Ewan McGregor rose to fame with his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. However, McGregor first gained recognition three years before, for his performance in the cult-hit Danny Boyle-directed 1996 film Trainspotting.
The film follows a group of heroin addicts hailing from an economically depressed area of Scotland. In the film, McGregor played one of the addicts. Therefore, he had to drastically reduce his weight to prepare for the part.
As a result, McGregor decided to go full-method with his preparation, going to extreme lengths for his weight loss. Moreover, he also took an interest in the lifestyle of people struggling with addiction to prepare for the movie, and here is what he had to say about the process.
Ewan McGregor went full method to lose weight for Trainspotting
Ewan McGregor appeared as Mark “Rent Boy” Renton in the 1996 black comedy drama Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle. In the film, McGregor played the role of an addict and underwent a dramatic body transformation to look the part.
During an interview with GQ, McGregor admitted to going full method for the movie, which was one of his first major film roles. McGregor had to achieve an extremely lean and skinny physique for the role and adhered to an extremely strict diet.
I grilled everything, stopped drinking beer, drank lots of gin instead and the weight just fucking fell off!
McGregor made the above statement, explaining how he underwent a dramatic weight loss for the role.
Furthermore, the Star Wars prequel trilogy actor felt that the weight loss was necessary since his character was a heroin addict. At the same time, McGregor borrowed his character’s stooped posture from a guy he had seen in Luxembourg.
Ewan McGregor almost tried heroin to prepare for Trainspotting
From McGregor’s comments, it is evident that the actor left no stone unturned and fully adopted the method acting school of thought to prepare for the part. However, arguably the greatest step McGregor took in this process was learning to cook heroin.
During a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McGregor admitted that he seriously considered doing heroin while preparing for the role of Mark “Rent Boy” Renton in the Danny Boyle-directed film.
I did actually think about trying heroin. At first, early on, I thought: how can you play a heroin addict without having taken it?
McGregor made the above statement, attributing his curiosity about the drug to his young mind, but quickly changed his mind after meeting real addicts in Glasgow.
Ultimately, McGregor made the wise decision of not trying the drug himself as he felt it would be disrespectful to the actual people struggling with addiction. Moreover, McGregor’s efforts paid off as the film grossed nearly $72 million (via The Numbers) and won the actor several accolades.
Trainspotting can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
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