JIMMY KIMMEL: Hey,
thanks for coming. EWAN MCGREGOR: Thanks
for having me again. JIMMY KIMMEL: Very
good to see you. EWAN MCGREGOR: Great to be here.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Is this-- EWAN MCGREGOR: How are you? JIMMY KIMMEL: I'm
doing well, thank you. EWAN MCGREGOR: Good.
Good. JIMMY KIMMEL: Is this an Obi Wan
beard or is this just a beard? EWAN MCGREGOR: It's sort of
a practice Obi Wan, you know? JIMMY KIMMEL: Ah, interesting. EWAN MCGREGOR: It's
not the real deal yet, because I've got something
to shoot before I shoot that. JIMMY KIMMEL: OK. EWAN MCGREGOR: But
it's a little practice. It's just a little lazy beard.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I see. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: You're testing
it out to see how it's going. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: And
do people like it? Do you find that people are
reacting positively to it? EWAN MCGREGOR: To the beard?
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: People don't
say much about it, I guess. JIMMY KIMMEL: They don't?
EWAN MCGREGOR: No. JIMMY KIMMEL: I
think it looks good. I think it's a
good-looking beard. EWAN MCGREGOR: Thanks, man. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah,
you're welcome. EWAN MCGREGOR: I mean, I
put a lot of work into it. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: Is it maybe--
could you use it on Halloween? Do you dress up for Halloween? Or when you're an actor,
is that not something-- EWAN MCGREGOR: No,
we really dress up. JIMMY KIMMEL: You
really dress up. EWAN MCGREGOR: I
mean, we really-- because that's what we do.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Right, yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: And we do it.
We do it. I've done it over the years,
many very successful costumes. JIMMY KIMMEL: And well, are you
going to have one this year? EWAN MCGREGOR: This year
I'm not going to be here. I've got to go away,
but I do enjoy it, and I've been doing it since. In Scotland, we used to do it. And when we were kids, it
was sort of different there. There wasn't trick or treating. We called it guising.
And that was-- JIMMY KIMMEL: Guising?
EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. And you just dressed
up, and you went out, and it didn't have
to, as I recall-- I mean, it's difficult
to remember when you're five, or six, or seven. It didn't have to be
all bloody and horror-y. JIMMY KIMMEL: Right. EWAN MCGREGOR: It was just--
you just dressed up as someone. JIMMY KIMMEL: Like disguising,
it's guising, yeah? EWAN MCGREGOR: I think that's
maybe where it came from. JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: And
you had to do a thing. You'd have to, I suppose,
like trick or treating, although we didn't
know that term then. You had to do a little
song or a dance, or not dance, maybe,
but a song, or a poem. JIMMY KIMMEL: Really? EWAN MCGREGOR: Or tell
a limerick or something. And then the person
would give you a sweetie. We called it a candy. JIMMY KIMMEL: And so it was
like a talent show in a way? EWAN MCGREGOR: You were
expected to earn it. You had to earn it with--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow EWAN MCGREGOR: --with
your creative talent. JIMMY KIMMEL: And
what would you do? Like, a Sheena Easton
song or something? What would happen there? EWAN MCGREGOR: Well,
maybe Bay City Rollers. JIMMY KIMMEL: "Morning Train"? EWAN MCGREGOR: More of a
Bay City Rollers type thing. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh. S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night. EWAN MCGREGOR: Small
Faces or something. I don't know. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: Maybe
a little Jethro Tull. EWAN MCGREGOR: Something
thrown in like that. Yeah, that'd be nice.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. That's very interesting.
EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: It is kind of
interesting, the differences, because we just,
because we're Americans, we assume everybody does
everything the way we do it. EWAN MCGREGOR: It's
just massive here. Like it's turned into Christmas. I mean, it's another
Christmas, isn't it? It's a-- I love
that about America, that there's just all
these huge celebrations throughout the year. JIMMY KIMMEL: Is
that not the case? EWAN MCGREGOR: No,
really the case. JIMMY KIMMEL: --elsewhere. EWAN MCGREGOR: You
just get a bunch of people dressed up
as things going out, trying to get sweets. JIMMY KIMMEL: What's
the best candy you would get in Scotland? Do you remember? Like, the thing that you
prized more than anything? EWAN MCGREGOR: I loved--
there was that bar. There was a little bar. I don't know if it
still exists, but there was a little chocolate
toffee, chocolate bar that was called The Texan. And it was--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: It
was really difficult toffee to eat with
chocolate around and, you would sort of like. [GROANING] Yeah, bit like that.
