Why Ewan McGregor hates Elvis Presley’s movies: “They’re so bad”
When you’re a kid, you spend a lot of time imitating others, so when someone as unforgettable as a pop star or a rock and roll icon enters your life, you’ll probably find yourself swinging your hips and singing into your hairbrush, annoying the rest of your family in the process.
I, for one, spent much of my childhood strutting around the living room copying the moves of artists I saw on MTV or 4Music, imagining myself as an invincible icon wearing ridiculous outfits. I was Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Katy Perry, young enough to get swept up into the fold of their outrageous music videos, where these stars, at least to an eight-year-old, were really the height of cool.
But long before kids were draping white blankets over them to look like Kylie Minogue in the ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ music video or moonwalking through the kitchen like Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley was the defining icon who inspired plenty of imitation.
Ewan McGregor might have been a young kid in Scotland, but he found something so exciting about Presley, who had first thrust his hips and slicked back his quiff to the screaming cries of fans across the world back in the 1950s.
Continuing his success into the ‘60s, Presley caused a shockwave among American audiences who were not ready to see such ‘sexual’ behaviour from a musician. Of course, his moves were nothing compared to the endless gyrating and nudity that went on to define the music videos of the 2000s onwards, but in the ‘50s, it was as though his pelvis alone had enough power to shake people into a frenzy.
McGregor admitted to The Courier that “when I was a kid, I spent a lot of my time being Elvis Presley”, presumably singing hits like ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and ‘A Little Less Conversation’ while bending his knees, and the actor would even watch the singer’s films, which have never exactly been considered masterpieces. He is aware of this, though, finding Presley’s films terrible, but he couldn’t look away when he was young, for he was just too captivating.
“There’s something about his movies, the fact that they’re so bad,” he explained, “but he was this cool guy that always had a good time and beautiful women”.
So, Presley might not have made masterpieces, but he was able to make good money off frequently starring in bang-average movies that profited from his name and image being on the poster. From Jailhouse Rock and GI Blues to Viva Las Vegas and Paradise, Hawaiian Style, he sang and acted his way through these forgettable musical comedies and dramas at the behest of his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who just wanted the titles to act as vehicles to further promote Presley’s music.
The singer wanted to be a proper movie star, but he didn’t have the acting chops to pull this dream off. Instead, he churned out movies that allowed him to be the singing lead, and a young McGregor lapped them up, despite their poor quality, becoming inspired nonetheless.
