The end of an era: Ewan McGregor says he won’t be naked in films anymore

Well, the headline says that, anyway. But the focus in the article is more on Ewan wanting to avoid the Hollywood cliche of macking on ladies significantly younger than himself:

“I’m getting older and the actresses stay younger,” he acknowledges. “I don’t want to become Clint Eastwood, where his love interests seem 50 years younger than him. You never want female co-stars to feel like you’re taking advantage of the situation. Anyhow, sex scenes are terribly exposing and rarely of any use in learning about character.”

So will we be seeing naked Ewan on film again? And since when have any of his characters needed ladies to get naked? (Via Rach)

The Empire Strikes Back turns 30, officially

We’ve already covered a bunch of Empire Strikes Back anniversary stuff, but today is the actual day. Here’s more stuff to check out:

The sequel begins. Leigh Brackett’s first draft of the film surfaced on the internet last week, giving us an intriguing glimpse into the could-have-beens, including a “tender love scene” between Luke and Leia, Lando being a clone, and Darth Vader’s pet gargoyles. (If you just want the highlights, Geeks of Doom has a nice rundown.)

Visuals. Lucasfilm gave Maxim magazine some rare photos, and to save us classy broads from buying Maxim (err, sorry guys) they’re also on StarWars.com.

Disturbance. They also have a look back at the Emperor’s first appearance – including some seriously whacked-out concept art. Baron Harkonnen is totally jealous.

In other news…

See any more unique tributes to ESB today? Post them in the comments or tell me on Twitter (@clubjade) and I’ll get them in.

Ewan on new film, nudity, Star Wars

Ewan McGregor has a film coming out, and thus he was on NPR the other day. You can listen to the segment (Or not: NPR provides a transcript,) but here’s some of what he had to say about working on the prequels:

“When I got closer and closer to being cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi, I did question whether it was the right thing for me. Up until that point, I’d been involved in mainly low-budget independent films … and I felt like being part of the [indie British filmmaking] team was my identity as an actor … I didn’t think that ‘Star Wars’ was quite who I was or what I was about. However, the closer I got, the more I wanted to do it … I’m very happy with the work I did in ‘Star Wars’ … I’ve always been quite open with the fact that they were technically quite difficult to make. There’s a lot of green screen and blue screen, and for the actor, there’s very often not another actor to act with — so you were playing to a tennis ball on a stick or a piece of tape on a green curtain, and that’s just not easy. That becomes a very technical exercise.”

Video: Ewan says nude scenes are “a feminist thing”

Ewan McGregor (with beard!) was on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson to promote The Men Who Stare At Goats, where he talked about his proclivity for being naked on film. (via)

Meanwhile, io9 says that The Men Who Stare At Goats “echoes the original Star Wars trilogy.” Though shouldn’t Charlie Jane Anders (or her copy editor) know better by now than to use the term ‘Jedis?’

Question: What are the most common grammatical/factual errors you see in media coverage and discussion of Star Wars? Answer here or on Twitter.

Drive-by movie news: Kilted men pandering soon to a theatre near you

fanboys posterLadies and gentlemen, the Fanboys movie poster. Mmm… derivative! And not in the good way.

A Long Way…to your movie theater

Many of you probably remember when Ewan McGregor and his pal, Charlie Boorman, decided to take a trip around the world on motorcycle right around the time Episode III came out.  Long Way ‘Round ended up being very popular with even people who aren’t Star Wars geeks.

They had so much fun that they did it again last year, but the other way ’round.

It’s finally make its way to the US on August 2nd, on Fox Reality Channel.  But you can catch a special, one-night only, HD movie theater cut on July 31st in theaters all over the US.  I’m sure it’ll be breath-taking (and not just for the Wantons who drool over Ewan).

Thanks to Trace for the heads up!