Ewan McGregor: 'The Impossible' interview, and 'Porno' speculation

Movieweb Exlusive: The Impossible Interviews with Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Tom Holland
Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart. We recently caught up with the cast, including Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland. Watch as we discuss the impact of these events in our exclusive interviews.
Read more, and watch the other interviews, at MovieWeb


Ewan McGregor open to 'Trainspotting' sequel
Actor says he wouldn't rule out starring in 'Porno'...

Ewan McGregor has claimed that he is open-minded about the possibility of starring in a sequel to Trainspotting.

The 1996 film, adapted from an Irvine Welsh novel and directed by Danny Boyle, helped McGregor rise to stardom. Welsh wrote a sequel tome in 2002 titled Porno which led to speculation that another film could be made, but the actor previously said he was reluctant to make the flick as it could tarnish the original's reputation.



Speaking to the Daily Record, however, he has seemingly softened his stance and said: "I know in the past I always said I wouldn't do anything that would damage the reputation of the movie Trainspotting because I wouldn't want to do a poor sequel, but at the same time, I would always read it if I was sent it. I was never in the position where they've asked me to do it."


In July of last year, it was reported that Trainspotting had received a huge boost in popularity following Danny Boyle's well-received Olympics Opening Ceremony. After a peak of 27 million UK TV viewers watched the four-hour spectacle, sales of the film on Amazon increased by 5,800%.

Source (including images): NME

Ewan McGregor

‘The Impossible’ Exclusive Featurette: Video
One of the sleeper entries in this year’s Oscar race is the emotionally wrenching true story, The Impossible which chronicles a family split apart in the terrifying Tsunami in Thailand in 2004 and their efforts to survive and find each other, despite horrific injury and unspeakable devastation at the resort area where they were vacationing.
Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland star in the film directed by Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage). 
Distributor Summit will release the film domestically (already a smash hit in Spain since opening there in mid-October) on December 21, but already has sent out 38,000 DVD screeners to all guilds and the Academy in order to gain a foothold in the race against higher profile, better known competitors. Here is a look at the making of the film in a featurette that also includes an interview with the real-life wife and mother who fights against major odds just to see her kids and husband one more time.
Source: Deadline

The Impossible interview - Ewan McGregor (2012) - Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor Movie HD

Published on Nov 16, 2012 by MovieclipsCOMINGSOON

An account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time.
Source: YouTube 

Ewan McGregor: new movie project, UK trailer for 'The Impossible'

Ewan McGregor to star in crime drama 'Son of a Gun'
Julius Avery’s Australian crime thriller Son of a Gun, starring Ewan McGregor, will be touted to buyers during the American Film Market, with a shoot start date in early 2013. 

The movie, billed as a visceral, tautly paced heist thriller, centers on a complex relationship between Australia’s public enemy No. 1 (McGregor) and his young protégé. 

It will be sold to North American buyers by UTA Independent Film Group and internationally by high-profile U.K. start-up sales, finance and production banner Altitude Film Entertainment.
Hopscotch/eOne has inked a deal for Australian and New Zealand rights. 

Read more at Hollywood Reporter
Also reported by Digital Spy (with a 'Career in Pictures' feature) and many others 


The Impossible Trailer 2
Powerful UK trailer for The Impossible with Ewan McGregor & Naomi Watts
Acclaimed Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) makes his English language début with The Impossible, the powerful drama based on a harrowing true story of a family caught up in tsunami that hit the coast of Thailand on Boxing Day, 2004.
 
Starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts in the leads, the film premièred at TIFF last month and with its release just a few months away, Yahoo Movies have debuted the new UK trailer.

The Impossible will be given an Oscar-qualifying release in the US on 21st December, and will arrive in theatres in the UK on 2nd January, 2013. The film is absolutely flawless in its execution, and is by far one of the most powerful dramas in recent memory.

Source: Hey U Guys

Ewan McGregor: interview for ‘The Impossible’

Ewan McGregor interview for ‘The Impossible’

Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. Based on a true story, ‘The Impossible’ is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, ‘The Impossible’ is a journey to the core of the human heart.  Marking the English-language début of director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage), ‘The Impossible’ arrives in cinemas on December 21st in the US and on January 4th in the UK.

