Ewan McGregor got a bit more candid about the prequels in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The Obi-Wan Kenobi star shared his excitement about the upcoming Disney+ series, saying: “I’m really excited about it. Maybe more so than the first ones, because I’m older — I just turned 50 — and I’m just in a much better place.”
He went on to talk about the prequels and their reception from fans. “That was quite difficult. They were universally not very much liked,” McGregor said, and it’s an interesting thing to look at. Granted, the prequels have a love/hate relationship with the Star Wars fandom. They were, for me, the first Star Wars movies I got to see in theaters the first time around. (I went to the rerelease of the original trilogy, too, but I had already watched those movies as a kid.)
So, getting to experience Star Wars and learn about Anakin Skywalker and his journey to the dark side excited me. Because I was a kid. (As much as I still love Star Wars and scream about it, it is a series meant for a younger audience, and I think that gets lost a lot of the time with the fanbase.)
McGregor also talked about his frustrations with George Lucas at the time:
[George Lucas] wanted more and more control over what we see in the background. After three or four months of [being surrounded by blue screens], it just gets really tedious — especially when the scenes are … I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare. There’s not something to dig into in the dialogue that can satisfy you when there’s no environment there. It was quite hard to do.
And while the technical side of the prequels left something to be desired, the new technology that Star Wars is using for things like The Mandalorian has created a fun new way of filming for actors, as McGregor shared:
They project [the virtual backgrounds] onto this massive LED screen. So if you’re in a desert, you’re standing in the middle of a desert. If you’re in the snow, you’re surrounded by snow. And if you’re in a cockpit of a starfighter, you’re in space. It’s going to feel so much more real.
I will admit, all these years later, that Ewan McGregor was easily the best part of the prequels. While I’m an Anakin girl through and through, I loved his take on Obi-Wan Kenobi and he brought life to a character that I, otherwise, didn’t care that much about. My love of Obi-Wan Kenobi is, truly, because of what McGregor brought to the prequels.
So McGregor being excited about what is coming with the series more so than the prequels does say a lot about the show. He clearly loved being Obi-Wan Kenobi. I remember all the little hints that he wanted to come back to the role throughout the years, and so even though the reception of the prequels wasn’t perfect, everyone always praised McGregor’s portrayal (as we should).
I’m incredibly excited for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and my excitement only continues to grow. My prequels-loving heart will always adore McGregor’s portrayal of Obi-Wan, and now we’re finally getting a series about him! What more could I ask for?
(via /Film, image: Lucasfilm)
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