Ewan McGregor is swiping through his camera roll, looking for the picture that explains why he will never grow another mustache ā unless a job requires it. And even then, heād probably argue that the character should be clean-shaven. DalĆ without a mustache? Surreal.
Before our conversation, I had resolved not to ask McGregor anything about facial hair. It seems that most of the interviews heās done to promote his terrific Paramount+ With Showtime limited series āA Gentleman in Moscowā have spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the mustache he grew to play Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a Russian nobleman sentenced to house arrest in a luxurious hotel following the 1917 revolution. Over four decades (and eight episodes), the good gentleman learns to let go of formalities and appreciate simple pleasures and embrace family.
But he never shaves off that damn mustache.
McGregor keeps scrolling. Heās in Atlanta, shooting āFlowervale Street,ā a movie so secret that when he mentions its name, he immediately panics. āOh, no. Iām worried that I just blew the title.ā When I tell him itās out there, heās relieved. He wrapped shooting at 6:30 this morning, and here he is with me on Zoom, 4Ā½ hours later. āIām somewhat upside down, but itās all good,ā he says.
And heās not that out of it, because when I tell him all I know about āFlowervale Streetā is that David Robert Mitchell (āIt Follows,ā āUnder the Silver Lakeā) wrote and directed it, and itās a mystery, and it might be set in the 1980s, and it might have dinosaurs, he says, smiling:
āWell, Iām not at liberty to discuss that in any way, so it could be in the ā70s with, you know, rodents. But itās great fun.ā
He finds the photo. Heās with his son, Laurie, who was just shy of 3 when it was taken. McGregorās hair is light brown. His mustache is blond. He grimaces, saying, āThereās something about my blondie mustache that doesnāt look good on my face.ā The picture was taken last year during the actorsā strike, which interrupted the filming of āA Gentleman in Moscowā with eight days remaining on the schedule. During the break, McGregor kept the mustache, grew a beard and waited. When shooting resumed in January, he finished his scenes and shaved it all off five minutes after production wrapped.
āThereās me in the makeup chair,ā McGregor says with glee, finding another shot in his camera roll.
The experience of making this show is why I wanted to be an actor.
ā Ewan McGregor on āA Gentleman in Moscowā
āIām getting the feeling youāre never growing a mustacheāā
ā… again,ā he interrupts, finishing my sentence. āOnce it goes white, maybe. Then I think it might look good. Like, for instance, youād look great with a mustache.ā Which is funny because the last time I grew a beard, my kids, then little, called me Obi-Wan.
āThere are worse things they could call you, believe me,ā McGregor says, laughing.
McGregor played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the three āStar Warsā prequels and returned to the role for the 2022 Disney+ limited series. Shortly before we spoke, he surprised fans attending a 25th-anniversary showing of āThe Phantom Menaceā at the Atlanta Film Festival. He likes doing these kinds of drop-ins. A few years ago, he showed up at the El Capitan in Hollywood at 2 in the morning between films in a āStar Warsā marathon.
āTheyāre all in sleeping bags and blankets,ā McGregor says. āItās a good laugh. And itās good for the ego when they give you a big cheer when they werenāt expecting you.ā
Critics mostly hated āThe Phantom Menaceā when it was released, but the George Lucas-directed movie has been reassessed as the years have passed.
āWe made the film for kids, but we didnāt hear from them then because they were kids and there was no Instagram, no social media. They didnāt have a voice like they do now,ā McGregor says. āAll we had was the critics and the noise of the people who didnāt like it. But those kids have grown up, and those movies are now their āStar Warsā trilogy. Itās nice for me, that. Because at the time, the reaction was rough.ā
We get to talking about the idea, explored in āA Gentleman in Moscow,ā that less is more and the contentment that comes from casting aside what no longer serves us.
āYou realize what things are not you,ā McGregor says. āIām 53. But Iāve got lots of friends who are about to be 60. And I keep noticing, watching shows on television, young people referencing 60 like itās really old!ā He stops, laughing. āYouāre like, āWait a minute.ā But itās also learning about who you are, isnāt it? And you let go of the things that you donāt need.ā
The funny thing about McGregor, though, is that heās someone who picks up hobbies quickly, becomes obsessed with them and then moves on to the next thing, never quite letting them go. He can ride a unicycle. He can play the guitar. He can blow a few tunes on the bagpipes. Thereās always something going on. It used to be that heād beat himself up over knowing how to do a lot of things moderately well as opposed to mastering a single talent. Now he just accepts thatās how he is. He can go out to his shed, look at the unicycle he hasnāt used for three years and know that someday heāll give it another go.
āWhat about the bagpipes?ā I ask. āAre they in the corner somewhere, gathering dust?ā
āThey are at the moment,ā McGregor says. āBut they will get blown again.ā
It turns out McGregor is even more interested in talking about the bagpipes than about his āMoscowā mustache. It wasnāt that long ago, in fact, that he broke out his bagpipes. This last year, he was in his native Scotland for Hogmanay, the countryās new year celebration. He was out with his brother, who repeatedly called out for songs that McGregor didnāt know. āCāmon, shut up. I donāt know that one,ā McGregor kept telling him.
When he was a kid, McGregor was a drummer in a pipe band. He never thought heād be a piper because as a drummer, that would be, in his words, āgoing over to the dark side.ā But when he was shooting the 2011 film āSalmon Fishing in the Yemenā in the Scottish Highlands, he met a piper and, inspired by being home, bought some bagpipes and found a teacher in London. He took the pipes with him to the set of his next film ā he wonāt name it, but it was a āmiserableā experience (āfā slow, like I was under house arrestā) ā and asked the transport guy to put his trailer next to the generator.
āIām the first actor in history to ask that, because usually you want to be as far away from the generator as possible because itās so noisy,ā McGregor says. āBut it was perfect because I could blow my bagpipes for hours on end and no one could hear it because I was next to the drone of the generator.ā
Hearing these stories, itās easy to see why McGregor loved āA Gentleman in Moscow,ā a series that asked him to learn how to do a number of different things ā age a character over decades, play a father and a lover, explore the inner life of a man well versed in grief and loss who never loses his zest for life.
āThe experience of making this show is why I wanted to be an actor,ā McGregor says. āItās such a beautiful piece; it leaves you thinking, āGod, I hope thereās another one out there somewhere in the future.ā But who knows?ā
āHeās so charming, but I resist using that word because itās reductive,ā says āMoscowā showrunner Ben Vanstone. āThereās so much thought and skill that goes into his performance, all of his performances, really.ā
Vanstone says McGregorās count ages 31 years in the series, not including what we see of the character in childhood flashbacks. But because the characterās mental burdens grow lighter over time, McGregor believes he becomes more relaxed and, in many ways, younger. He learns to live.
Circling back to what he said earlier about young people calling his friends almost ancient at 60, I ask McGregor how old he feels these days.
āI feel 53. I feel exactly where I am,ā he replies. āI donāt want to be 35. I want to feel the age that I am.ā
Is that because, I ask ā adding that Iāve known him for so long now, almost an entire hour, so I can presume some insight ā he wouldnāt trade the wisdom and experiences heās accumulated to shave off a few years?
āNo, I wouldnāt,ā McGregor says. āIām not afraid of aging. Iām not afraid of getting older. Iām not afraid of dying. Iām just so happy. Iām a lucky, lucky man.ā