Ewan McGregor reveals the one big challenge of filming the Star Wars prequels. McGregor shot to fame thanks to his performance in Danny Boyle’s acclaimed film Trainspotting. The Scottish actor quickly parlayed that fame into a high-profile gig in a franchise, taking on the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’ highly-anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy.
McGregor’s choice to play Obi-Wan was of course fraught with peril given the giant shoes he was stepping into. But not only did McGregor do a fine job taking over for original Obi-Wan actor Alec Guinness, he ended up as arguably one of the most memorable aspects of the prequel trilogy. Indeed, McGregor found playing Obi-Wan so gratifying that he willingly returned twenty years later to reprise the role in the Disney+ Star Wars show Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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But as much as McGregor enjoyed picking up a lightsaber and playing Obi-Wan, the actor admits there were challenges involved in making the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Appearing recently on the SmartLess podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, McGregor mentioned the one thing that challenged him the most on the set of those films. He said:
It’s different. And it teaches you that, you’re always challenged aren’t we by every job we do? There’s some challenge that it throws at you. In those prequels, it was very much the challenge of trying to be believable with this dialog in front of a blue curtain for four months.
McGregor’s remarks of course refer to the fact that the Star Wars prequels were shot largely using green screens, with many backdrops and set elements rendered via computer effects. While those computer effects were certainly a big part of Lucas’ vision for the films, and did help push the technology forward in a big way, many an actor has complained about the difficulty of trying to play scenes convincingly with nothing but a giant green wall behind them. Indeed, the concerns of actors have been heard over the years by producers, many of whom now employ LED-screen “virtual sets” that allow actors to see what is supposed to be around them rather than having to do it all with their imagination. McGregor himself previously praised this new approach in fact, saying of Obi-Wan Kenobi's virtual sets, "It made us feel like we're there."
It is true of course that many find the Star Wars prequel trilogy fake and two-dimensional, largely thanks to Lucas’ over-reliance on green screens, CGI and an overall “we'll fix it in post” mentality. But there are certainly many others who find the prequels utterly captivating despite the somewhat dehumanizing methods that were used in their creation. McGregor for his part sounds like he still has some lingering misgivings about the way things were approached in the Star Wars prequels. But he obviously still enjoys the experience of donning Obi-Wan’s Jedi robes, or he would not have returned for the small-screen Obi-Wan Kenobi all those years later.