Oh Ewan....

From IMDB:

Star Wars star Ewan McGregor has attacked the penultimate movie in the sci-fi series, insisting Episode II: Attack Of The Clones was "unsatisfactory". It's not the first time the Scottish actor has criticized the George Lucas- directed franchise - he dubbed Episode I: The Phantom Menace "disappointing" following its release in 1999. But McGregor - who plays Obi Wan Kenobi - is far happier with the final movie, Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, which premieres in May. McGregor says, "The fighting in Episode II was unsatisfactory, I think. I don't think the fight was nearly as good as it should have been and I certainly didn't have as big a crack of the whip as in the first one. I made up for it in number three. We fight our a**ses off in that film."

Seems like he can't make a Star Wars movie without finding something to slam about it a few years later. Watch the Episode I documentary and his enthusiasm is palpable. A few years later, "it was all a frowning exercise." At the same time, he praised Episode II to high heaven for how much better its script was. Now, suddenly, the fighting, which he did much more of, was disappointing. He may be praising Episode III now, but what will he find to hate about it by the time he turns 40?

 

I am going to admit up front that I am totally stealing this post from BauconBatista of the Attack of the Clones forum. After you read it, though, you'll see exactly to what lengths the media goes to rip the Star Wars franchise:


"Here is the Star Wars bits from the Ewan interview, courtesy of Disco1999:

TF (just been talking about Big Fish) - It must be nice to mix it up: doing Big Fish, which felt like a play, and then the challenge of all the bluescreen stuff for Star Wars....

EM - Yeah, absolutely. One of the things I asked Michael Bay before I said I'd do the film was "How much bluescreen is in it?" Because I've had my fill of it. (Goes on to talk about Big Fish)

TF (Talking about his earlier career) - And then you got the call from George...

EM - Yeah, I seem to remember we were shooting <place in London>....my agent just screamed down the phone "Waaahhh! They want you to be Obi Wan Kenobi!" A year later I went to do a screentest with Liam Neeson and was offered the part, but I didn't know what to think. It seemed to be outside of what I do. Then I thought. "It'll be such a blast being in Star Wars". And it is. Even though I've talked about how hard they are to make, it's still great being Obi-Wan Kenobi. I have my own doll and stuff! It's really weird and I like it. I feel really satisfied. I've no regrets about anything in my career. I don't see it like they do out there, because in LA if you have a bad film it seems to reflect badly on your career....(he doesn't see it that way).... I'm a working actor, I go from role to role... I would feel terrible if I ****ed up a part and therefore the film was no use, but I don't think it's ever happened that way.

(Goes on to talk about The Matrix - he was never offered it (and no way he'd have turned it down!) )

TF - So with Star Wars, you're glad you made them, but glad they're done.

EM - I have to say I'm glad they're complete, but not in a negative way. I actually enjoyed the third one probably more than the other two. Even though it was the most heavily intense blue screen. You know, Ican do it, I can act without anything being there and it's hard work and it's a skill - it's not a skill that you really hopefully need much in acting - but I can do it. So I just got on with it and it was fine. I enjoyed the company of HC and NP.

TF - And you got to fight Darth Vader...!

EM - We had a ****ing huge, huge fight at the end of the film. Like weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. I've never experienced exhaustion like it at work. It was a ****ing killer, cos each take has to be at fever pitch to work. I think me and Ray Park set the standard .. in the first film. It was so fast and furious they had to speed the camera up so that it would look slower, cos it was too quick and they thought it looked speeded-up (Disco1999 - **** me!)

The fighting in Episode 2 was unsatisfactory, I think. I don't think the fight was nearly as good as it should have been and I certainly didn't get a crack of the whip as in the first one, but I made up for it in 3 because we ****ing fight our arses off in that film. Seriously, for weeks we were filming that fight.

TF - Everyone dies, right? So the Script must be a lot darker?

EM -[Long Pause] It's quite dark, yeah, it's quite dark. I don't know that everyone dies though, do they?

TF - Jedi Armageddon is what we're thinking

EM - Oh Yeah....

(goes on to Moulin Rouge - that's it!)"




Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

You have to agree with him on the fighting bit: the duel with Maul kicked @$$ over any of the fights in AOTC.

As cool as it was to see Christopher Lee and Yoda with lightsabers, it wasn't nearly as thrilling as those scenes with Maul - particularly the second half between Obi and Maul.

The Anakin-Dooku duel was done with too many edits and facial close ups - didn't get your blood going.

I know "The Duel" will rock - and I'm hoping we get a few other edge-of-your-seat saber scenes . . .

 

Well, particularly if he's talking about his own fight with Dooku.

I really, really enjoyed the Jango/Obi-Wan fight on Kamino - we've never really seen anything like that in sW.