What was your initial reaction when you read the script for ‘The Impossible’….?
Ewan McGregor: I wanted to be involved with ‘The Impossible’ because of the script, I liked it very much. And the script, for me that’s the first box you have to tick, regardless of who’s going to be in the movie or who’s directing it. I think if the script is not really good, it’s harder to make a really good film out of that. And with ‘The Impossible,’ there was something very honest and true about it, and a simplicity, in a way that made it very brutal and very vivid. And then I liked Juan Antonio Bayona’s film ‘The Orphanage’ very much so I was interested to meet him and work with him. And to get to work with Naomi Watts again, because I made a film with her some years ago, it’s always nice to work with somebody you’ve enjoyed with working before. We knew each other and have a nice easy way, hopefully that came across on screen. We are both parents and we tried to make this couple seem real, not like a movie family.

Was there a particular moment in the script that grabbed you or resonated with you?
Ewan McGregor: There’s a moment between Maria and her oldest child Lucas that touched me the most. When he sees the extent of her wounds for the first time, he says something like, “Oh Mama, I can’t see you like that.“ I thought there was something incredibly truthful about that line….. a child looking at his injured mum and he just can’t bear to see her hurt. I don’t think I knew at the time that it was a true story but it felt incredibly accurate and really described the tone of the movie to me.

As a father yourself, how did you approach playing Henry in ‘The Impossible’?
Ewan McGregor: I wanted very much to do this film because I’m a father, you know? I have four children now, and I’ve never really explored being a parent in a film before. It’s odd because I’ve been a father for fifteen years and yet I’ve never really played….I can’t think of one, I’ve never really played a dad or explored what it means to be a dad. So because I wanted to do that with this film, I felt that I wanted to make Henry much more like me – because I thought I could play a character, but I wanted to explore being a parent against this terrible backdrop, this horrible disaster. I thought the most effective way to do that was to play Henry as me. So I used my own voice, I didn’t use an accent, I didn’t make any attempt to sound English as opposed to Scottish – because my children don’t have Scottish accents and they’ve grown up with me all of their lives (laughs). So there was no need for him to be English just because the children have English accents.

The sets in the movie are incredible, that must have helped inform your performance immensely?
Ewan McGregor: Definitely. The sets, the amazing sets that our designer built, they really helped inform the performance. Seeing these incredible, devastated areas. We shot a pre-tsunami The Orchid Resort, and a few days later we shot a post-tsunami The Orchid Resort – that was really quite impressive, that was affecting. And I think seeing the real images that we’ve all seen on the news and in the paper, to see them kind of come alive like that was really incredible and harrowing.

How was it working with your three young co-stars in the film, your three movie sons?
Ewan McGregor: I liked our kids very much. Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast and Samuel Joslin, I think they’re really special children. And it was wonderful watching Tom who had never worked in front of a camera before, to see him really get it and grow as a film actor as he went along. He’s really talented and polite to everyone. It’s very easy for children to lose perspective but he’s absolutely on the right road and a  brilliant actor. And the other wee boys, Samuel and Oaklee, are great, too. Oaklee was really little but totally in the moment when we were playing scenes, completely engaged. He’s not doing a school play. He’s really there.

You share the majority of you scenes in ‘The Impossible’ with Oaklee and Samuel , how was that experience?
Ewan McGregor: Those two little kids were the best part for me. My growing relationship with those two boys has been really fantastic. At the beginning, where they were quite shy of me but a month later, it was completely different. There were always there, coming into my trailer in between shots, and I really liked that. That will be my favourite memory of the movie, working with those two wee boys.

Source: Flicks and Bits

Ewan McGregor: 'The Impossible' trailer and stills

Full Trailer and New Stills from 'The Impossible'

Summit Entertainment have released the first trailer for their new movie The Impossible which stars Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland. It’s directed by Juan Antonio Bayona.

The trailer (embedded below) is hard-hitting stuff but is an amazing true-life story about a family who got caught in the Asian tsunami on December 26th 2004. It probably gives a bit too much away but I’m really intrigued to see the movie in full. The film also stars Geraldine Chaplin, Marta Etura, Oaklee Pendergast and Samuel Joslin.

    Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her. Based on a true story, THE IMPOSSIBLE is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a journey to the core of the human heart.

The Impossible is released in the US December 21st on limited release and in the UK 4th January. 

To view the images, visit HeyUGuys

Source: Hey UGuys 

Also reported by Movie Line 

Ewan McGregor: 'The Impossible' updates

The Impossible starring Ewan McGregor & Naomi Watts will hit theaters on December 21^st

With production on the film beginning way, way back in 2010, we've been starting to get a little worried about "The Orphanage" director Juan Antonio Bayona's The Impossible. But with a lengthy post-production required for the special effects work, we got our first taste of the film in December with a promising teaser followed up this spring with a full trailer -- could the movie now be Oscar bound?

