Ewan McGregor - Jack the Giant Slayer #1: Ewan's slaying giants and taking names - Page 13

firewall · 02-25-2013, 07:16 PM

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Originally Posted by LilMouse (View Post)

I think Ewucci will be my favorite part of JTGS.

Oh, I know it will.

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Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci talk about 'Jack the Giant Slayer'

Your standard fantasy tale has a brave hero and an evil villain at its core, as does “Jack the Giant Slayer,” a hipper-than-usual version of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” You know the story. Young Jack (Nicholas Hoult) climbs the stalk and does battle with, in this case, General Fallon (voice and motion capture performance by Bill Nighy). But there’s an extra surprise or two in “Jack the Giant Slayer.” We get a supporting hero and villain: the dashing Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and the malevolent Roderick (Stanley Tucci). McGregor and Tucci recently chatted about the film and their careers at Hampton Court Palace, just outside of London. The interview took place in Anne Boleyn’s sitting room.

There have been so many versions of this story over the years. Why do you think it took this long for a definitive one?

McGregor: I think technically, we didn’t have the opportunity to make this film as you can today. You couldn’t create the giants as convincingly as you can today.

Tucci: I think that people are finding that to go to the darker side of fairy tales, cinematically, is not a bad thing. It actually has turned out to be a very good thing. It’s just the way we are in society today. There’s a lot of darkness, and a lot of violence, and I think these are examples of that. They’re a way to kind of deal with that in a way.

Do you think very young kids will have nightmares from seeing giants eat people?

McGregor: The eating of people isn’t very graphic in the film, but that’s what we’re supposed to believe giants do. They’re so scary because they eat people. I don’t think you’d want to show it to someone who’s 2 or 3, but the film’s not aimed at people as young as that. But I do believe it’s an absolutely family-friendly movie. There’s no embarrassing moment or dialogue that’s aimed at the parents, for a laugh. It can be embarrassing to sit and watch a film with kids. This really is a film that families could see together.

You both speak with accents that are not your own in the film. Was that a challenge?

Tucci: Doing an accent is the most fun thing ever. If you can do it. There are certain accents that I know I can’t do, no matter how hard I try. This one was a challenge, which you wouldn’t have imagined, because you think the British thing is so easy. But it’s incredibly difficult to do that high British thing ... what do they call it?

McGregor: RP

Tucci: Right, RP. Which stands for what?

McGregor: Received pronunciation.

Tucci: It was hard, so it took me a while. But I had a great time. My wife is British. So I would sit in my trailer and read things from the newspaper, out loud, on a tape recorder. And I would play it back, play it back, so that I could get all of the sounds, as many words as possible.

McGregor: The accent I used was difficult because it’s quite unemotional. And I’ve often found that as soon as you become emotional, if you’re angry or shouting, the accent can go out the window. I suppose it is manufactured, in a way. This was how “proper” people were going to sound.

Have you both wanted to act since you were very young?

McGregor: My uncle, Denis Lawson, is an actor, and I was very influenced by him. He was in “Star Wars” and “Local Hero.” I would go and see him onstage, and when I was growing up, there were plays on television, on BBC, that were called “Armchair Theatre.” They were one-hour plays, written for television, and he was in some of those. I also had a great love of old movies. I loved watching black & white films. So the two things sort of combined to make me want to do it, from a young age.

Tucci: Me, too. I loved watching movies. I believe that everybody has a multiple personality, and I think that actors just allow themselves access to those personalities. I realized at an early age that I didn’t want to go through life just being one person, that it would be fun to be a lot of people. But also I think part of that is I was never really comfortable as myself, within my own skin. I remember walking onstage as a kid, maybe in fifth or sixth grade, doing a play, and I was completely at home. I felt much more comfortable onstage than I did off the stage. I knew exactly what to do.

You both like old movies. So, Ewan, were you doing you inner Errol Flynn in this film?

McGregor: My outer Errol Flynn, probably. I saw in the script, in the stage directions, it said that Elmont, as he’s introduced, is “a cocky Errol Flynn type.” But I read Cockney Errol Flynn type. So for a week or so I was reading the lines in a Cockney accent, wondering why it didn’t work very well, and then I realized my mistake.

So Stanley, you must have been doing Basil Rathbone.

Tucci: I was. I swear I was! When they offered it to me, I went, “Oh, my God, that’s fantastic! I’ve never done this. I’ve always wanted to do this.” And I love those old movies. I’m telling you, it’s just shameless rip-off of lots of other performances, like Basil Rathbone as the Sheriff of Nottingham. I don’t really have a great imagination (laughs). And it was also like those games you play with your kids. When my kids were little, they would say, “Play mean king.” So you pretend to be the mean king, and that’s the way I would talk: “Give me your taxes.” And they’d give you the money and then they’d steal the money back. So I thought, now I’ll be the mean king in this movie.

