Ewan McGregor on the Crossguard Lightsaber. Still Waiting for Disney’s Call.
MTV caught up with Ewan McGregor at the Sundance Film Festival where he’s premiering his new film, “Last Days in the Desert”, and asked him if he got a call from Disney about the upcoming Star Wars movies. Hit the jump to check out the actor’s answer as well as his opinion on the new lightsaber from The Force Awakens teaser trailer…
From MTV.com:
Get More:
Movie Trailers, Celebrity News
Transcript via MTV.com:
“No! I’m still waiting for the call!. Seriously!”
“But literally, I have had nothing. Nothing.”
“And I don’t know how it could work, because I don’t know what those stories are, I never discussed them with George [Lucas] when we made ours, so I have no idea what the three storylines are.”
“I suppose, after my last one, after ‘Episode III,’ I become Alec Guinness, and then Alec Guinness is cut down by Lord Vader, and goes into [The Force]. But then, if he came back from there wouldn’t he be Alec Guinness? Why would he suddenly be me?”
“I saw [TFA teaser] over someone’s shoulder, I was watching on a film set, I watched it like that, and I saw the hilt come [out], and I went: done.”
“You don’t need hilts. If you have a lightsaber, you don’t need a silly hilt. Hilts are for– Anyway, I won’t say it.”
“We managed very well! the Jedi Order managed very well without hilts for hundreds of millions of years!”
The new Disney Star Wars era can only benefit from Ewan’s possible involvement with the new movies. He is a great guy and the fans love him. Remember that last year he won the contest for most favorite Star Wars character at StarWars.com, defeating Han Solo and Darth Vader in the final rounds. That’s really impressive.
(via MakingStarWars.net)
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
he’s right the order doesn’t need hilt’s….but something tells me the guy in the trailer is no Jedi!
Yeah, and I don’t remember any Jedi having a red lightsaber. 🙂
Adi Gallia
who the f*** is Adi Gallia and what film were they in?
“Gallia wielded the lightsaber with a green blade, then switched to red temporarily. In 21 BBY, the lightsaber’s blade color changed to blue.”
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Adi_Gallia%27s_lightsaber
It sounds more like someone messed up with her. 🙂
I have an action figure from episode I of her with a crimson blade. We never see it in the film but as a kid I always thought it was cool that she had a red saber.
She appears in Episode 3 at the Order 66 Execution. She’s the Jedi on the Speeder betrayed by the 2 clone troopers hitting her in the back. She appears in Episode 1 as a member Jedi Council. and episode 2 too on Geonosis. Not sure but at least she appears on the 3 PT movies
🙂
He’s just being flippant!
I am a little concerned about the hilt what happens if your turning it on and your hand is to close…that would be a problem
The “Crossguard” (not hilt … the sword/lightsaber handle IS the hilt) is useless. Here’s why:
1) If you look at stills from the preview trailer, the crossguard (not “hilt”) extends around 1 to 1.5 inches from either side of the hilt and the short plasma blades emit beyond those.
2) Though there is a rare alloy that is resistant to lightsaber blades – the staff used by Magna-Guards was made from it – lightsabers are not built from it. It is always the lightsaber blade that stops another lightsaber blade. (Remember: Darth Maul’s lightsaber was chopped in half by another lightsaber.)
3) So, the villain’s lightsaber in TFA is made from regular lightsaber alloys and IF the crossguard is supposed to be there to stop another blade, it really can’t – because when duelling, another lightsaber blade would simply slice those crossguard emmitters right off.
They (the crossguard sides) are purely there because someone on the team thought it would look cool, but didn’t think things through.
If they wanted the crossguard to be for protection, then it would be made from the rare lightsaber resistant alloy that Magna-Guard staffs were made from and be done with it.. it would be able to stop another blade from slicing your fingers off without the need for dangerous “mini-blades”.
“You don’t need hilts. If you have a lightsaber, you don’t need a silly hilt. Hilts are for– Anyway, I won’t say it.
We managed very well! the Jedi Order managed very well without hilts for hundreds of millions of years!”
I like how Ewan’s already working on his portrayal of Ben Kenobi – old school cool.
I love how he’s itching to get the call from Disney. He clearly wants to get back into the role of Obi-Wan. I hope Disney and Lucasfilm start making plans for an obi-wan spin-off because I’d throw all the money at them for it to be a thing!
