'Knockout' renamed 'Haywire'; gets a 2011 release + Ewan McGregor at the Sydney Film Festival

Steven Soderbergh's Knockout (which stars Ewan McGregor) has now been renamed Haywire. The film had originally been scheduled for a release sometime this August, but it appears that Lionsgate has moved it to January 2011.

Ewan attended last night's Sydney premiere of The Ghost Writer at the State Theatre and talked to the press on the red carpet. There are also some photos of Ewan on the red carpet.

New interview with Ewan McGregor, 'Knockout' shooting in New Mexico

Ewan did an interview with The Scotsman to promote I Love You Phillip Morris which opens in the UK this Wednesday. It was first published on Saturday, March 13 and and you can read an excerpt below and go to The Scotsman for the full interview.

"I'd like to be Philip Seymour Hoffman's boyfriend. I think we'd make a good couple."

If the rule in Hollywood is that the closet doors must stay resolutely closed, then Ewan McGregor has just thrown them open to the soundtrack of I Am What I Am with a rustle of pink taffeta and a whiff of Dolce & Gabbana. He's not coming out, though. Of course he's not. McGregor's not gay; he's been married – to French production designer Eve Mavrakis – for nearly 15 years and they have three daughters (Clara, 14, Esther, eight, and Jamiyan, seven, who the couple adopted from Mongolia). But that's not what we're interested in here. Today, it's all about the boys. And, as it happens, if McGregor had to choose a "bf", Mr Hoffman would be the lucky fella.

"We'd look good, we'd look slightly odd and we'd go to interesting parties and people would be interested in us," says McGregor, clearly warming to his theme. "I don't know him, but I'd like to be his boyfriend."

If the subject matter seems a little unusual, the reason is McGregor's new film, I Love You Phillip Morris. A funny, tragic, quirky movie, written and directed by Bad Santa creators Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, ILYPM is an astonishing, absurdist, gay romance. [Claire Black]

Shooting on Knockout is expected to go on through Thursday in Los Alamos, New Mexico. There is no word on whether Ewan McGregor will be in New Mexico for the shoot, but here's the filming schedule:

Monday through Tuesday

Location – Based camp at West Road between the Ice rink and Camp May Road. Filming at State Road 4 near American Springs Road/Dome Road. West Road open to traffic. Intermittent traffic control at SR 4.

Wednesday through Thursday

Location – Empty lot in Ponderosa Estates. Base camp at the Golf Course parking lot. Intermittent traffic control in the vicinity of Aspen Drive near Parker Construction in Ponderosa Estates.

Ewan McGregor on the set of 'Knockout'

Here are some photos (via Best of Ewan) of Ewan and his co-star Gina Carano on the set of Steven Soderbergh's Knockout. I'm not sure what city they're shooting in, but it might be in Dublin.

Update: I got an email stating that the photos were taken in Barcelona, not Dublin. Thanks to chamuel for the information.

Ewan McGregor to shoot 'Knockout' in Dublin, French poster for 'The Ghost Writer', & Ewan narrates a new documentary

Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender are set to shoot Knockout in Dublin in a few weeks. There will be shooting on Dublin's streets and rooftops, and the city is specifically written into the screenplay. Ewan will play the owner of a private military company.

The French poster for The Ghost Writer is below:



Ewan is also narrating Charge, a documentary about the world's first zero emissions grand prix, the TTXGP, at the Isle of Man TT in 2009. Check out the film's trailer:



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Ewan McGregor cast in Steven Soderbergh's 'Knockout'? + 'The Ghost Writer' gets a release date

The folks over at The Playlist report that sources say that Ewan McGregor has been cast in Steven Soderbergh's Knockout, along with Micheal Fassbender, Dennis Quaid, and Michael Douglas. It hasn't been totally confirmed, but the people at The Playlist usually know their stuff. Soderbergh is scouting locations in New Mexico for the February production start date, and Ireland and Turkey might also be locations for the film. The film might be getting an August 2010 release date. A huge thanks to Magdaléna for pointing this information out to us on our Facebook page. Here's a synopsis of the project:

Ultimately, "Knockout" is now more of a revenge action-spy thriller. Essentially it's hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and especially one who kicks serious ass. Double crossed by someone on her own team, Mallory Kane (Carano)— a black ops super soldier — seeks to uncover who has set her up to take the fall for a job that goes bad and involves a murder.

The male actors are all part of Carano's special forces team. Douglas plays a government figure not unlike Chris Cooper or Brian Cox from the 'Bourne' movies. Fassbender and one other actor who has yet to sign-on officially (we've been asked not to say who because it's not 100% confirmed, but the actor is male and a fairly big name; though it's possible scheduling conflicts may prevent him from participating) play members of her commando spy unit, and one of these two plays the central antagonist that betrays Carano's character (this is still being kept under wraps for now). McGregor's role is that of the owner/guy who runs a Blackwater private military company-type group that the female fighting champion is is part of (and apparently many of the males take a beating at the hands of Carano).

...Soderbergh has been circling McGregor for some time now. The "Trainspotting" actor was originally pegged to have a role in the 'Ocean's' films, but his commitments to Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels unfortunately precluded his participation.

The Playlist also announced that The Ghost Writer, starring Ewan McGregor will open in limited release on February 19 in the US and will expand on March 5 and March 15.



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