Read more: Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci talk about 'Jack the Giant Slayer' - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News

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Stanely Tucci, Ewan McGregor on 'Jack the Giant Slayer'
Originally published: February 20, 2013 12:40 PM
Updated: February 22, 2013 3:00 PM
By JOHN ANDERSON. Special to Newsday

'Jack the Giant Slayer," the latest phantasmagorical big-budget, special-effects film from "X-Men" director Bryan Singer first got under way about three years ago. But back then it had a different director -- Singer replaced D.J. Caruso -- different writers (Singer brought in Christopher McQuarrie to rework the existing script) and even a different title: Somewhere along the line, "Jack the Giant Killer" became "Jack the Giant Slayer," and while "Fee, fi, fo, fum" is still in the script, no one says anything like "I smell the blood of an Englishman" (much less talks about grinding bones or making bread).
There is a beanstalk, though, and several first-rate actors, namely Stanley Tucci, as the villainous Lord Roderick, and Ewan McGregor, as the king's most trusted knight, Elmont. They spoke to Newsday contributor John Anderson from a press day at London's Hampton Court Palace -- originally built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey during the reign of Henry VIII.

The film hews fairly closely to the venerable "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tale, but is it tough talking about a movie you started shooting almost two years ago?
Tucci: One hopes to be able to do a junket like this pretty soon after a film's done, so it's fresh in your mind. But it's nice to see the old gang again... after so many years.

As the movie's chief swashbucklers, you both seemed to be in competition for the Basil Rathbone Award.
Tucci: Ewan actually was gunning for the Errol Flynn Award; I was the one channeling Basil Rathbone. But you know, those old adventure films that people like that made, they had a great impression on me when I was a kid. And Ewan felt the same way. And when we were offered a movie like this, it's tough to say no.
McGregor: There aren't very many opportunities to play a part like this, the kind that has big classic character where you immediately recognize who and what they are. And the script is full of wit and humor, which made it even more fun.

In a sort of architectural sense, you're both playing the same role: Nicholas Hoult ("X-Men First Class") is Jack, Eleanor Tomlinson ("Alice in Wonderland") is Princess Isabelle, and usually in these adventure stories there would be another principal male, usually a villain. But here are the both of you, sort of occupying the same space.
Tucci: I suppose it's structured in a strange way. In another movie, Ewan would be the male lead, and I would be the bad male lead, but then you have Nick, who's really the male lead, and it's all very confusing.

Is it confusing for the two of you -- both very serious actors -- giving a performance in a movie that's so rich in special effects?
McGregor: The job is the thing. You have to still play a scene as if you're in your character's shoes, but the interplay is slightly different. Or not existent: Usually, you have another actor there, and you're reacting to each other, and you create the scene together. The giants aren't really there, of course, but they did prerecord all the giants' movements with motion capture, so we were able to see what we were doing -- we could watch what we were supposed to be seeing, and we watched it before we did a take -- at which time we would be looking at a tennis ball on a stick or something. And then you just use your imagination, more than anything else. But the job is the same at the end of the day. You have to create the same effects.
Tucci: Obviously, it would be much more fun to work with another actor across from you and not a guy with a tennis ball on a stick. And it's more exciting. And you get a lot more satisfaction as an actor from doing a movie like that. Well, some of them, anyway.

Newsday

**LilMouse** · 02-26-2013, 08:34 AM

Those interviews made me think this is going to be like the OT SW because of the swashbuckling, old films that inspired GL.

firewall · 02-26-2013, 04:49 PM

I'm not sure what I'll think of the film as a whole, but I love that Ewan is playing a cocky hero who screws up a lot. And Stanley is a humorous arch-villain. They will definitely be the highlights.

Here's a review from THR. Positive, but not stellar.

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Simply in terms of storytelling, logistics and viewer engagement, "Jack" is markedly superior to the recent "Hobbit."

When will all the dead-serious $200 million battle-centered giant-infested similarly cast rousingly scored fabulously rendered 3D fairy-tale reimaginings all finally merge together into one enormous Anglophilic fantasmagoria of monarchical order and virtue so we can all be done with this for the time being?

Is The Hobbit: There and Back Again next summer too soon to hope for it? In fact, the latest example of this syndrome, Jack the Giant Slayer, isn't bad in and of itself; it's well made, attractively cast and has some lively as well as ghoulish moments. But a castle fit for a king to anyone who can find an original or singular element to this handsome reupholstering of the English folk tale, a version notable for its fine visual effects and vastly multiplied population of giants. Postponed from its original summer 2012 opening date, this Warner Bros. release, with just a week to itself before Oz flies up against it, looks to perform reasonably well -- but maybe not well enough, at least domestically, given its Brobdingnagian budget.
Even though the script by Darren Lemke (co-writer of Shrek Forever After), Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney (Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical) elaborates enormously on the Jack and the Beanstalk tale that inspired it, all the elements here remain familiar: The poor commoner who makes his mark among the royals, the princess anxious for a taste of life outside the castle, an ancient enemy unleashed after many dormant years, the royal aide-de-camp with treacherous intent, a king worthy of his throne and beastly ogres with bad table manners and no regard for hygiene. It's the same old recipe, nicely prepared under Bryan Singer's direction, but awfully familiar.

Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), who's already pledged to the foppishly sinister nobleman Roderick (Stanley Tucci, in wild hair and whiskers that make him resemble Tim Burton), yearns for a way out of this engagement as well as to experience “an adventure of my own.” She might get both prayers answered by the inadvertent arrival in her life of laddishly handsome 18-year-old Jack (Nicholas Hoult), an orphan farm boy who first intervenes on her behalf during a public altercation and then, more crucially, when she gets sent skyward atop an enormous, twisty stalk that instantaneously sprouts from an errantly planted special bean.

To rescue Isabelle from her peril on this vegetable Tower of Babel and return her to her proper realm in a Camelot-like castle called Cloister, the boldest knights spring into action, led by the imperturbable Elmont (Ewan McGregor) and Roderick. Jack is allowed to join in on the perilous climb through mists and clouds to a land that, marked as it is by the presence of menacing rock statuary and outsized creatures, bears an unavoidable resemblance to King Kong's Skull Island.
Residing there is not just one giant but a whole tribe of them, seemingly males only perhaps 40 or 50 feet tale who snack on the first humans they see and have been waiting donkey's years for the chance at revenge for having been driven off Earth in their last encounter. They're all loathsome beings who look like cousins to the trio of hungry trolls in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and are led by a general (an essentially unrecognizable Bill Nighy) who has the distinctive advantage of having his own built-in yes-man in the form of a second, somewhat smaller head on his shoulder (John Kassir).

While Roderick pulls his mischief on the side, the rescue party tries to pry Isabelle away from the giants but sees its numbers rapidly diminish in the process. But just when you think things might be heading for an early happy ending with the remaining humans' spectacular escape from the giants' celestial habitat and the collapse of the stalks, the big guys manage an invasion of their own that sets the stage for a colossal final battle in hyper-medieval style, complete with a moat, boiling oil and very large objects indeed launched through the air.

Working on at least as big a scale as he has on his X-Men and Superman films, Singer confidently handles the combat and big action scenes in what plays as an energetic, robust, old-fashioned romantic adventure yarn; simply in terms of efficient storytelling, clear logistics and consistent viewer engagement, Jack is markedly superior to the recent Hobbit.
The approach here is very straightforward, with a light modern feminist and egalitarian slant applied to the question of a princess's lot in life and her availability to a red rather than blue-blooded young man, but no ideas that weren't advanced in Errol Flynn films 75 years ago. At the same time, there's little facetious comedy a la the Pirates of the Caribbean series. It's all traditional stuff, done well but without an original spark.

The easy-to-look-at Hoult and Tomlinson match up well and acquit themselves handily, as do stalwart pros Tucci, McGregor and Ian McShane, the latter for once not playing a villain but the concerned king. The 3D is approached discreetly, almost even as an afterthought, so inconspicuous are the effects. Production values are stellar, including Gavin Bocquet's production design and Joanna Johnston's costumes (even if Hoult's pants and hoodie could pass as contemporary clothing) and the contributions of usual Singer collaborators Newton Thomas Sigel on camera and John Ottman as composer and co-editor (with Bob Ducsay).

- See more at: The Hollywood Reporter

**LilMouse** · 02-26-2013, 07:15 PM

So basically the reviewer doesn't like how nothing new was added to the story?

EW had an article that said even though Jack did well with test audiences, they don't think it will do well box office-wise because of poor marketing

firewall · 02-27-2013, 12:44 AM

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Originally Posted by LilMouse (View Post)

So basically the reviewer doesn't like how nothing new was added to the story?

More like, it's same old, same old. They just keep taking fairy tales and adding in epic battles and whatnot. And the characters are all very archetypal.

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EW had an article that said even though Jack did well with test audiences, they don't think it will do well box office-wise because of poor marketing

The awareness for the film is much lower than they'd like. So no, it probably won't do all that great domestically.

Here's a little featurette that Bryan Singer tweeted:

**LilMouse** · 02-27-2013, 10:03 AM

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More like, it's same old, same old. They just keep taking fairy tales and adding in epic battles and whatnot. And the characters are all very archetypal.

Hmm, well even though I agree, if the film is fun then I won't complain.

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The awareness for the film is much lower than they'd like. So no, it probably won't do all that great domestically.

