Star Wars: Ewan McGregor Reflects on His Struggles Shooting the Prequels

As anyone who has seen any behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the Star Wars prequels could tell you, few actors involved in the productions were as excited to be there as Ewan McGregor, though the actor recently admitted that he did struggle with the projects at times, as the embrace of green-screen technology and the ostentatious script made for a challenging experience. That didn’t hamper the actor’s excitement to return to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, of course, with the actor going on to detail how technology has advanced to such a degree that filming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi will feel drastically different.

“George [Lucas] loves technology and loves pushing into that realm,” McGregor explained to The Hollywood Reporter. “He wanted more and more control over what we see in the background.”

While the original trilogy had its fair share of absurd dialogue, when Lucas embraced that otherworldly manner of speaking for the prequels, fans weren’t the only ones who had a tougher time buying into the fantastical tone.

“After three or four months of that, it just gets really tedious — especially when the scenes are … I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare,” McGregor confessed. “There’s not something to dig into in the dialogue that can satisfy you when there’s no environment there. It was quite hard to do.”

Hokey dialogue is certainly a trend in the franchise, with its tendencies to push visual effects technology to new heights being another expected element. The sets on the original trilogy were largely practical, while the stages for the prequel trilogy featured heaping helpings of green screen, but The Mandalorian resulted in the development of a way to harmoniously blend both approaches. The series utilizes practical objects for the cast to directly interact with, as an immersive LED screen surrounds nearly the entire set, projecting lifelike images of intergalactic locales. This process will also be utilized for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

“They project [the virtual backgrounds] onto this massive LED screen. So if you’re in a desert, you’re standing in the middle of a desert,” the actor expressed of the process. “If you’re in the snow, you’re surrounded by snow. And if you’re in a cockpit of a starfighter, you’re in space. It’s going to feel so much more real.”

Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi is expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!