Ewan McGregor: ‘I was reduced to being the sober, naked actor’
Ewan McGregor says it’s “a great shame” when roles are reduced to surface level characteristics.
The Emmy and Golden Globe winner recalls how early on in his career he constantly faced questions about being naked on film – and rarely the deeper meaning behind his artistic choices.
In 1996, just after Trainspotting, the Scottish actor starred in The Pillow Book, which featured numerous intimate scenes.
“I was only ever asked questions about me being naked,” he tells Sky News.
In 2000, the line of questioning shifted slightly, but not in the way he had hoped.
“Once people knew I was sober, then it was a period where people only asked me questions about being sober, or being naked and sober and sort of being the sober, naked actor”.
He adds: “I was sort of reduced to those two things, which was slightly depressing”.
Similar to McGregor early in his career, recently for Saltburn star Barry Keoghan much of the media focus has been on one aspect of his career – his decision to strip off.
The Scottish actor, who is now 52, says that when the media focuses on the minor attributes of a character, it can feel like they didn’t get the point of the story the actors are trying to tell.
He says: “When you’re an actor, there’s this great meaning behind the things you do to serve that story and when it’s reductive like that, it’s sort of a little demeaning in a way for us.”
McGregor stars in A Gentleman In Moscow opposite his wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Pic: AP
McGregor’s most recent project is A Gentleman In Moscow, a mini-series based on Amor Towles’s best-selling novel of the same name.
‘Still and chill and quiet in each other’s company’
He plays Count Alexander Rostov in the Paramount+ series, an aristocrat who is stripped of his title and wealth and placed under indefinite house arrest at the Hotel Metropol.
He says, despite the show featuring themes of freedom, social classes and relationships, his media run in the US focused mainly on the fact that he grew his own moustache for the role.
Set in post-Revolutionary Russia, McGregor stars alongside his wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
The Fargo actress says it’s “such a relief” working together because they get to be “still and chill and quiet in each other’s company” in between takes.
She points out that they have a toddler so when they get home from a day of work “it’s pretty full-on energy”.
Pic: Ben Blackall/Paramount+ with Showtime
Winstead plays Russia’s “favourite actress” Ana Urbanova – an independent leading lady who has survived countless regimes in a country led by men.
‘My mind was kind of blown’
A fictional character, the Ahsoka star says she researched Russian actresses from the era of the series and grew particularly attached to Alla Nazimova.
“My mind was kind of blown by what she was doing and accomplishing and how brave she was and how full of passion and desire and the confidence to actually follow that passion regardless of what the kind of press or public was saying.”
The series shows Urbanova faced with the misogynistic truth of the time in the industry – ageing out of her career because she’s a woman.
Winstead says: “I do feel that there’s been that shift where things are only getting better and parts are only getting juicier.”
Ewan McGregor agrees and says Hollywood “feels healthier” now compared to when he was first starting out in the 90s which felt like a “boys club”.
He adds: “It’s not for me to say whether we’ve got there yet – probably not – but we’re definitely on the right track”.
An intimacy coordinator was used for the love scenes in the show.
Pic: Ben Blackall/Paramount+ with Showtime
The role sees a person, separate from the director, who speaks privately with the cast about what they’re comfortable doing on camera.
‘Oh my God, I wish I hadn’t done that’
McGregor says they’re a brilliant and important addition to the industry.
“When I was younger, I didn’t have somebody to talk to about what I was happy to do or not do. I was speaking with the director”.
Conversations about intimate scenes now only happen between the cast and the coordinator.
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McGregor says intimacy coordinator are a great step forward
McGregor says it’s a safeguard that can help young actors voice their honest opinion about what’s being asked of them.
He explains: “If you’re a young female actor, 22 year old, working with an amazingly famous, say 65 year old director, and he wants you to do this in a sex scene or show this and do that, of course, as a young actor, you’re going to, because you want to do well in that role.
“And then a couple of years later, you might look back and go, ‘Oh my God, I wish I hadn’t done that, I don’t feel happy that I did that’.
“Now there’s somebody [there]… There’s a safeguard, and a very important one. It’s changed a lot.”
A Gentleman In Moscow is available to stream now on Paramount+.
UK
UK has no plans for conscription – but future decisions will respond to ‘new reality’, says minister
The UK is not considering introducing conscription to ready the country for a potential war – but decisions may be needed in the future to respond to the “new reality” we are now living in, a minister has told Sky News.
In an interview with Trevor Phillips, Latvian President Edgars Rinkeviks has urged European countries to follow his country’s lead and “absolutely” introduce conscription, conceding the continent is “quite weak” militarily.
Politics latest: Calls for European nations to reintroduce conscription
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‘Debate’ in Latvia about introducing conscription for women
Asked if the UK government is considering introducing the measure to boost the armed forces, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said it is important the UK does not find itself operating under “old assumptions” – and that it may be “decisions are needed in the future that respond to a new reality”.
He told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “We are not considering conscription, but of course we have announced a major increase in defence expenditure.
“We do have to recognise that the world has changed. The phrase ‘step up’ is used a lot. Europe does have to step up in terms of its own defence.
“President Trump isn’t actually the first president to say that, but he said it more loudly and with more force than his predecessors – so, I think we have got to recognise that moment.”
‘UK cannot cling to old assumptions’
He added: “When the world is changing as fast as it is, it’s important that we don’t cling on to old assumptions.
“I think the prime minister has played a tremendous role in recent weeks in responding to that situation and explaining it to the public.