I do see posters for it all over the city/ Time Sq, but there is only so much posters can do.

Thanks for the featurette

firewall · 02-27-2013, 07:18 PM

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Originally Posted by LilMouse (View Post)

Hmm, well even though I agree, if the film is fun then I won't complain.

It seems like families will enjoy it. Good clean fun.

"Better than the Hobbit" isn't saying much, but considering how well The Hobbit did...

**LilMouse** · 02-28-2013, 09:13 AM

I liked The Hobbit. But I also really like looking at Richard even under all that dwarf make-up.

firewall · 02-28-2013, 04:40 PM

^That's good, though. It means you should like this film even more.

I actually didn't see The Hobbit. I just heard from others that it was disappointing.

The Ewucci goodies keep pouring out...

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Feb 28 2013 6:53 AM EST 3,529
'Jack The Giant Slayer' Follicular Face-Off: Ewan McGregor Vs. Stanley Tucci
The actors of upcoming fairy-tale film debate who had the best 'do.
By Amy Wilkinson (@AmyMWilk)

Nicholas Hoult (and a rabble of performance-captured behemoths) may get top billing in Bryan Singer's upcoming fairy-tale epic "Jack the Giant Slayer," but we'd like to single out one of the film's unsung hero for a little recognition. It's hair. Perhaps you've heard of it? More specifically, we're talking about the coifs atop stars Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci.

When MTV News caught up with the affable duo recently inside England's historic Hampton Court Palace, we just had to ask which possesses the best on-screen tresses.

"He does 'cause it's real," Tucci declared, gesturing to McGregor.

"I had a great haircut in this film," McGregor agreed.

"Great beard, too. This little thing," Tucci continued, twirling a faux mustache.

"I didn't have the teeth you had," McGregor conceded. "You had the whole looking going on."

It's true. In fact, Tucci has a history of teeth acting, having donned fake grins for both "The Lovely Bones" and "The Hunger Games." So what's his secret?

"Just get them. Just get them," he said. "Stick them in and everyone says, 'Oh, you're a chameleon.' And you think, 'No, I just have different teeth.'"

"But they were classy," McGregor said. "They were so perfect for him."

In the end, Tucci agreed that it's the hair, teeth and clothes that make the man. "It's all of it," he said. "You've gotta figure out what's right for you. And sometimes it really is just looking in the mirror and doing this [gestures] with your mustache or doing this with your eyebrows. And the thing with the wig, and you go, 'Well, that's it. That's the guy.'"

Even if the guy's hair isn't quite as spectacular as Ewan McGregor's.

"Jack the Giant Slayer" opens March 1.

Follow the link to watch the embedded video:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/170...ey-tucci.jhtml

**LilMouse** · 02-28-2013, 05:50 PM

I am jealous that they were in Hampton Court Palace.

I'm seeing the movie tomorrow night, so I'll check out Stanley's teeth.

firewall · 02-28-2013, 07:46 PM

Are you going to a midnight screening?! That is hardcore, girl!

Ewan does have marvelous hair. I'm glad people take note of it.

ETA: MORE Ewan hair-love. This time from Bryan Singer

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Ewan McGregor's hair in this looks very good compared to a lot of the poor peasants. Where'd that come from?
Originally we made a wig for him and gave him period hair, and he just didn't look as handsome, he didn't look as cool. So then we pulled the wig off and he had something close to this, and it just looked hot. It complemented his face and the facial hair, it complemented the armor. He just looked really good.

I was impressed by what a good Prince Valiant figure he was.
Basically he was the Errol Flynn of the movie. He needed that groomed handsomeness.

xx

**LilMouse** · 03-01-2013, 01:55 PM

Nope, I believe the movie starts at 7pm. I could never do a midnight screening unless it was close to home.

I love people's love for Ewan's hair. I'm glad they did not go with period hair.

firewall · 03-02-2013, 11:40 AM

You'll have to tell me what you thought of the film. I'm sad to see that it's bombing for Ewan's sake.

This quote is validation. Ewan approves of my leather-obsession:

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The 'Trainspotting' actor was thrilled he got to wear studded leather armour to play palace guard Elmont in Bryan Singer's fantasy flick about a fearsome giant invasion because it was so much more glamorous than his usual film attire.
He said: ''It was gorgeous, it was so sexy. I'd been waiting all my life to wear black leather, biker studded armour. I couldn't believe it when I went for my first fitting and I saw the drawings, I was like, 'Oh yes, that'll do nicely!'
''It was not easy to climb in though, and a lot of the time it was raining and muddy, and the costume was not easy to walk around in. But then, the real armour back in the day wasn't easy to walk around in either, so what can you do?''

Ewan McGregor | Ewan McGregor: Jack and the Giant Slayer costume was 'sexy' | Contactmusic.com