The Film section of the gallery is so very very close to being complete, at last! I have just added 1105 Blu-Ray quality screen captures of Ewan as The Ghost from his 2010 political thriller The Ghost Writer – these caps have taken me far too long to add to the site, sorry about that everyone – Enjoy!
Ewan McGregor plays a Man With No Name in his film, The Ghost – but don’t worry; he isn’t remaking any Sergio Leone classics. Instead he’s the ghost writer brought in to help a Tony Blair-like ex-Prime Minister write his autobiography in the new thriller from Roman Polanski. We talked to McGregor in London recently about his theories on his character’s name, playing in the rain and working with the controversial director…
Writer/producer/director Roman Polanski releases his latest film after a five-year hiatus with his political thriller, The Ghost Writer.
Although Polanski has avoided the United States for the past 33 years (he was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 1977), there is no denying he is a talented filmmaker; the Academy Award-winning director is known for his legendary films such as The Pianist (2002), Chinatown (1974) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968).
In The Ghost Writer, actor Ewan McGregor plays the title role of the Ghost, a ghost writer working on the memoir of ex-British Prime Minister, Adam Lang. While writing the memoir, the Ghost begins to dig deeper into Lang’s past and becomes entangled in a web of deceit and lies and the only way out is to discover the truth… or so he thinks.
McGregor has starred in over 39 films, including Trainspotting (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Big Fish (2003) and The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) and has a few projects already lined up for the future.
Recently, McGregor sat down with the Daily Titan to discuss the film, working with legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski and creating his phantom character, the Ghost.
Ewan McGregor, His Arse, and the Definition of Nudity
While other actors may shudder at the prospect of on-screen nudity, Ewan McGregor embraces it, never turning down an opportunity to shed his clothes in the service of his art. In fact, one could reasonably posit that McGregor’s penchant for nudity, both full-frontal and otherwise, is the only consistent feature of his bafflingly varied film oeurve. While you’d be hard-pressed to predict what kind of film the Scottish-bred actor will make next (An indie classic like Trainspotting? A studio tentpole like The Island? A blink-and-you-missed-it debacle like Deception?), you can be reasonably assured that he’ll drop trou in it.
McGregor can next be seen in the Roman Polanski-directed political thriller The Ghost Writer, in which his pale British bottom makes a brief but memorable cameo. But the actor hesitates to label it “nudity,” as we learned in a recent interview:
Review: ‘The Ghost Writer’ scares some class into a stale genre
Dissenters have claimed that The Ghost Writer lacks the action and focus that a political thriller requires to be successful. However, it is the obligatory action sequences and predictable plot lines that have bogged down the genre over the past thirty years. The Ghost Writer may not be the most action packed film ever to grace the screen, but like it or not, Polanski has the touch that makes genre fare classy and respectful. Say what you want about the man, he can shape a thriller.
Ewan McGregor plays a character that is known only as The Ghost. The Ghost is completing an unfinished memoir written for a former British prime minister named Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). As The Ghost familiarizes himself with the manuscript, he comes across secrets that cast suspicion on Lang’s association with the CIA. Before the implications of his discovery can even sink in, Lang is accused of war crimes during his tenure. The controversy temporarily derails the memoir sessions and The Ghost begins investigating the circumstances that led to his getting the job in the first place.
Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan both put in excellent performances. The two have a terrific rapport and both are breaking a slow streak in their careers, Brosnan particularly stretching his capacity. Olivia Williams rounds out the core of the cast as Ruth, Lang’s frustrated wife. Williams’ detached gaze at times makes her seem a victim of her husband’s career, and at other times, alludes to the notion that she may know more than she is letting on. She has had some memorable roles since Wes Anderson’s Rushmore (1998) brought her to the attention of the world, but Polanski has exploited her complexities as an actress to the fullest in this story. Williams has the goods and is destined to surpass her already superlative career.
Besides the obvious nods to Hitchcock thrillers, The Ghost Writer evokes the style, pacing and tone of classic seventies crime dramas. Echoes of films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974), Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick (1974) and Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon (1975) are evoked in The Ghost Writer. Loud explosions and excessive cursing will never take the place of craft and Polanski has proved that the ghost of suspense will occasionally rise up and haunt the screen.
Beginners (2010)
Perfect Sense (2011)
Haywire (2011)
The Impossible (2011)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011)
Jack the Giant Killer (2012)