“That is why the decision on increasing defence expenditure was needed.
“It may be why other decisions are needed in the future that respond to a new reality, and that we don’t find ourselves caught operating under the same assumption as we used to in the past when the situation has changed.”
‘Battlefield is changing’
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP but has not set out when this will be achieved. Ministers say a defence review to be published this spring will set out a “roadmap” to it.
The number is much lower than the US president has demanded NATO members spend on defence, with Mr Trump saying they should all be spending 5% – an amount last seen during the Cold War.
Asked if the “new reality” involved a bigger army, Mr McFadden said ministers were waiting for the conclusion of the review.
But he added: “One thing is for sure, you would not spend money today on the same things as you would 10 years ago.
“The experience of the three years of the war in Ukraine has shown just how fast the battlefield is changing in terms of cyber, drones, the use of intelligence.”
The Conservatives’ first policy announcement of last year’s general election campaign was that the party would introduce a new form of mandatory National Service for 18-year-olds.
Asked if the Tories still stood by the plan which was in their manifesto, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “We are obviously not going to write our manifesto now, so I am not going to recommit to things in the previous manifesto.
“We’ll need to do the thinking properly. I am not going to speculate four years ahead of the election.
“I don’t think it was really exactly conscription that was being proposed, it was a National Citizen Service which is a bit different.
“The idea of getting younger people to do voluntary work and perform useful tasks is not a bad idea.”
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‘Right time’ to think about conscription
Last year, Britain’s former top NATO commander told Sky News it was time to “think the unthinkable” and consider introducing conscription.
General Sir Richard Sherriff, ex-deputy supreme allied commander of the military organisation, said: “I think we need to get over many of the cultural hang-ups and assumptions, and frankly think the unthinkable.
“I think we need to go further and look carefully at conscription.”
Police searching for the suspect in the Kent pub shooting on Valentine’s Day have recovered a body from the River Thames.
Lisa Smith, 43, was killed after she was shot outside The Three Horseshoes in Knockholt on the evening of Friday 14 February.
Later that night, the suspect, named as Edvard Smith, was believed to have fallen into the Thames from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge which crosses the river at Dartford 17 miles away.
Lisa Smith
Around that time, the suspect’s car containing a handgun was found abandoned on the bridge and a man was seen on the wrong side of the barrier.
About a week after the shooting, Kent Police said they believed Edvard Smith had died after falling into the water.
The force has now said a body was found in the Thames near Rainham in Essex on Friday afternoon. It has not been formally identified but the suspect’s family have been told of the development.
Edvard Smith was known to Ms Smith and there had been no prior contact between the police and the victim or suspect.
‘So much commotion’
Following the shooting, the landlady of The Three Horseshoes, Michelle Thomas, told Sky News she heard two loud bangs that she initially “thought were fireworks” on the night of the attack.
She said there was “so much commotion – screaming, shouting, crying” and the shooting had left the community in “absolute shock”.
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CCTV captures sound of gunshots near fatal shooting site
She said Ms Smith, from Slough, had been to the pub before, “mostly in the summer” but “wasn’t a regular”.
Ms Thomas also said about 30 people were at the pub for dinner, while 20 more were in the bar as the incident unfolded just after 7pm.
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Kent Police said on Saturday: “A body has been recovered by police from the River Thames, which is being linked to a murder investigation in Knockholt.
“On Friday 14 February 2025, Lisa Smith, 43, was killed after she was shot outside a pub in Main Road. The suspect was known to Lisa and later that evening officers found his car abandoned on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Enquiries established he had fallen into the water below.
“At around 3.45pm on Friday 7 March, a body was located near Rainham, Essex. Formal identification has not yet taken place; however, the man’s family have been informed.”
Parts of the UK are expected to be hotter than the Balearic Islands, Costa del Sol and the Amalfi Coast this weekend.
The country is set to reach the highest temperatures of the year so far, with central England heating up to 20C on Sunday.
Saturday is also set to reach temperatures in the high teens, with East Anglia, northwest England, the north Midlands and North Wales hitting 18-19C, the Met Office said.
Those temperatures are believed to be above average for this time of year.
Get the latest forecast for your area here
Craig Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said there are a “few exceptions” to the “fine and sunny” weekend weather, including areas in the far north of Scotland, but those areas will still be generally dry and sunny.
A map showing warm fronts over the UK on Saturday
Meanwhile, popular holiday destinations in Europe are expected to record cooler temperatures.
A high of 15C is forecast this weekend for Marbella on the south coast of Spain, a maximum of 17C is expected in Ibiza, and 18C is forecast for Sorrento on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
People were out in force on Saturday, enjoying the warmer weather. Pic: PA
Joggers run along the sea front in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Pic: PA
Sky News meteorologist Chris England said the warm weekend is not expected to last, with conditions “cooling off from the North on Sunday night and through Monday”.
Colder fronts will start to move across the UK on Monday
By Wednesday the UK will experience wintry showers and cold temperatures
A spell of rain will move south across the country early next week, bringing the return of a few wintry showers in the North and North East.
“While there is uncertainty in the extent of rain and wintry showers through the middle of next week, there is higher confidence that below average temperatures will continue through the week, bringing a very different feel to the mild weather over the weekend,” deputy chief meteorologist Chris Bulmer said.
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Temperatures will drop back below average across the UK from Tuesday, according to the Met Office.
Rural spots in Scotland could plummet as low as -4C, with maximum daytime temperatures typically between 5-8C.
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