Forget “Star Wars” – Ewan McGregor preferred to show his kids another one of his films.
“I wasn’t there when [my daughter] Clara watched ‘Trainspotting’ for the first time. But I did used to show my kids ‘the toilet scene.’ Just for a laugh. It’s a unique situation, perhaps, for a father to be able to show his children footage of him going down the toilet,” he said at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
The trauma didn’t stop there.
“I have a memory of showing Clara ‘Moulin Rouge!,’ however. I think she was 9 years old. I put it on, and then I hear this wailing and crying. I rushed in, asking if I should switch it off and she went: ‘Noooo’!”
While there was no avoiding mentions of iconic roles and his collaboration with Danny Boyle, which started with “Shallow Grave” – “He was my first film director. I felt like ‘his’ actor and that’s what I wanted to be. He will always be very important,” he said – McGregor came to the festival with Emma Westenberg’s “You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder.” A road movie that saw him star alongside his very own daughter.
“It was a beautiful experience,” he shared.
“We had an opportunity to spend that period of time really together, which is unusual. Day one, we arrived, saw each other at the make-up truck and chit-chatted. From that moment on, it was natural and just… normal. It allowed us to be together.”
In the film, a father and a daughter want to make up for lost time after she ODs. On their way to rehab, they try to get to know each other again and repair a strained relationship.
“You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder” was produced by Mark Amin, Christine Vachon, Clara McGregor, Vera Bulder, Greg Lauritano, Mason Plotts and Cami Winikoff for Sobini Films, Killer Films, Deux Dames Entertainment and Black Magic, with Fortitude International handling sales.
“I have always appreciated and looked up to my father’s acting. This [film] just gave me a deeper appreciation of that,” said Clara McGregor at the press conference, joined by the director and fellow co-star and co-producer Bulder. Admitting that the film’s singalong scene to “Bleeding Love” was not accidental.
“We used to be big fans of Leona Lewis. I started growing out of it at some point. My father didn’t. On our drives to school, right when we were about to pull up, he would really crank it up, roll the windows down and I was ducking. It was really cool we got to put it in the film.”
But their real-life relationship didn’t influence their process, added McGregor.
“You don’t act in front of your daughter and you don’t act in front of your dad. You act with them and that’s the beauty of it. You are finding that moment of truth. When you do that with someone you know and love as much as you love your own daughter, it’s extraordinary. It never felt anything other than free and wonderful.”
While at the fest, the actor also picked up KVIFF’s Festival President’s Award.
“This is like a dream to see that, you know. It was my dream as a little boy to become an actor and that’s the thing of dreams, seeing that reel,” he said to the crowd after watching a playful clip celebrating his entire career.
Recently seen in “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” McGregor is also currently filming eight-episode series “A Gentleman in Moscow” for Paramount +.
“I believe so much in what we do as actors. I’m so fortunate to do what I love and love what I do. But one of the many highlights of what I have done to date has been acting with my daughter.”
