Ewan McGregor, Bryan Singer talk ‘Jack the Giant Slayer’ Watch TV spots
Ewan McGregor will be in another big budget film with Bryan Singer’s “Jack the Giant Slayer” and Hitfix caught up with the actor about his role.
“He is the leader of the Guardians. He’s in charge of them, and that was fun to play. I haven’t done that before, playing the top military guy. I have done a military film before, but it was fun to be in charge.”
McGregor plays Elmont, but the “Star Wars” star was skeptical of the fairy tale adaptation.
“I liked the script. I was sent the script and I was probably a little dubious about it, to be honest. I didn’t know quite what I thought about trying to retell a classic fairytale. I kind of approached the script feeling a bit like, “Well, I’m not going to like this.” But I did! I really liked the script. I liked the humor in the script. The characters in it were strong. In a film that’s this technologically based, I think that’s really important that you have clear and well-identifiable characters. I felt that that was the case.”
Director Bryan Singer brought in Christopher McQuarrie, who worked with Singer on “The Usual Suspects,” to do the rewrite on the script.
“Chris McQuarrie did a significant re-write for me. He brought a different structure. It was very much a page-one situation; a different storyline. It involved the same characters, but some we juggled around and switched around. He just brought a very different perspective.”
One of the keys to the tale is finding the right Jack and Singer chose “Warm Bodies” star Nicholas Hoult.
“I met with a lot of people – a lot of people came in – and ultimately decided that he was right for the role. I’ve liked him since `Skins’ and I was very supportive of his casting in `X-Men: First Class.’ He did a great job on that film, and I just really like him as an actor. He is a very charming, sweet guy. And he’s just tall [laughs]. That’s the one thing, he’s just tall, and when you’re making a movie about giants, you tend to want to cast shorter guys, but he’s a terrific actor.”
The film also stars Bill Nighy, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane and Eleanor Tomlinson.
Jack the Giant Slayer opens March 1, 2013.