Ewan McGregor most likely won’t appear in The Sequel Trilogy but I really hope he appears in an Obi-Wan spin-off. They could use some prosthetic make-up to make him look closer to Alec Guiness.
Obi-Wan spin off movie with Ewan YES PLEASE! Obi-Wan spin off TRILOGY with Ewan YES PLEASE!!!
Ewan’s 43. I would like to see him get a standalone within the next 5 years or so and a second one when he’s closer to Alec Guinness’ age of 62 in the original Star Wars. Something like 55-60. Naturally, he wouldn’t be doing crazy flips in that one.
MAYBE he can visit Jimmy Smits and Leia on Alderaan in the first one. 🙂
*just look at the trailer in hd & pause it, you clearly see 3 seperate independant parts BEFORE the hilt line.*
given the uber powerful technology in the star wars universe, it could be easy to create a lightsaber sophisticated enough to have 3 seperate beam generators inside the saber handle. therefore if the beam seperation occurs INSIDE , it simply does not matter anymore if an opponent’s beam goes through and blows up one of the hilts because THEN the opponent’s beam will get knocked back simply because of the explosion.
A lawyer and a politician they would probably just want OB1 to fill out the correct paperwork for giving up a child for adoption for two hours. Ep1,2,3, were about council meetings.
I love Obi wan.
he is my favorite
he would be good when he is 50 years old to play the part.
I’m sure there will be plenty of normal lightsabers. I’m not going to dismiss the entire film over a feaking hilt.
Of course not – not the entire movie. It can still be good. But the hilt does say something. I would associate words like: cheep, claptrapping, grandstanding and no creativity with it. Or lets summarise it with one word: smokemonster.
I anticipate the film will center around a group of young Jedi that crash land on an uncharted desert planet. While trying to survive they run into some “others” who turn out to be imperial scientists. There will be random polar bears and the smoke monster will be a dark side entity and the film’s main antagonist.
I would like to see Ewan reprise his role of Obi-wan….I hope they do call him.
I think his obi-wan was boring. Hilts: They could have had ’em long before obi-wan’s time. Or it could be custom.
I think your announcement is lifeless.
I’m 90% sure Ewan got the call and he’s ready for a standalone film.
Does he need to explain the whole saga to justify he is not in the new ones? We all know (and he KNOWS) there’s the standalone films which he doesn’t mention. Also, the representant behind the camera cuting his neck is also a hint.
It would be silly not to produce a fan favorite character film having the actor young and ready (Ewan looks pretty good).
And for the critics to the lightsaber, I’m not worried at all. If he has signed a contract he’s already in and he can say whatever he wants, as he openly did when informed about Episode II title.
Wouldn’t count on an Obi Wan spin off guys. Cool idea though
Hilts are pure EU material to me. And a very stupid one, if you asked me.
Probably if they would have asked Lucas about it…
But they have chosen to not use the help of the Maker himself … and make their own version of SW universe.
I really have a bad feeling about all this SW-Disney affair.
As I recall the hiltless Jedi Order nearly became extinct (on several occasions), and three Masters on the hiltless Jedi Council got creamed by one old politician in about 5 seconds. Who knows how a hilt or two might have changed things…
This is a movie! In starwars design and form always come before function. You can always come up with a cock-and-bull story why hilts are the ultimate killer-feature. My criticism about the hilt is plainly design-wise: IMO its ugly, silly and does not fit.
If it is an ancient lightsaber, then it is fine. The function is matter of fact. Im going with exhaust emitting in order for it not to be eight feet long. The design suggests that the modern lightsabers we have seen have been fine tuned/perfected. It may just be a very cool thing when we see it in action.
The transcription is slightly wrong btw – it isn’t Ewan who says “done”, it’s the interviewer.
There would never be a Ewan McGreagor based SW movie under JJ Abrams. It is widely known that JJ casts his actors based on wether they laugh about his jokes on set and how much they worship him has god. He can not work with actors that think for themselfs or speak there own minds, wich Ewan McGreagor is a paramount example of (in good and bad ways:)). JJ chose a bunch of second rate teen actors for his StarTrek movies instead of a brilliant stage actor like Patrick Steward. That sais a lot.
He has worked with Tom Cruise.