It seems Lionsgate is throwing their hat in the ring, dating The Impossible for a New York and Los Angeles release in the thick of awards season on December 21st, an already crowded slot that has "This Is 40," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Jack Reacher" all opening that weekend. But what those flims won't have is Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts starring in what looks like an extraordinarily visceral drama set against the devastating tsunami of 2004. We're guessing it'll be like that opening sequence of Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter"... but like, for a whole movie (and better). Here's the official synopsis:

Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.

Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart.

This hopefully means (fingers crossed) a fall festival circuit première will be in order to help get the buzz out not only in advance of its stateside bow, but also the Spanish release on October 11th.

Read more at Indie Wire 

New Poster for Tsunami drama The Impossible with Ewan McGregor & Naomi Watts

A new Spanish poster has been released for the upcoming drama based on one family’s experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, The Impossible, this week.

From the crew of The Orphanage, including director Juan Antonio Bayona who will be making his English-language début and scribe Sergio G. Sánchez, the film follows the true account of a family – Henry (Ewan McGregor), Maria (Naomi Watts), and their three sons – who begin their winter vacation in Thailand but who find themselves caught with tens of thousands of strangers in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time.

Set to be released in the UK on 4th January, 2013, the new poster is quite intense, already highlighting the horrific effects that tsunami caused and the dramatic situations that the cast are set to face.

Source: Hey U Guys

The poster is featured at the top of this article

Ewan McGregor - new The Impossible trailer, Cold Chain Mission review

Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor brave the elements in longer The Impossible trailer

Back in January, we brought you the Spanish teaser for The Impossible, one of our most-anticipated features for the coming year primarily because it’s the latest from The Orphanage director Juan Antonio Bayona. Twitch had that clip at the time, and must have a tie to the studio’s marketing department, because they’ve posted the latest full trailer to Impossible. We’re sharing it below:

Bayona plans to follow a family as they cope with the sudden, devastating effect of the powerful tsunami that swept over Thailand in 2004. He has hired Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts to play the parents of young boys, but as you can see in the clip (despite a clunky translation into Spanish), the epic visuals will be the star of Bayona’s drama.

The trailer seems to suggest that Impossible will spend time developing the family dynamic, which is wise. We need to care for the survival of these characters if Impossible is going to carry any weight. We need to root for the parents to reunite with their children, otherwise this is just another Roland Emmerich knock-off, and I honestly don’t think that’s what Bayona intends.

The Impossible is expected to reach theatres in Spain in October. We don’t yet have a release date for the U.S., though I’m hoping that Warner Bros. slots it into its potential awards calendar, meaning we might see Impossible at one of the fall film festivals, be it Toronto, New York or possibly AFI in Los Angeles. We’ll keep you posted when we hear concrete release information. Until then, enjoy the trailer, and all of its devastating beauty. 
Source: Cinema Blend

Also reported by Inside Movies 

 

Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission review

COLD CHAIN MISSION: Sunday 22nd April, BBC2, 9pm

“From LA I fly to London, then onto Delhi…” And so it began. Ewan McGregor: Cold Chain Mission was always going to be tough; first you have the logistics of getting an A-lister and film crew to India and Nepal, and then the challenge of maintaining the Cold Chain itself. (For those of you who missed it, “Cold Chain” refers to the process of keeping things such as Pharmaceuticals and Seafood at a cold temperature during transit. In McGregor’s case, it’s the former.)

Finally, there is the major hurdle, creating a television documentary about a celebrity helping impoverished third world children, without it being incredibly patronising. Effort has been made on this front; McGregor openly admits at the start of the program that it’s a combination of charity work and an exciting adventure, and sure enough, motorcycles, clearly his main passion, featured heavily. It’s the honesty of the program, McGregor’s charismatic and affable personality, coupled with acute awareness on behalf of the producers to spare viewers from the usual “celebrity in a developing nation” experience, (something akin to passing a kidney stone whilst a twat in Havaiana flip flops gives an extended rendition of their gap year in Botswana) that allows you watch it without questioning the validity of altruism.

Whilst McGregor and the vaccines reach their destination, the same cannot be said for the program itself. In their efforts to avoid the usual celebrity-charity vicarious sadomasochism, the human interest angle was somewhat discarded. Due in part, perhaps, to the nature of the task, which involved arduous trekking to remote villages, an upstream journey in a dilapidated boat, and, with much credit to McGregor, landing an aeroplane on an almost impossibly precarious landing strip, the programme becomes more of a travelogue, albeit an enjoyable one.

