Ewan McGregor
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio Breathes New Life Into the Classic Fable: Review
The Pitch: 2022 has really seemed like The Year of Pinocchio. While the original 1883 Italian novel by Carlo Collodi has had its fair share of adaptations over the years (from classic Disney delights to, well, Pauly Shore in middle-aged twink mode), this year saw new takes on the material from two of cinema’s most acclaimed directors. But where Robert Zemeckis’ retelling felt morbid and soulless, master of the macabre Guillermo del Toro returns to gift us with a version that hits the classic beats of the fable, while slotting it handily into the concerns and aesthetics the director has pursued his entire career. The lumber is the same, but the construction is quite different: Pinocchio (the cherubic Gregory Mann) is still the wooden boy whittled into existence by old carpenter Geppett...
Ewan McGregor to Star In Showtime’s A Gentleman in Moscow
Ewan McGregor is headed to Russia, kind of. The actor is set to star in Showtime’s upcoming drama series A Gentleman in Moscow, currently slated for a 2023 release date. Based on Amor Towles’ 2016 novel of the same name, A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov (McGregor), an aristocrat whose gilded background has inadvertently put him on the wrong side of history in Stalin-era Soviet conflicts. Rostov is banished in the lavish Hotel Metropol, where he risks being murdered if he ever sets foot outside again. He spends the next several years in the hotel as some of Russia’s most turbulent years pass, learning a thing or two about friendship, family, and love while there. “It’s an amazing, wonderful story and I am very excited to get to play such a fabulous role,” McGre...
Pinocchio Comes to Stop-Motion Life in Trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s New Film: Watch
Netflix has cut loose the first trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the auteur’s new stop-motion adaptation of the classic tail. Directed by del Toro alongside Mark Gustafson from a script by the former with Matthew Robbins (Crimson Peak), the movie marks del Toro’s first feature-length animated movie. He’d been trying to get the project financed since 2010, and fans of Hellboy II: The Golden Army know stop-motion has been a passion of the filmmaker for some time. It finally all came together when Netflix revived the film in 2018, and now we get to see the fruits of del Toro’s labor of love. As the first trailer shows, del Toro’s Pinocchio sees Sebastian J. Cricket (Ewan McGregor) narrating the tall about “imperfect fathers and imperfect sons, about loss and love.” I...
The Obi-Wan Kenobi Finale Pushed Our Exhaustion With Prequels to the Limit
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Part VI.”] Sure, it’s a metaphysical impossibility in the real world (for anyone outside of an X-Files episode), but it’s still a good thing that none of us know for certain how our friends and family are going to die. It’s the kind of knowledge that would hang over every interaction, make us wonder if every decision they make is one which will bring them ever closer to their ultimate fate — it’d be hard to connect with your friends and family, if you knew how they were all going to die. It might make it hard for you to care about what happens to them. Which brings us to the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, an action-packed hour of television where all of its major climaxes had, for a Star Wars fa...
Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer on Reviving Vader and Leia For the Disney+ Series
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3.] The morning after the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered on Disney+, writer and executive producer Joby Harold went to Disneyland with his kids. “We were at Rise of the Resistance, doing the Star Wars Disney of it… Please click the link below to read the full article. Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer on Reviving Vader and Leia For the Disney+ Series Liz Shannon Miller [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=...
Moses Ingram Responds to Hateful Comments After Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiere
In a galaxy not so far, far away, Moses Ingram is boldly speaking out in the wake of hateful and racist comments made at her expense since the premiere of Obi-Wan Kenobi. In a series of videos posted to her Instagram story, the actress — who plays Reva, aka Third Sister — defended herself against Star Wars fans who’ve called her a “diversity hire,” “loser,” and other hate-filled snubs. “Long story short, there are hundreds of those,” Ingram said, referring to the racist comments. “Hundreds. And I also see those of you out there who put on a cape for me, and that really does mean the world to me, because there’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate, and so I question what my purpose is in even being here in front of you saying that this is...
The Emperor Hunts Jedi in First Teaser Trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi: Watch
The Jedi Order has been destroyed, Darth Sidious reigns as Emperor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is forced into hiding in the first teaser trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The hottest new destination in that galaxy far, far away comes to Disney+ May 25th. Obi-Wan Kenobi is set between the events of the Star Wars movies Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, when Luke Skywalker is just a boy, and his father Anakin Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) is filling the galaxy with terror. “The fight is done,” Kenobi sighs in the teaser. “We lost.” But just because he’s been beaten, that doesn’t mean he’s safe. As seen in the Star Wars: Rebels animated series, the Emperor has founded the Inquisitorius, an organization of force-sensitive hunters who track do...
Disney+ Sets Release Date for Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Starring Ewan McGregor
Disney+ has set a release date for its highly-anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series. Starring Ewan McGregor as the titular Jedi Master, the series will premiere on May 25th. The story begins ten years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, according to a logline provided by Disney. Alongside McGregor, Hayden Christensen will reprise his role as Darth Vader. The cast also includes Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse as Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, as well as Moses Ingram, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie. Advertisement Related Video Disney initially previewed Obi-Wan Kenobi by sharing a sizzle reel with production art during its Disney+ Day virtual presentation in November. A full-length tra...
Emmy Awards 2021: Ted Lasso, The Crown & The Queen’s Gambit Among Big Winners
The 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards took place on Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Now in its 73rd year, the annual ceremony honored the best in US primetime television. Cedric the Entertainer, one of the Original Kings of Comedy, served as the evening’s host. Unlike last year’s awkward digital presentation, this year’s Emmy Awards took place live and in person. All attendees were required not only to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19, but also a negative COVID test received within two days of the event. Among the night’s big winners was Ted Lasso, which claimed the prize for Outstanding Comedy Series. What’s more, Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis, was honored with the trophy for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, while Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingh...
Disney Announces Cast for Obi-Wan Kenobi Series
Disney has been working on an original solo adventure for Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi for nearly five years now. Today, we know exactly who will be part of that story, as Disney+ has unveiled the cast for the spinoff Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series — and it’s even more stacked than expected. As previously announced, Ewan McGregor will return as the legendary Jedi Master for the show set 10 years after the end of Revenge of the Sith. Meanwhile, fan-favorite Hayden Christensen will also return as Darth Vader, giving him the chance to fully embody the iconic villain after playing Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy. Joining them in the cast will be longtime Star Wars fan Kumail Nanjiani; Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse, returning to play Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru from the p...
The Accent Police Were Vigilant in 2020
Our Annual Report continues today with a look back on the year’s curious run of accents in film and television. Stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles in the days and weeks to come about the best music, film, and TV of the year. If you’ve missed any part of our Annual Report, you can check out all the coverage here. Watching John Patrick Shanley’s new movie Wild Mountain Thyme is, in many ways, a picturesque experience. It’s set in the Irish countryside, and stars Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan, two very attractive people. But as I watched a very odd man played by Dornan buzz around his romantic feelings for a very charming woman played by Blunt, something began to nag at me. Somewhere in the distance, outside the movie itself, I heard sirens. I could tell that the Accent...
