NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > EWAN MCGREGOR TAKING SCRIPT READING LESSONS

EWAN MCGREGOR TAKING SCRIPT READING LESSONS

August 24 2009

London, U.K. – Throughout its history Scotland has produced many important and famous people. Arthur Conan Doyle, Walter Scott, Alexander Fleming, Alexander Graham Bell, and of course Sean Connery are just some of the luminaries the nation boasts. Because of its long and venerable history Scotland’s contribution to the world has been amongst the most important and affecting of any nation. Because of that history many Scots have had a hard time living up to their lineage though that hasn’t stopped people from trying.

Amongst the people who have tried is actor Ewan McGregor who burst onto the scene in 1996 with an arresting performance in the critically acclaimed cult classic ‘Trainspotting’. Since that performance McGregor has gone on to be one of the best known and most successful actors to ever come from his homeland. Roles in the ‘Star Wars’ prequels and other blockbusters such as ‘Black Hawk Down’ and this summer’s ‘Angels & Demons’ have made him a familiar face for moviegoers, further solidifying his place in movie history. It has been those roles, though, as well as a handful of other questionable choices that has been the one criticism of the actor, but now he’s making an effort to change that perception.

“I’ve really taken a lot of that talk to heart in recent years honestly. As I get older I’ve gained real perspective on my career and the choices I have made in it, both good and bad. There are certain pictures that I am very proud to have been a part of and others that I fully realize aren’t all that great and I want to change that,” said McGregor. “I’ve been working with a reading coach lately and basically he has deconstructed the way I’ve been reading and we are working to rebuild the way I read. What I began to realize is that I was reading these scripts that I was receiving in a totally different way from the way other people read them and that was causing me to make poor decisions. Believe it or not I actually thought things like ‘The Island’ and ‘Eye of the Beholder’ were good scripts but I realize now that they weren’t, it was just how I was reading them.”

McGregor did say that his reading issues did not extend to other areas of day-to-day reading but did say that he can no longer appreciate V.C. Andrews novels in the same way any longer.

“The notion that one person’s garbage is another’s gold has long proven to be true but often that discrepancy has been an issue of filter. Everyone views the world in
their own way, through their own experiences and nature and that can cause perceptions to be varying, sometimes wildly,” said Scrape TV Psychology analyst Dr. Sarah Welp. “Taste and perception though can be affected by ancillary factors that don’t necessarily show themselves. Psychological and physical impairments can have a much greater effect on the way people perceive the world and the things within them. That can lead to the things we call bad taste but unfortunately the affected person doesn’t understand that perception and often can’t understand how to change things to better their world.”

It’s not immediately clear how McGregor was able to choose his career defining role in ‘Trainspotting’ but it is believed that he would be able to choose a similar role in terms of quality without significant help.

“The real problem is that after a certain age many people stop developing and thus fall into a rut. When it comes to perception and reality issues most people are likely to fall further into their behaviour as they advance in age and that ends up causing more problems. Luckily for McGregor he has able to uncover what was happening and can work towards fixing it,” continued Welp. “There are of course other factors that can lead to a remission of sorts. Habit is a very affecting part of the human condition and can push people into bad behaviour. Any successful recovery has to keep a great deal of attention on that or he may end up working with Michael Bay or George Lucas again.”

John Travolta and Ray Liotta are reportedly also working with the same therapist on McGregor’s advice.

Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent

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