Also says a lot, when you misspell his name. It’s Patrick StewarT, not Steward (talk about being disrespectful, calling Sir Patrick a STEWARD!!!)
IDK, maybe he’s the regent ruler of a middle-earth kingdom? e.i. The Steward to the Throne
More grammar and spelling nazis? At least I got the point of the comment. Most human brains are very good at reading text even if half the consonants are exchange. Yours maybe not.
This guy is trolling. Don’t feed him.
I hope Ewan gets to be in a kick ass Star Wars movie at some point before it’s too late.
I’m fairly lukewarm on the prequels as a whole but his parts were one of the things I liked about them.
Well in the new versions, Anakin’s ghost was turned to Hayden Christensen’s at the end of ROTJ, so basically, he went from young to old to young. What the hell?
Sure, it was a late edit, but Obi wan is the same Alec Guinness when he died and so appears the same in ESB and ROTJ.
Why Anakin’s force ghost was turned young after his death and Obi Wan’s wasn’t would be a fair question, but it was just that, a stupid edit. It should just have been Sebastian Shaw.
Ewan himself here pretty much said how odd it is. And that’s exactly what they did with Anakin’s character.
I think Ewan can play Obi-Ghost if he’s ONLY IN THE NEW MOVIES, the pre-existing Alec Guinness Ghost needs to STAY! anything new created beyond that is fair game though.
The thing with jumping back over something someone (Seb Shaw) already did by cheaply pasting over him with the new guy is VERY LAME and VERY DISRESPECTFUL.
However, if they have Hayden come back a ghost in a NEW movie, while I would not like it, it would be acceptable.
I don’t like him being put in as young either…but I believe that Lucas’ thinking was that he show up as “Anakin” and not Darth Vader….so he would show as how he last was as Anakin. The problem with this, is that Luke helped redeem his father, who was turned back from the dark side just before he died…so he died as Anakin….not as Darth Vader. So the original old force ghost, IMO…was more accurate.
I agree but, still, that’s an interesting observation, Dartholomew and it ALMOST sells the idea of switching Shaw for Christiansen at the end of Jedi to me. Almost. You may well be right that that was what Lucas had in mind. But it comes across lamely. Luke sees Obi-wan and Yoda as he knows them but then sees his father, who he has just FINALLY met in person, as someone who looks completely different from the person he just met.
Now, if Lucas wanted to add Hayden to the end of Jedi, the way to do it properly would have been to have started the shot of the three Force ghosts as we’d always known it but then, as Luke watches, have ALL THREE ghosts morph into their younger selves. Obviously Jedi Force ghosts could appear as they wish so why wouldn’t they want to appear as their young powerful selves instead of their final decrepit incarnations? But they’d appear that way initially because that’s how Luke knows them. Then, when they change, it would be clear to Luke that he’s seeing his father and the others as they once were – young and proud – and he could indeed smile!
THEN there would be no discussion whatsoever about whether Ewan and Hayden should appear in the new films! OF COURSE they should! Why wouldn’t Luke continue to commune with them and why wouldn’t they look the way they did when they were young and powerful?
I think Lucas really miscalculated and missed a real opportunity. Not, of course, that it couldn’t be fixed in no time flat. He’s changed it before. He can change it again!
You can complain all you want about the prequels, but you’ve gotta admit – Ewan was a PERFECT casting choice.
Absolutely. Ewan as Obi Wan Kenobi was one of the few things that I felt truly worked in the prequel films.
I’d love to see him get an Obi Wan spin-off film one of these years. And I imagine he probably will. He’s into it, and Obi Wan is such a popular character – can y’all see LucasMouse NOT making that movie?
Wouldn’t mind seeing an Obi-Wan spinoff set in the “dark times” between Episode 3 and 4, with Ewan. I know the passage of time between movies is around 20 years, but would Obi-Wan stay put on Tatooine for 20 frickin years? Surely he did something, before going into “hermit mode”
Look at all the mementos that were hanging on the wall of his home in ANH. He sure didn’t bring those with him when he fled Coruscant.
There was definitely an adventure or three there between the time he dropped Baby Luke off at the Lars farm and the time the Lars’ were killed.
I agree. I can see him wondering the desert like he looks in the mythos statue.
And there has to be a final confrontation with Maul. I know ‘film’ guys just want him dead in Ep1, but canon is canon.