JIMMY KIMMEL: The Texan. EWAN MCGREGOR: They think it
made you look like a Texan. [GROANING]
[LAUGHING] No. JIMMY KIMMEL: Like a piece
of jerky or something. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah, like so. But it would take
you 20 minutes to eat because it was so hard to
get through this toffee. JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: That
was my favorite. JIMMY KIMMEL: How about that? That's always so
interesting to me when these different--
you have these perceptions of these regions in
the United States. Like, Texan is thing over there. EWAN MCGREGOR: Well,
they thought of as the-- because I mean, I guess
otherwise, just a cowboy. But no, we had The Texan bar.
JIMMY KIMMEL: You had The Texan. EWAN MCGREGOR: Which
was really hard to eat. JIMMY KIMMEL: How about that.
EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah.
EWAN MCGREGOR: There you go. JIMMY KIMMEL: Well,
maybe you'll get a Texan. Maybe Santa will bring
you some Texans-- EWAN MCGREGOR:
Maybe, if they're-- JIMMY KIMMEL: --down
the Halloween chimney. EWAN MCGREGOR: If
they're still being made. I'm just giving them
quite a big advert, so I should get
maybe a little box. JIMMY KIMMEL: So now, I
want to talk about this, because I know that
you'd been hiding this Obi Wan Kenobi stuff. You weren't able
to talk about it. Right? For a long time, right? EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: And
I would imagine that it became annoying. EWAN MCGREGOR: It
just got it difficult. I was brought up
to tell the truth, and I was in a situation where
I wasn't really allowed to, because the studios
and the big franchises, they want to keep
every-- and rightly so. They want to keep
everything very secret and it's as closed as it can be. But at the same time, there's
this overwhelming amount of speculation online,
and on social media, and what have you. And wherever I went for the last
15 years, people would ask me, so would you do it again? And would you do it? Once they started doing
spin-offs, of course everyone was like, are you going to do
an Obi Wan Kenobi spin-off? And I was talking to Lucasfilm
and Disney about that. JIMMY KIMMEL: Mm-hmm,
and you couldn't say it. EWAN MCGREGOR: Well, of course,
I couldn't say that I was. JIMMY KIMMEL: Right, right. EWAN MCGREGOR: So, I'd have
to go, well, eh, you know, I'd be-- if they
wanted to do one, I'd be quite
interested in doing it. And it started to
look a bit like I was just trying to get the part.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Uh-huh. Oh yeah, I know.
So we could go back-- EWAN MCGREGOR: Which a
amount of my standing was quite humiliated, so-- JIMMY KIMMEL: We could go
back through those tapes and see what it looks
like when you lie. EWAN MCGREGOR: Oh, you could.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: Well, I'm
probably, hopefully quite good at it, and so are my children.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I guess so. That's basically what
you do for a living. Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: I mean, it
sort of like, hurt me inside. It was like-- and it
started to hurt my pride, 'cause I thought people
actually think they're considering someone else. JIMMY KIMMEL: You know,
it's kind of sad now. Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: You
know what I mean? Like, they're looking for
someone else to play the part. JIMMY KIMMEL: So they had
this big event at Disneyland. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yes,
which was nuts. JIMMY KIMMEL: Which
was crazy, right? Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: I had a William
Shatner moment on there. JIMMY KIMMEL: What
do you mean by that? [LAUGHING] EWAN MCGREGOR: It sounds
a bit like something else, doesn't it?
No. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: Did you change
your pants after your William Shatner moment?
EWAN MCGREGOR: Oh! Hello.
Er. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: You know, I
never thought about that, but yeah, it's a
weird last name. [LAUGHING] EWAN MCGREGOR: No. William Shatner wrote a book. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: Yes.
[APPLAUDING] EWAN MCGREGOR: Hey, Shatner. Oh dear. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, the Shatners
are coming over tonight. Open the windows.
EWAN MCGREGOR: Oh, ho, ho, ho! JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: He
had a real William. Anyway. No, good William Shatner wrote a
book called "Get a Life," where he describes going to his-- I think his life was
in a difficult place, and he went to his first,
what are they called? Convention.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Star, yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: Star. In his case, "Star
Trek" convention. JIMMY KIMMEL: "Star
Trek" convention, yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: And
he was overwhelmed by this sense of
love from the people, and it changed his life. I mean, he wrote this book
about it called "Get a Life." JIMMY KIMMEL: Wait a minute.
