Ewan McGregor hadn’t swung a lightsaber in anger for over 15 years.
Upon leaving Star Wars behind following the discharge of Revenge Of The Sith in 2005, it appeared just like the 51-year-old Scottish actor was joyful to hold up his Jedi robes and embrace franchise retirement.
Now, although, older and wiser, he's returning to the largest function of his profession: Obi-Wan Kenobi. It begs the query: is swinging a lightsaber like using a motorbike?
‘It took a short while,’ says McGregor, remarkably candid firm for a venture so wrapped in secrecy.
‘I imply, I used to be in all probability fitter doing this one than I used to be doing them within the Nineteen Nineties. Struggle stuff is like doing a boxing match. Each struggle scene is a spherical of boxing and also you’re completely white by the tip of it. It's a must to ensure you’re in fine condition.’
It’s been a convoluted highway to get right here. First mooted in 2015, Obi-Wan Kenobi began life as a film earlier than being shelved following the poor efficiency of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
It re-emerged in 2019 as a TV sequence for Disney+ and eventually arrives on the finish of this week virtually 45 years to the day since A New Hope hit cinemas.
And, in fact, because it’s a Star Wars venture, which means we all know subsequent to nothing about it. Nonetheless, McGregor fills in as many blanks as Disney’s legal professionals will let him.
‘We discover Obi-Wan in a damaged place,’ he says. ‘It comes a number of years after Order 66, when the Jedis have been all however worn out and he’s misplaced his brother and his padawan to the darkish facet, and he feels accountable for that.
‘He’s in hiding as a result of the Jedis are being hunted down by the Grand Inquisitor, who's making an attempt to wipe them out, and he’s misplaced his religion. I believed it was fascinating to take a personality you realize and love and put them in that type of place and see if they will get out of it.’
However McGregor shouldn't be alone in returning to the franchise after a very long time away.
Hayden Christensen can also be again as Darth Vader, who's on the hunt for Obi-Wan after Obi-Wan left him for lifeless on the finish of the third film – and, naturally, which means slipping into that iconic go well with.
‘It’s been some time,’ says Christensen, relaxed and content material in a approach I didn’t anticipate. ‘The day I put the go well with again on was unbelievable. It’s such an iconic costume and you actually really feel the importance of it once you’re carrying it. It wasn’t one thing
I used to be anticipating for a few years. One in every of my favorite issues about carrying it's watching different individuals’s reactions and watching them see Darth Vader.’
However amid all the joy about McGregor and Christensen returning to Star Wars, we will’t escape the Wookiee-shaped elephant within the room: nobody actually preferred the prequels.
They have been savaged by critics, slammed by followers and have been the loss of life knell for George Lucas’s movie profession.
Does returning to the franchise now include a weight of expectation to get it proper second time round or is it extra a case of simply having fun with it this time?
‘I completely loved my expertise on the prequels,’ says Christensen. ‘It was past my wildest desires. However getting to come back again to the Star Wars world in any case this time away, you realize, I believe you've got a unique perspective on life usually and also you respect issues otherwise. It’s been actually nice.’
McGregor agrees: ‘I cherished it. I don’t ever really feel that approach. There’s no place for the load of expectation on set. You all the time hope the work you’re doing goes to be preferred and imply one thing to anyone however I don’t spend lots of time eager about the viewers once we’re making it.
‘I didn’t even really feel a weight of expectation within the first three. Even when the primary and the second got here out and there was a great deal of criticism of them, it wasn’t like, on set, you’re paying any consideration to that. You’re simply making an attempt to get this second proper for the character in no matter state of affairs.’
The 2 of them have struck up a bond as robust as their characters from the flicks (besides the betrayal half). Every lights up when given the prospect to discuss the opposite. It’s simple to get the impression reconnecting was each bit as necessary to them because the sequence itself.
‘It was so nice to come back again to Star Wars however it was particularly thrilling to do it with Ewan and reconnect with him,’ says Christensen. ‘We positively have a particular bond due to our time collectively through the prequels and I’ve bought a lot love and admiration for the person.’
McGregor recollects their first reunion: ‘It was simply nice to see him once more. I met up with Hayden in pre-production and we went for a stroll in Santa Monica.
‘It was through the lockdown and I hadn’t seen him in years, and I solely bought to see his eyes as a result of we have been strolling together with our masks on in a park and it was simply nice to catch up. We simply caught up about our lives. A lot has gone on since we’ve seen one another final.
‘It’s been actually particular to be on set with him and see how cherished he's. The crew is actually into Star Wars and when Hayden got here on set it was loopy. The thrill!’
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming on Disney+ from Friday.
Post a Comment