Ewan McGregor plays Count Alexander Rostov in ‘A Gentleman of Moscow’
From Trainspotting to Star Wars, Ewan McGregor is a man with a career that spans the galaxy.
But his latest role takes him back in time.
Almost unrecognizable with his huge mustache and menacing curls, he stars as Count Alexander Rostov in Paramount Plus’ new series “A Gentleman of Moscow.”
We enter a glossy period piece in Moscow in 1921, four years after the Russian Revolution.
Nobles in this country face summary trials and executions. But Rostov, known to his friends as Sasha, escaped death because he wrote a poem that supposedly inspired revolutionaries.
He was placed under indefinite house arrest at Moscow’s Grand Hotel Metropol, where he would spend the next 32 years in the attic under threat of death if he stepped outside.
The series is an adaptation of Amor Thors’ 2016 bestseller from showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone, who also worked on The Last Kingdom.
‘Hospitality’
The film is directed by Sam Miller, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for “I May Destroy You.”
“This novel is a feast,” McGregor said. “And that gave me everything I needed to know about how to play him.”
As the story progressed over three decades, the actors also aged accordingly. And as the years passed, he was surprised that in his appearance appeared the face of his grandfather.
The series spanned 30 years, and as McGregor grew older, he became more like his grandfather.
“As he got older, my hair fell further back, my mustache narrowed, and I kind of became my grandfather, Laurie Lawson.”
Lawrence Lawson was a jeweler in McGregor’s hometown of Crieff, Perthshire.
He moved to Glasgow after studying the trade there, and at one point was responsible for making sure the town’s clock was keeping the correct time.
He also kept the town clock running. He died in 1981 at the age of 63.
“The people of Cliff will remember him,” McGregor said.
“I started to look a lot like him in this movie. When I was the oldest to play the Count, I looked in the mirror towards the end of filming and felt like I really looked like him.”
image source, Getty Images
Ewan McGregor co-stars with wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead
The work had multiple family connections.
McGregor co-stars with his wife, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Winstead played the Count’s girlfriend Anna Urbanova, a role that reflected the lovey-dovey nature of the two.
“Going to work with her is the best thing in the world because I love being with her so much,” McGregor said.
“Sometimes I had to get up really early and I’d get in the car at 4:30 in the morning and we’d just sit there holding hands on the way to work and it was just so lovely.
“We’re going to spend all day playing these amazing characters.”
The two met on the set of the TV series Fargo, married in 2020, and have a son together.
“We met when we were working together and we were always very instinctive actors.
“When we met for series three of Fargo, we were supposed to do an important scene and we just did it straight away, without discussing it.
“We are ready. There is something not strange about us working together.”
McGregor’s wife Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Anna Urbanova
The new show isn’t the movie star’s first TV series.
As well as Fargo, the actor recently appeared in three Star Wars prequels since 1999 and will play Star Wars stalwart Obi-Wan Kenobi for the first time in nearly 20 years in the self-titled Disney+ TV series. was replayed.
Gentlemen in Moscow opens on Friday, March 29th on Paramount Plus.
Watch the full interview with Ewan McGregor on The Edit on Saturdays at 7.15pm on BBC Scotland Channel.
