With director Lasse Hallstrom's Salmon Fishing in the Yemen opening today in limited release, earlier this week the cast was in Los Angeles and I was able to land an exclusive interview with Ewan McGregor.   Since I knew we were going to run a roundtable interview with McGregor and Emily Blunt that covered all the usual stuff, when I sat down for my interview I decided to ask a lot of fan questions that were sent to me on Twitter.During the interview (which McGregor let me film on my flip cam) we talked about HBO's series The Corrections (he just filmed the pilot and if it gets picked up it'll be the first TV show he's ever done), what drew him to Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and how it sets itself apart from average romantic comedy fare, and Twitter (which I think I convinced him to sign up for).  In addition, thanks to my followers on Twitter, I asked him if he will do a Broadway musical in the near future, if he would be willing to play a James Bond villain, if he'll work with Danny Boyle again, whether or not there's a comic book character that he would like to play, and what's up with the release date of Jack the Giant Killer.  Hit the jump to watch.salmon-fishing-in-the-yemen-ewan-mcgregor-emily-bluntEwan McGregor Time Index

  • :12 Says he just got back from filming the pilot for the HBO series The Corrections in New York with director Noah Baumbach. Talks about the cast and quality of writing.
  • 1:28 Talks about the difficulty of getting intimate character dramas off the ground in the current economic climate. Says that’s what drew him to The Corrections.
  • 2:13 Says he had some hesitations about committing to a television series, but says his fears were alleviated when he sat down with Baumbach, Jonathan Franzen, and producer Scott Rudin. Their plan is to adapt Franzen’s book into four seasons.
  • 3:16 Talks about what drew him to Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and describes the plot and trajectory of his character.
  • 5:05 Talks about the complexity of the love story in the film and how it sets itself apart from average romantic comedy fare.
  • 5:55 Asks Steve if he should have a Twitter and what he should use it for.
  • 7:05 Will he be doing a Broadway musical anytime soon? Says it’s a long commitment and it’s very hard work, but he’d love to do another musical movie:  “I’d love to do another musical movie. I’d love to do another film with music, because I think it’s very effective. If you say ‘I love you’ to someone onscreen it can be very powerful, but if you sing it it can be really powerful. I’d love to do more of that.”
  • 7:45 Is he working with Danny Boyle anytime soon? Says they don’t have anything planned.
  • 7:59 Would he be willing to play a Bond villain? Says he doesn’t really have interest in playing a two-dimensional villain, he likes playing villains who don’t think they’re villains.
  • 9:23 Is there a comic book character that he would like to play? Says there are two Scottish comic strips from The Sunday Post that he likes, one called Oor Willy and one called The Broons.
  • 10:19 Talks about the release date shift for Jack the Giant Killer: “I can only assume that there’s a great deal of post-production on it because all the giants are computer generated. They were motion-captured with real actors, Bill Nighy plays the head of the giants who’s a fantastic actor. So maybe they got behind on that? I think they were doing some reshoots not involving me, but I don’t know. I can only assume it’s ‘cause it wasn’t ready yet (laughs).”

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