The Travelogue format of McGregor’s cold chain is both it’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. McGregor provides both humour, and at times, touching poignancy. However, like the dirt paths that McGregor traipsed, the focus of the programme was too narrow, and one would be forgiven if they thought that the only social issue at play was the geographic remoteness of the locales. Perhaps more social issues could have been explored in a different “Cold Chain” mission, where McGregor travels in a refrigerated van from a Trout Farm to a supermarket distribution centre near Kettering.

Read more at Channel Hopping 

Episode 2 will air on Sunday 29 April : Ewan McGregor journeys up the CongoRiver following a vaccine trail supported by Unicef.

Promo poster and synopses for THE IMPOSSIBLE

We’ve got another batch of posters and synopses from the American Film Market, including promo posters and synopses for Tarzan 3D and The Impossible, as well as an official synopsis for the feature film adaptation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.

The Impossible comes from The Orphanage director J.A. Bayona and stars Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland. The film tells the true story of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, as Watts races to find and save her family from the ensuing flood.

Here’s the synopsis for The Impossible:

A terrifying and emotional story based on one family’s experience of the 2004 tsunami, THE IMPOSSBILE is a compelling account of perserverance and survival in the face of unimaginable disaster and chaos.

MARIA (Naomi Watts), HENRY (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.

Henry grabs the two youngest boys, SIMON and THOMAS, but it’s too late: the wave smashes into him with incredible force and dislodges his grip. Maria is pushed underwater, where she is crushed and battered by debris to the brink of death. She finally surfaces in a raging black sea, which has completely submerged her three-story hotel and the surrounding landscape. Maria gasps for breath while she tries to understand what has just happened, convinced that her family has been obliterated in the blink of an eye. But then, her eldest son, LUCAS (Tom Holland), surfaces a few meters ahead in the wild flood. Face-to-face with something unexpected and incomprehensible, she must fight against all odds for her child’s survival. And her own.

Based on a true story, THE IMPOSSIBLE is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worse natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a journey to the core of the human heart.



Source, and more information: Collider

Ewan McGregor filming The Impossible with Naomi Watts in Thailand

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts were one nasty, bloody mess last Sunday. The pair were filming in Khao Lak, Thailand on their latest project, The Impossible.

Read more

Ewan McGregor misses screening because of monsoon

Ewan McGregor was unable to attend Monday's Cinema Society's I Love You Phillip Morris screening. The New York Post reports that he was "trapped in a monsoon in Thailand while shooting" The Impossible. His co-star Jim Carrey was able to attend the screening along with the real-life Phillip Morris.

First poster for Ewan McGregor's 'The Impossible'

There hasn't been much new information about The Impossible since Ewan McGregor's involvement in the film was announced last May. Production was originally scheduled to start in August, but that has probably been moved up. Yesterday, Collider (via Best of Ewan) was able to get a photo of the film's promo poster and a copy of the synopsis at the American Film Market.



Synopsis:

A terrifying and emotional story based on one family’s experience of the 2004 tsunami, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a compelling account of perseverance and survival in the face of unimaginable disaster and chaos.

MARIA (Naomi Watts), HENRY (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.

Henry grabs the two youngest boys, SIMON and THOMAS, but it’s too late: the wave smashes into him with incredible force and dislodges his grip. Maria is pushed underwater, where she is crushed and battered by debris to the brink of death. She finally surfaces in a raging black sea, which has completely submerged her three-story hotel and the surrounding landscape. Maria gasps for breath, while she tries to understand what has just happened, convinced that her family has been obliterated in the blink of an eye. But then, her eldest son, LUCAS (Tom Holland), surfaces a few meters ahead in the wild flood. Face-to-face with something unexpected and incomprehensible, she must fight against all odds for her child’s survival. And her own.

Based on a true story, THE IMPOSSIBLE is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a journey to the core of the human heart.

Summit picks up 'The Impossible' with Ewan McGregor, Ewan at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

Summit Entertainment has picked up the worldwide rights to Juan Antonio Bayona's The Impossible, which is set to star Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. Shooting is scheduled to begin in the summer, most likely in August.

Bayona reteams with the writer of that film, Sergio G. Sanchez, for a drama based around a true story set during and after the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. The budget's set around $45 million, and, while exact plot details are under wraps, we found a Spanish article that states that "The aim of Bayona... is to recreate this natural disaster through a script with hints of horror and mystery and large doses of science fiction." [The Playlist Nation]

Ewan McGregor and his wife Eve Mavrakis appeared at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington on Saturday. An after party interview with Ewan is below. His brief interview starts at 0:30.