I also enjoyed Mace owning Jango on Geonosis, but I think we were all secretly hoping Obi-Wan would meet Jango again...this time with his lightsaber.

 

I think the media again tweaked his interviews. He was very positive about AOTC and had lots of fun with TPM. The media likes to blow things out of proportions in order to make these Hollywood indepenant look bad because Hollywood didn't have their influence and they are too successful compared to regular independant films.

Ewan and all the other actors are capable of blue/ green screen work. He is used to stage acting, just like Natalie Portman who played Anne Frank on Broadway.
No one should read too much into these anti Lucas propaganda crap.

 

I think we were all secretly hoping Obi-Wan would meet Jango again...this time with his lightsaber.

I didn't

All McGregor is saying is that the fighting in AOTC was unsatisfactory. He's probably referring to the lightsaber fighting he got to do. That's it. He's not complaining about anything else.
Give him a break.



Ewan McGregor - one of the best
/LM

 

THANK YOU for re-posting that, Windy. To repeat, I got that from Disco1999 over at the 3SA(And for those of you wondering, I had my screen minimized and "browsed" around so I could skip any spoilers ), who typed the Star Wars bits from the Total Film interview. The only alteration I made myself to the transcript were to completely star out a certain four-letter word Ewan sure loves to use

Reading that transcript actually made me admire Ewan MORE. He seems very positive about Star Wars yet isn't afraid to point out any flaws or problems he sees. THAT'S my kind of person.

For the media to tweak that into yet another slam at GL and Star Wars is beyond pathetic.

 

Yeah, what's the deal... seriously?

I think the media is just trying to cash in on early ROTS buzz. And from what I saw, that "news article" was only printed in British publications.

I too admire Ewan for his honesty. I doubt there's many actors who actually like to work with a bluescreen, so I don't blame him for disliking that aspect. Apparently his favorite part of being in the movies was the lightsaber fighting, who can blame him! He had the fight with Jango in AOTC, but that movie was really Anakin and Padme's story. Much less fighting, period. He seems really upbeat about ROTS and enjoyed working with Hayden and Natalie.

It's hard to ignore such blatant rumor mongering on the part of the media... but you just have to remember that it's rarely what it seems or the whole story.

 

I read lots of interviews where he loved his work in Aotc. I can't blame him for admiting what he felt could have been improved about the film. I enjoy it when an actor (especially a Star Wars actor) will discuss their takes on the films, with honesty. It gives a nice viewpoint to the fans that way.

 

He didn't bash AOTC he said that compared to the fights in ROTS they aren't as good as they should be.. and I mean come on he's right. He dueled Dooku for like 10 seconds as opposed to Anakin in ROTS for 10 minutes. I have to agree with him. He didn't say anywhere in there that AOTC was a bad movie

 

If anyone has seen the webdoc "Becoming Obi-Wan" you can tell how much love he has for the role of Obi-Wan, and the Star Wars saga. I think he realizes that he is a unique situation, where he is adding to the character created by Sir Alec, the way he speaks of Obi-Wan as an Icon, speaks of Uncle Dennis, you can tell he truely loves his role, and for that matter Star Wars.

 

What it could be is that each movie the fightings scenes get more and more intense so when Ewan first did the scenes they were exciting but the4 further e got into doing the other movies he could look back and see how they could have been improved.

 

^ Exactly what I'm thinking as well.



Ewan McGregor - oh yeah
/LM

 

I happen to agree with him about the lightsabre fights in AOTC compared to TPM. Now the Jango Fett vs. Obi Wan fight... if it had been twenty minutes long I'd still love it. What a spectacular brawl! So short, sadly.

I can't wait for THE lightsabre battle in ROTS!

 

I agree as well. I was watching AOTC this weekend and the saber duel between Obi-wan and Dooku and then between Anakin and Dooku didn't hold a candle to the final duel in TPM. Both the Maul v. Qui-Gon and Obi-wan and obviously the Maul v. Obi-wan were much better. Too many close ups in AOTC and not enough action. Probably had a lot to do with C. Lee and inserting stunt doubles. The Mace v. Jango was good and the Jango v. Obi was great.

Although I still have issues with how OB1 can block Jango's blaster shots and not avoid punches, etc. Seems that hand to hand, Jango would be no match for OB1's reflexes.


Bee

 

Well, you have to consider that Jango is a living being and therefore much more unpredictable than, say, a battle droid. Note that Obi-Wan doesn't repel his blaster fire with such accuracy as he does the droids' blaster fire(on a sidenote, you can compare it to the way Luke repels blaster fire on Jabba's sail barge).
Furthermore, I would think that Jango is physically a bit stronger than Obi-Wan. Also, the Jedi's ability to use the Force has diminished.
There are many factors that lead to Obi-Wan's disadvantage in this fight.



Jedi - they're not all-powerful
/LM