If they play their cards right, a movie like that could become a replacement to the prequels.
I HATE episode 1 and 2 BUT, i will still watch them for the obi wan scenes and the qui gon vs maul duel. Obiwan was the best thing in the prequels and nobody could have been a better fit than Ewan.
“Wankers.” Just remember the idiot said this. Its the biggest problem with the young at the time prequel actors and eventually the ST actors. “I’ve outgrown and too good for this.” Now wheres my Obiwan spinoff trilogu?
He was referring to the people who rudely push aside all others (children included) just to get an autograph they can sell for big bucks.
Exactly.
I’ve seen no evidence that Ewan dislikes Star Wars or Star Wars fans. It’s the autograph vultures that he bitches about.
And I’m not referring to everyone who asks for an autograph either. There are regular old fans like that, and then there are the gimme-gimme-gimme assholes who, as you say, push kids out of the way so they can “get theirs.”
I was helping out with the opening of a small airship history museum out in New Jersey about ten years ago, and one of the guests of honor was the Hindenburg’s former cabin boy, who was at that time in his mid ’80s. He was very gracious, and a lot of folks wanted to meet him, many asked for his autograph, and that was just fine by him.
Then, there were a few people who showed up holding big piles of postcards that they wanted him to sign for them, obviously so they could put them up on Ebay. Didn’t have anything really to say to him or to ask him about, just “Here, sign these.”
We showed these types the door in no uncertain terms.
THAT’S the kind of “wankers” that Ewan was talking about. And I couldn’t agree with him more.
Has anyone commented on the red blade itself yet? It looks coarse and ragged, I’m not sure I like it.
As long as it’s a one-off and it’s given good context in the film, I think it’ll become just as accepted as Darth Maul’s double-bladed one.
Theory is it is either an ancient weapon or one made by someone who doesn’t have training and it is glitchy.
i think the whole point of that blade is gonna be that it was built with limited means, thrown together with what little parts and knowledge the builder had. everyones freaking how lousy the hilt is, hell the user of the blade him/herself may hate it just as much as so many fans have! but had no other alternative to making it work. it needed the raw exhaust “porting” of the energy and the only viable way was out the sides. the roughness of the actual blade itself suggests a crudely constructed saber which may very well turn out to be an interesting aspect to the whole thing. as is typical on the internet, the backlash and overreaction are just totally way overblown. its not a big deal, and we’ll see just why the saber is the way it is.
If you haven’t seen Ewan’s two shows; The Long Way ‘Round and The Long Way Down, you should check them out. They’re about him and his mate taking crazy long motorcycle trips; one around the world and the 2nd from the northern-most part of Scotland down to the southern-most tip of South Africa.
There were a lot of things “bad” with the prequel-trilogy. Ewan’s participation was not one of them. I thought he was great playing a younger Obi-Wan, and the 3rd movie with the wardrobe and all, he seemed to almost be a slightly younger Alec Guiness.
If it’s somehow possible, to work Ewan’s Obi-Wan into the new trilogy, I’m all for it. One idea might be that somehow leaving the “force ghost realm” drains you have some life force, which results in the younger (Ewan) Obi-Wan appearing, rather than the older (Alec) Obi-Wan.
I feel pretty angry about this. Kenobi has been in every film. so obviously he wont be in Episode 7 as a force ghost talking to luke……that is complete bullshit. with todays technology and Ewan being one of the greatest actors ever…they could EASILY have him in there. it makes NO SENSE not to have him as a force ghost. But i bet you anything yoda will…and they are going to make a big fucking deal out of it because frank oz will be back with a real puppet instead of a cgi yoda.. crazy how something so minor would make someone like me not even look forward to this movie now….missing small details like this makes me completely think that this movie is going to be complete bullshit. it is a tradition to have 3P0,R2 and kenobi in every film…..fuck you JJ
Just because Ewan isn’t in the film (Assuming he isn’t messing with us to keep it a surprise) doesn’t mean Obi-Wan isn’t. There are other ways of bringing him in, Chill out.
other ways? like bringing in a 3rd actor to play Obi-wan??? besides that being completely STUPID ,that would be ridiculous and make no sense.
Honestly, just hearing someone mention his name would be good enough for me.
