Expedia? Gnashing his teeth about doing Star Wars. And now it's just like, we're going through all the, yeah. Well, listen, times change. Bring it on. I'm like. It's the absolute best. I love doing it too. It's so good. And we're available. We're available for Limes. So, you and, God, we could talk to you forever. It's so great having you here on the show. That was a very fast hour. A very fast. God, yeah.

You're a delight. I needn't have been so nervous. I was very nervous before. I don't know why. I guess because I haven't met you all and I was impressed to be on your show. I've had a great time. I'd love to meet you in person one day. That would be great, buddy. Yeah. I'm going to look for something where we've got a brother thing going. I think we should definitely do that.

I'd love that. We're going to find something. I'd watch the hell out of that, right, Sean? I would watch it, yeah. Let's do it. Yeah, we'd watch the hell out of it. All right, guys. Ewan, such a pleasure. I love you. I'm such a huge fan. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for doing our show, buddy. Thanks for doing it. Great to meet you. Cheers, guys. All right. Take care. Bye, Ewan. See you. Bye-bye.

Wow. We have had nice people on this show. Yeah. But like really nice people. I feel like he may, that might be the gold right there as far as just nice sort of like infectious positive energy. I was like, I was nervous. I knew Sean, I've been sitting on this one for a while and I knew, I was like, oh, Sean is going to flip. I was,

Wait, just because he played Obi-Wan Kenobi? No, but then in those movies, but then he just came out with the series Obi-Wan Kenobi. And also just like, I've seen, Train Spotting is one of my all-time favorite movies. Like that's one of the movies that made me want to be an actor. Really? Yeah. Wow.

I just have just been, I just always assumed that that's a really good dude. Yeah. And there it is, sure enough. There you go, yeah. I had heard, I don't know, I had heard a couple people just sort of anecdotally say that he's just the coolest, nicest, realest person. Yeah, I love him. I know. You know, it's so great. I love his accent, it's so great. And he's Scottish, and we were talking about The Open, which was played in...

up in St. Andrews in Scotland, not to be confused with the Canadian...

There is another St. Andrews, but that's called St. Andrews by the sea. By the sea. By the sea. Really well worked in there, Will. That was good. You've been sitting on that since we talked about it. No, it just encouraged me. And I was like, wow, how am I going to get there? Anyway, bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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