Uncovering the truth

MANILA, Philippines - Ewan McGregor (Angels & Demons, Star Wars trilogy, Moulin Rouge) portrays a successful British ghostwriter who stumbles upon a shocking truth while writing his latest project in Oscar-winner Roman Polanski’s searing mystery thriller The Ghost Writer.

Winner of the Best Director Prize at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival, The Ghost Writer will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4 and Greenbelt 3) starting Aug. 4.

In the film, when the mysterious writer named only as The Ghost (McGregor) agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start — not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident.

Ewan talks about the intriguing film in the following interview:

When you first were offered The Ghost Writer, were you familiar with the novel?

“I read the novel after I read the script. When you get an offer from Roman (Polanski), that’s one of your better days and I liked it so much, I read the book. I saw the character of The Ghost really clearly when I read him in the script and I knew that Roman had written the script with (novelist) Robert Harris so I knew that they’d been involved in that together. So I trusted that it was the adaptation that they both wanted. In a way, that’s perfect. You might not even bother with the book.”

Were you tempted to not read it to avoid subconsciously cribbing from the book?

“I have done that in the past where reading the book is just not that helpful, but I spoke to Robert about the way I wanted to play him. I would have just played him with my (Scottish) accent but Robert didn’t want him to be from Scotland because of the reference to (Prime Minister Adam) Lang’s family being Scottish. I still don’t think it would have made much difference, but he didn’t want that. But once I’d read the script, I had him in my head so I suppose that’s who I saw when I read the book. I was just seeing the same guy.”

You were quoted as saying that Polanski is always giving actors interesting notes on their performances. What did you learn from him in this regard?

“He’s always pushing you. The first scene we shot on the first day lasted 22 hours. Just on and on and on. Whenever there’s a new set or new location or new actor, it would take Roman a little while to warm up and get it in his head how we were going to shoot it. He said to Tim (Preece, who plays Roy) about one line, “When you say that line, be a little moved” and nobody quite knew what he meant. Sometimes you think with Polanski it’s just a whim — just what’s flitted through his head — but it was a genius note. I just found he was always pushing to find the truth.