Ewan McGregor once named his “worst” ever role
It was inevitable that Hollywood would come knocking on the door of Ewan McGregor following the international success of Danny Boyle’s generation-defining Trainspotting. The film’s breakout star wasted little time in heading across the pond.
Just three years after he’d clambered down a toilet and into an existential dreamscape, McGregor was standing in the shoes of Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He played a pivotal role in what was the most hotly-anticipated blockbuster in history at the time.
It was his highest-profile part by far, but in the years leading up to it, McGregor had reiterated his range and versatility in smaller productions, including Velvet Goldmine and A Life Less Ordinary. However, one film that was released just months after Trainspotting in 1996 stands out for the actor as a major misstep.
Speaking to The Guardian, McGregor conceded that writer and director Douglas McGrath’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma is far from an affront to the good name of cinema. However, his performance and costuming as Frank Churchill left a lot to be desired in his mind.
“My decision-making was wrong. It’s the only time I’ve done that,” he said. “And I learnt from it, you know. So I’m glad of that because it was early on and I learnt my lesson. It’s a good film, Emma, but I’m just… not very good in it. I’m not helped because I’m also wearing the world’s worst wig. It’s quite a laugh, checking that wig out.”
Calling it the “worst” role of his career, McGregor could never get beyond the fact he felt miscast, something that fed into his performance, at least the way he views it. It was quite the departure coming so hot on the heels of Trainspotting, which is why he wanted to do it in the first place.
However, deliberately broadening his horizons and diving from a grungy street-level drama into a lavish period piece didn’t turn out as planned. “I made the decision to that film because I thought I should be seen to be doing something different from Trainspotting,” was McGregor’s explanation, which makes perfect sense.
Based on his scathing assessment of his own work, though, it sounds as if he was less invested in the character and more concerned with showing the world he wouldn’t be defined by Mark Renton. Pinballing between genres at will is the hallmark of any star with designs on longevity, but McGregor believes he was being too obvious and transparent about it, to the detriment of his work.
Of course, he’s appeared in plenty of historical pieces since then, leaving Emma to endure for going on 30 years as his interpretation of a professional low that’s never been reached again ever since.
