Ewan McGregor would not spare years. But maybe that mustache

Ewan McGregor is flipping through his camera roll, looking for the image that explains why he will never grow another mustache unless a job requires it. And even then, he'd probably say the character should be clean shaven. Dalí without a mustache? Surreal.

Before our conversation, I had decided not to ask McGregor anything about facial hair. It seems that most of the interviews he has done to promote his fantastic Paramount+ With Showtime limited series “A Gentleman in Moscow” have spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the mustache he grew to play Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a Russian nobleman sentenced to prison. arrest in a luxury hotel after the revolution of 1917. Over four decades (and eight episodes), the good gentleman learns to put aside formalities, appreciate simple pleasures and embrace family.

But he never shaves that damn mustache.

McGregor keeps scrolling. He is in Atlanta filming “Flowervale Street,” a movie so secret that when he mentions its name, he immediately panics. “Oh, no. I'm worried I've wasted the title.” When I tell him it's there, he's relieved. He wrapped filming at 6:30 in the morning and here he is with me on Zoom, 4 and a half hours later. “I'm something backwards, but everything is fine,” he says.

And it's not so out of line, because when I tell you that all I know about “Flowervale Street” is that David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows,” “Under the Silver Lake”) wrote and directed it, and it's a mystery, and It could be set in the 1980s and it could have dinosaurs, he says smiling:

“Well, I'm not at liberty to discuss that in any way, so it could be the '70s with, you know, rodents. But it's a lot of fun.”

Ewan McGregor is not a fan of the distinctive mustache he grew for “A Gentleman in Moscow.”

(Ben Blackall/Paramount+ with Showtime)

Find the photo. She is with her son, Laurie, who was just under 3 years old when it was taken from her. McGregor's hair is light brown. His mustache is blonde. He grimaces and says, “There's something about my blonde mustache that doesn't look good on my face.” The photograph was taken last year during the actors' strike, which interrupted filming of “A Gentleman in Moscow” with eight days left in the program. During the break, McGregor grew his mustache, grew his beard and waited. When filming resumed in January, he finished his scenes and deleted them all within five minutes of wrapping production.

“There I am in the makeup chair,” McGregor says happily, finding another shot in his camera roll.

“I have a feeling you'll never grow a mustache…”

“…again,” he interrupts, finishing my sentence. “Once it turns white, maybe. So I think it could be good. For example, you would look great with a mustache.” Which is funny because the last time I grew a beard, my then-young children called me Obi-Wan.

“There are worse things they could call you, believe me,” McGregor says, laughing.

McGregor played Obi-Wan Kenobi in all three “Star Wars” prequels and returned to the role for the 2022 Disney+ limited series. Shortly before speaking, he surprised fans attending the 25th anniversary screening of “The Menace.” Ghost” at the Atlanta Film Festival. He likes to do these types of walk-ins. A few years ago, he showed up at El Capitan in Hollywood at 2 in the morning between movies in a “Star Wars” marathon.

“You realize what things don't apply to you,” says Ewan McGregor about aging. “It's learning who you are, right? And you let go of the things you don't need.”

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

“They're all in sleeping bags and blankets,” McGregor says. “It's a good laugh. And it's good for the ego when they give you great joy when they didn't expect it.”

Most critics hated “The Phantom Menace” when it was released, but the George Lucas-directed film has been re-evaluated over the years.

“We made the film for children, but we didn't hear from them at the time because they were children and there was no Instagram or social media. They didn’t have a voice like they have now,” McGregor says. “The only thing we had was criticism and noise from people who didn't like it. But those kids have grown up and those movies are now their 'Star Wars' trilogy. That's good for me. Because at that moment the reaction was harsh.”

We began to talk about the idea, explored in “A Gentleman in Moscow,” that less is more and the satisfaction that comes from letting go of what no longer serves us.

“You realize what things don't apply to you,” McGregor says. “I'm 53 years old. But I have a lot of friends who are about to turn 60. And I keep noticing, when watching shows on television, that young people refer to 60 as if I were really old.” He stops, laughing. “You say, 'Wait a minute.' But it's also learning who you are, right? And you let go of the things you don't need.”

“They will play them again,” says Ewan McGregor about the bagpipes he learned to play but hasn't learned in a while.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

The curious thing about McGregor, however, is that he is someone who picks up hobbies quickly, becomes obsessed with them, and then moves on to the next thing, never letting them go. He knows how to ride a unicycle. He can play the guitar. He knows how to play some melodies on the bagpipes. He always has something going on. It used to be that he punished himself for knowing how to do many things moderately well rather than mastering a single talent. He now he just accepts that that's how it is. He can go out to his shed, look at the unicycle that he hasn't ridden for three years and know that someday he will try it again.

“What about the bagpipes?” Asked. “Are they in some corner, collecting dust?”

“They are right now,” McGregor says. “But they will be defeated again.”

It turns out that McGregor is even more interested in talking about the bagpipes than his Moscow mustache. In fact, it wasn't long ago that he broke his bagpipe. Last year he was in his native Scotland for Hogmanay, the country's new year celebration. He dated his brother, who repeatedly shouted songs McGregor didn't know. “Come on, shut up. “I don't know,” McGregor kept telling him.

Ewan McGregor, here in a scene from the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” is glad that the three “Star Wars” prequels are being re-evaluated. “We made the movie for children, but we didn't know about them at the time because they were children. Those kids have grown up and those movies are now their 'Star Wars' trilogy.

(Matt Kennedy/Matt Kennedy/Lucasfilm Ltd.)

As a child, McGregor was a drummer in a pipe band. He never thought he would be a flutist because, as a drummer, that would be, in his words, “going over to the dark side.” But when he was filming the 2011 film “Salmon Fishing in Yemen” in the Scottish Highlands, he met a bagpiper and, inspired by being home, bought some bagpipes and found a teacher in London. He took the pipes to the set of his next movie (he won't name it, but it was a “miserable” experience (“damn, slow, like he was under house arrest”)) and asked the transportation manager to put his trailer next to him. of the generator.

“I'm the first actor in history to ask that, because normally you want to be as far away from the generator as possible because it's so loud,” McGregor says. “But it was perfect because I could play my bagpipes for hours and no one could hear it because I was next to the generator drone.”

Listening to these stories, it's easy to see why McGregor loved “A Gentleman in Moscow,” a series that asked him to learn to do several different things: age a character over decades, play a father and lover, explore inside. the life of a man versed in pain and loss who never loses his zest for life.

“The experience of doing this show is the reason I wanted to be an actor,” McGregor says. “It's such a beautiful piece; He leaves you thinking, 'God, I hope there's another one somewhere in the future.' But who knows?”

“It's very charming, but I'm reluctant to use that word because it's reductive,” says “Moscow” showrunner Ben Vanstone. “There's a lot of thought and skill in his performance, in all of his performances, really.”

Vanstone says McGregor's count is 31 years old in the series, not including what we see of the character in childhood flashbacks. But because the character's mental burdens become lighter over time, McGregor believes he becomes more relaxed and, in many ways, younger. He learns to live.

Going back to what he said earlier about young people calling their friends almost old at 60, I ask McGregor how old he feels today.

“I feel 53 years old. I feel exactly where I am,” she responds. “I don't want to be 35 years old. “I want to feel how old I am.”

Is that because, I ask, adding that I've known him for a long time, almost an entire hour, so I can presume some idea, he wouldn't trade the wisdom and experiences he's accumulated to save a few years?

“No, I wouldn't,” McGregor says. “I'm not afraid of getting older. I'm not afraid of getting old. I'm not afraid to die. I'm so happy. “I am a very, very lucky man.”