Ewan McGregor Thought He Was Too "Urban Grunge" For "Star Wars" After "Trainspotting"

Ewan McGregor nearly ignored the 'Star Wars' prequels due to his "grunge" personality in British independent cinema.

During the 1990s, after McGregor's success with Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting" in 1996, McGregor guessed to sign "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace." McGregor portrayed the younger version of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the 1999 trilogy, a role he later reprized for the Disney+ series that premiered earlier that year.

“I really had to think about it,” McGregor said during the “podcast,” hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. "Because it happened right after that 'Trainspotting' period, and at that time I was so full of myself."

McGregor joked, "I was like, 'I'm the Danny Boyle actor. I'm fucking urban grunge. I'm the Oasis of the British film industry' then when "Star Wars" happened, I thought, "I don't know if I want to do this". It's not me.'"

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McGregor feared being typed.

"I so wanted to be that kind of anti-hero," he shared. "I felt like an independent British actor. I felt like that defined me."

His uncle, Denis Lawson, was also in the original three "Star Wars" movies and warned him against doing them, saying ""If you want a career after 30, don't do it. "" But "Trainspotting" director Boyle said otherwise and encouraged McGregor to do "Star Wars."

Yet it was McGregor's childhood affinity for the "Star Wars" franchise that really inspired the "Shallow Grave" actor to join the movies. “At the end of the day, it got closer and closer,” McGregor explained, adding that meeting George Lucas was part of the deciding factor. "At that point, I was so attached to the idea since I was a kid. To have the chance to be that character and play young Alec Guinness was really awesome."

He added, "I was almost grateful to be involved in something so important and to be a part of it, because I loved it. When I was a kid, I loved those movies. I was six or seven when the first one came out. It's kind of inside me."

The return of canon for "Obi-Wan Kenobi" was a kind of homecoming for McGregor. "I had become like a boy again," he said.

Comparing the prequel trilogy to grittier indie films, McGregor explained, "It's a different process. Those prequels, it was really the challenge of trying to be believable with that dialogue in front of a blue curtain. for four months."

Although the prequels were "universally" hated, McGregor's return in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" was met with critical acclaim.

"It was tricky at the time. They weren't massively embraced by everyone when they came out, our prequels," the actor previously explained. "It was nice to watch them now knowing that people love them. Than the kids we made them for at the time — they really liked those movies. It was nice to watch them with that sense."

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