If they were desperate, Peter Serafinowicz does a damn good impression haha.
Think about Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy 🙂
Oh no…
Just…just calm down.
As an OT/EU fan, I feel obligated to remind everyone that when the Star Wars universe was handed to Timothy Zahn in 1991, one of the first things he did was deep-six the force ghost concept.
There’s probably a good reason why.
“You don’t need hilts. If you have a lightsaber, you don’t need a silly hilt.”
Actually, you do. Or else you would be holding onto the blade. ;p
“You don’t need hilts. If you have a lightsaber, you don’t need a silly hilt. Hilts are for– Anyway, I won’t say it.”
I say it. Hilts are for pussies.
Yeah I was thinking of that too and a bit confused! Isn’t lightsaber hilt, a hilt?
IMO the Sith-caliber makes WAY more sense than Darth Maul’s Double-Trouble, it also makes more sense than flinging two seperate lightsabers around like it’s nothing.
No the cross-guard works, just ask this Scandinavian dude : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3MozbQj8tM
Everyday I feel a little less crazy for my opinions on this ‘new’ star wars take away from George’s visions. Thank you Ewan, that was the coolest F’ing thing I heard anyone say during this whole hypetrain.
Imagine if George Lucas filmed additional ‘Force Ghost’ scenes with Alec Guinness whilst ‘Jedi’ was being filmed? He already had a plan in mind for the sequel trilogy so it would make sense to get Alec to film a few bits of dialogue. I for one am hoping that George knew that Alec wouldn’t be around when the sequels got made & so asked him to film new scenes. Now THAT would explain why Ewan has not received a call & it would absolutely blow everyone’s mind if Alec Guinness turned up in Episode 7 talking dialogue that is new and legit.
I’ve actually had that exact fantasy for decades now! I really doubt it but wouldn’t be awesome?
Ewan really deserves to be in a Star Wars movie again, he was the best thing of the prequels. His potrayal of Obi-Wan, so good!
We need an Obi spin-off with Ewan in the role of it!
i think the whole point of that blade is gonna be that it was built with limited means, thrown together with what little parts and knowledge the builder had. everyones freaking how lousy the hilt is, hell the user of the blade him/herself may hate it just as much as so many fans have! but had no other alternative to making it work. it needed the raw exhaust “porting” of the energy and the only viable way was out the sides. the roughness of the actual blade itself suggests a crudely constructed saber which may very well turn out to be an interesting aspect to the whole thing. as is typical on the internet, the backlash and overreaction are just totally way overblown. its not a big deal, and we’ll see just why the saber is the way it is.
The article’s transcription is a bit off.
McGreagor: “…and i saw the hilts come out and I went ogh…”
Interiewer: “Done! I’m there! Right?
McGreagor: “that’s…nonono… I went ‘ogh you don’t need hilts!’ …”
Hilts on lightsabers?!
Now I’m definitely not going to see some movie where they put hilts on lightsabers! I can’t believe they would do such an outrageous thing. Fuck the Force Awakens!
It’s amazing that Ewan still hasn’t moved past SW all these years later. Move on. Do something better than wait by the phone, dude.
He constantly makes new films.
He was literally in 31 different movies since Star wars.
So comments like yours are stupid.
Ewan’s never getting a call because Disney has clearly made the decision to disregard everything related to the PT.
All PT elements have been totally discarded and are now in the proverbial trashcan.
Never to be seen or heard from again.
Stop troling!!!
Your wishes will never become a reality.
Any proof of that?!
I am a little concerned about the hilt what happens if your turning it on and your hand is to close…that would be a problem
What a douche. Yet amazingly Disney hired Gary Whitta for whatever reason. He edits his old posts online hating on the special editions and prequels, yet no one seemed to care.
I feel a disturbance in the force….jealousy! I like my fellow scotsman but here he’s just being a fanny. Man up and accept you ain’t getting a call or even a cameo! Such is life.
OBI-WAN standalone MOVIE would be great! He is my favorite Jedi Knight!
Im glad Ewan has some good sense about him.
I have no time or respect for this man after what he said about fans.
He’s an arsehole.
McGreagor for fvcking president, I say!
There, Qui Gon and Obi Wan hate hilts.
Hi My Name Is Ewan. I am a middle aged man who thinks he is Obi Wan Kenobi. I have nothing else to say.