You read William Shatner's book? EWAN MCGREGOR: No. [LAUGHING] We-- JIMMY KIMMEL: I mean,
I can't imagine. What, were you at the
airport and then there's Shatner looking back at you? You're like, you know what? I'm going to grab this and
put it on and go on a plane. How did this happen? What kind of? What?
What? EWAN MCGREGOR: No, it's worse. It's worse than that. Ahmed Best, Ahmed
Best, bless him, who played Jar Jar Binks and I-- JIMMY KIMMEL: Right? EWAN MCGREGOR: --ordered it
on the set of "Star Wars." And we had it delivered,
and we would read it on the set of "Star Wars." JIMMY KIMMEL: You would?
EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow! EWAN MCGREGOR: Just because
we'd heard that somebody-- I just loved the idea
of a book by William Shatner called "Get a Life."
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: I think
we thought at that point that, you know, it would
be funny to read because of the "Star Wars" of it all. But anyway, it turned out
to be him getting a life from the, you know, it wasn't-- JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah,
but you know what? Really, the message was
to his fans, get a life! EWAN MCGREGOR: Well-- JIMMY KIMMEL: Stop talking
about "Star Trek" all the time. I was TJ Hooker, for God's sake.
EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. Yeah.
Let's talk about that! JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah,
let's talk about Arthur! Where's the convention
for that stuff? JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: So anyway, I
went on still, back to just me at Disneyland
a couple of weeks ago to announce that we're
doing this Obi Wan thing. And I walked on stage and was
greeted with that sort of life changing noise of excitement. And it was just-- it just was a big moment for me. JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: It was like
a real Shatner moment. JIMMY KIMMEL: Well, maybe
you'll write a book. EWAN MCGREGOR: Shatner moment. JIMMY KIMMEL: This
would be a great book. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Shatner-ed. [LAUGHING] Well, think.
You know? We're going to think. We'll come up with a title.
EWAN MCGREGOR: We'll get it. JIMMY KIMMEL: We'll come
back with Ewan McGregor-- EWAN MCGREGOR: We'll get it.
JIMMY KIMMEL: --after this. We'll be right back. [DISQUIETING MUSIC] MAN: Gene? JIMMY KIMMEL: That is Ewan
McGregor in "Doctor Sleep," which, as we can
see from redrum, is the sequel to "The Shining"-- EWAN MCGREGOR: That's right. JIMMY KIMMEL: --which does--
you play Danny, the little boy. EWAN MCGREGOR: I play the
little boy grown up, yes. JIMMY KIMMEL: You still
ride the big wheel or no? [LAUGHING] EWAN MCGREGOR: There
should have been a shot where I'm just closing
the garage and it's in there. JIMMY KIMMEL: By the way,
I know "The Shining" is one of the great movies of all
time, but I've only watch pieces of because I get too
scared, especially when I know a movie is really good. I steer clear of it-- Yes. --because they're scary. EWAN MCGREGOR: I
didn't watch it for a-- I didn't watch it for the
same reason for a long time. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, really?
EWAN MCGREGOR: I was-- I-- JIMMY KIMMEL: How old
before you watched it? EWAN MCGREGOR: I was-- I was at drama school like,
looking at actors work, you know? And I realized I'd avoided it
because I was so scared of it, because it had the
reputation of being the most terrifying film ever made.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: And I
was-- when I was 12, or 13, or something, I was-- I used to play in the
pipe, school pipe band. JIMMY KIMMEL: The what? EWAN MCGREGOR: The
school pipe band. I was a side drummer
in the pipe band. JIMMY KIMMEL: Like
a bagpipe band? EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah.
Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh. EWAN MCGREGOR: So, I
was a side drummer. So, we went on tour. We toured, for some
bizarre reason, to Holland. So we were-- there was a place
in Holland called Den Bosch, and we were there for a week
playing in different squares, and I don't know what the
hell we were doing there, but we were playing our
pipes and our drums. And the guy that set it up
owned the cinema complex. And one night, he
thought, oh, we'll enter-- it was probably just
to give the teachers a break to go and have a few pints. JIMMY KIMMEL: Mm-hmm. EWAN MCGREGOR: And they
screened the movie for us all, kids, children. So, they put us in
this little screening room in the cinema complex
and switched the lights off, and it was Halloween. JIMMY KIMMEL: What? EWAN MCGREGOR: Right? And I Shatner-ed myself. [LAUGHING] JIMMY KIMMEL: That's
how you do it. EWAN MCGREGOR: And when we-- but you're amongst other kids. Your school, your peers. And there was also kids who
were a bit older than us, and you didn't want
to look like an idiot. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: So yeah,
it was-- it was great. And I was just inside.
I was like-- JIMMY KIMMEL: How
old at this time? EWAN MCGREGOR: --something
bad's happened to me. I think I was 12 years
old or 13 years of age. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh my God!
Why? EWAN MCGREGOR: When we
left, when we walked out, the corridor light was broken. It was dark. The switch wouldn't go
on, and the projectionist had hung up a blanket
all wet in the corridor. So as we walked down,
it hit us in the face. I mean, jump out of our skin!
JIMMY KIMMEL: What? EWAN MCGREGOR: So, I never-- I thought, I'm never watching a
horror movie again in my life! You know? JIMMY KIMMEL: What kind of
sicko projectionist was this? EWAN MCGREGOR: Sick sadist! Sadist--
JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow! EWAN MCGREGOR: --Dutch
projectionist, you know? JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. Well. EWAN MCGREGOR: So, I was
totally put off it, too, because then, "The
Shining's" reputation was, there is no scarier film. JIMMY KIMMEL: Wow. EWAN MCGREGOR: But
when I did watch it-- and you should eventually
because it is quite-- JIMMY KIMMEL: I'm going to
watch it when I turn 75. That's my plan. I'm going to watch it at noon
on a Saturday in my backyard. EWAN MCGREGOR: Outside with
a cable going out the back. JIMMY KIMMEL: With the
kids running around. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah, yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, and a
wet blanket over my head. EWAN MCGREGOR: It's quite
an extraordinary movie for many reasons, and it's not-- it's not a horror
film like "Halloween." It's something much scarier than
that, because it's sort of-- Kubrick was doing
something with your head. I don't-- I don't quite-- Anyway, the most
extraordinary thing about it is that Stephen King then, you
know, however many years later, 40 something years
later, decided to write a follow on novel. He wanted to take the
character of Danny and some of the other themes
from his original novel, and he wrote this other
novel called "Doctor Sleep," which is a brilliant book. And we made the
adaptation of that. And of course, Mike
Flanagan, the very brilliant, talented,
young director had a very tricky job of
pleasing these two camps, because they were the fact
there are and there will always be the fans of Kubrick's movie. And then there are the fans
of Stephen King's novel, "The Shining," and he made
some quite bold changes to it. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, really?
EWAN MCGREGOR: Kubrick did. JIMMY KIMMEL: So
he's in trouble. Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR:
And famously, King never really liked that film.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, Steve? Oh, yes. EWAN MCGREGOR: Steven King
didn't really like it. JIMMY KIMMEL: Right, right. EWAN MCGREGOR: So
there was-- so Mike managed to make the sequel. And my only concern
about it was, how are you going
to-- how are you going to please both of these
camps, you know, because-- JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah. EWAN MCGREGOR: But he
does he does it very cleverly and very beautifully. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh! EWAN MCGREGOR: And you
wouldn't know, because you have never seen the movie.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I'll never know. I'll never know. EWAN MCGREGOR: He does
something brilliant with it-- JIMMY KIMMEL: But I
take your word for it. I would-- EWAN MCGREGOR: --with
the ending of our film that will appease the Stephen
King fans who were aggrieved with Kubrick, I think.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Very nice. EWAN MCGREGOR: Yeah. JIMMY KIMMEL: Well, it's
very good to see you. EWAN MCGREGOR: Nice
to see you, too. JIMMY KIMMEL: Ewan McGregor. Everybody, it's
called "Doctor Sleep." It opens in theaters November 8. Ewan McGregor. We'll be right back
with Linda Hamilton!
He's such a charismatic guy.
Wow he really doesn't look 48.
If you want a great example of Ewan "denying" any news about Obi Wan while not really "lying" about it, this video is perfect. https://youtu.be/cRG6-Ybfwss