This site is all about what people think of Ewan McGregor. By clicking on the quotes link in the site map box to your right you can read quotes about the man from over 200 of his peers, co-workers, family-members and friends. The reviews link will allow you to read what the press think of him and awards will outline the accolades he's won. The spotlight link will bring you to a small sample of quotes and reviews on a particular theme. Finally, if you are only interested in the most recent additions to the site, you'll find those below.

James McAvoy (actor)
(on whether being Scottish is helping his career)
For me, if it does help it's because someone might like a charming Scottish type that they put on you. But, yeah, Ewan McGregor and Dougray Scott, they're doing great guns for us because they're big, gorgeous, beautiful men, and they can do it, they can lead movies. The Herald, August 18 2003

REVIEW

Young Adam
The film displays a sexual candour rare in British cinema. It is unabashedly physical and, in the lead role, Ewan McGregor responds with his finest performance to date. There's always been something boyish about the actor - a cheeky exuberance that has accounted for a large part of his charm - but here he's shed that skin to become a man. There's a hardness to his features, a bleak intensity to his stare, that speaks of bitter experience and a capacity for sudden, violent action. www.edfilmfest.org.uk - website for The Edinburgh International Film Festival, 2003 (thank you Akemi)

Carol McGregor (producer, Ewan's mother)
(about her involvement in the production of the film Stroke of Genius)
There is a part that would have been perfect for Ewan, but sadly he's away. I'd still love to work with him one day, though: it would be great to boss him about. Daily Telegraph, August 16 2003

Emily Mortimer (actor Young Adam - Cathie)
(about working with Ewan)
He was the kind of guy that takes his job very seriously but not himself. www.ionfilm.com, August 13 2003 (thank you Josie from mad about ewan)

Keira Knightley (actor Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)
I fell off the back of a golf cart that Ewan was on. To this day, I can't look at him without being embarrassed. All I was wearing was a bathrobe, some tights, and some knickers, and I literally went flying with my legs over my head and everything on display. www.MegaStar.co.uk, August 14 2003 (thank you Claude)


REVIEW

Young Adam
The key to this conundrum is how little McGregor actually gives away. He has moments — lighting a cigarette after sex — that put you in mind of Dirk Bogarde’s furtive powers in The Servant. Others where he seems entirely naive and heroic. He manages to sleep with every repressed female in sight, yet those green eyes remain spookily empty, and innocent. His enigmatic journey through Young Adam is the most compelling screen performance he has delivered. James Christopher, The Times, August 14 2003 (thank you Josie and Gail)

McGregor reminds us that he is capable of much more than flashing that wolfish grin. Recognising the best role he's had
in years, he stretches his vocal skills with precision, craft and restraint. It's a career-changing performance in what is likely to stand as one of the best British films of the year. Leslie Felperin, August 14 2003, Independent (thank you Gail)

Peter Mullan (actor Young Adam - Les)
Young Adam is Ewan McGregor at his most spectacularly handsome…Ridiculously handsome. He gets something, like, 28 sex scenes. And I get to play this impotent, cuckolded husband. Because, it’s my wife that he has about 10 of these sex scenes with. So, it’s a highly embarrassing part. McGregor, in the film, is astonishing. I’ve seen the film. And he would make Montgomery Cliff blush. He is, honestly, spectacularly handsome. Movie stardom suites him. Some guys, it doesn’t suite. They don’t carry it well. Ewan’s getting to be pretty damned unique. Like Connery. Movie stardom suited Connery. Like, much more in his early films, Connery was still trying to be an actor. When Connery realized who he was, it all kind of came together. And he became that phenomenally handsome, sexy kind of guy. A man’s man, and also a guy that women would like to be with. All that. Ewan’s kind of going in that direction. He’s also a very, very lovely guy. He’s a great guy to work with. He acts like a real human being. He’s not some idiotic movie star with the IQ of a daffodil. And he gets all the good sex scenes. www.MovieWeb.com, July 2003

REVIEW


Moulin Rouge
(from an article outlining 100 under-rated performances over 70 years of film making)
Ewan McGregor in "Moulin Rouge": Heaven knows why pretty-but-inadequate Nicole Kidman was Oscar-nominated but not her leading man. McGregor not only acts circles around Kidman but also sings infinitely better. As he proved in "Velvet Goldmine," he could easily be a rock star if he tires of acting. Mick LaSalle, Edward Guthman and Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle, August 10 2003 (thank you Akemi)

Therese Bradley (actor Young Adam)
(about her sex scene with Ewan)
You read a lot about Ewan being a geezer, but my experience of him, particularly on the day we filmed that scene in the alley, was of an incredibly kind gentleman. He really took care of me. It was my first movie. I didn’t quite know the etiquette of what I could and couldn’t say, but he made sure the set was closed and that I was comfortable. I felt completely able to just go ahead and do it. The Sunday Times, August 3 2003 (thank you Gail)