THE SPIRIT OF Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi looms large over the original Star Wars trilogy —literally, since he’s a Force ghost for most of it. So when Ewan McGregor was cast to play the younger Obi-Wan in the prequels, the pressure was on. “Everybody felt the importance of it,” he reflects now, in-between takes on upcoming drama series A Gentleman In Moscow. After a quick, “Hello there,” we asked him to revisit four of young Kenobi’s most memorable moments.
THE MAUL BRAWL
THE PHANTOM MENACE
Obi-Wan takes on Darth Maul (Ray Park) in The Phantom Menace
The ‘Duel Of The Fates’ sequence has gone down in Star Wars legend —Jedi Master Qui- Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi facing off against Darth Maul (Ray Park) and his double-bladed lightsaber. After Qui- Gon is taken out by Maul, it all comes down to Obi-Wan. “With Ray it’s like playing tennis,” recalls McGregor of the fight. “A poor tennis player versus a good tennis player! He’s an athlete and a martial artist. He upped my game. Because we were both super-young, and he was so good, it went on fire —the nature of one-against-one meant that we could really, really go for it.” They were, if anything, a little too enthusiastic. “We shot on film, and they over-cranked the camera slightly to slow us down, because we were going so fast. They were worried that people would think we’d been sped up.” After vanquishing Maul, Obi-Wan cradles the dying Qui- Gon in his arms —a pivotal point in the prequels. “There are moments in any script that become like little pinnacles, that there’s an expectation that you hit emotionally. And that was one of them,” says McGregor. “I was so fond of Liam. He’s such a generous and wonderful man —playing it was super-easy, because he was right in the moment with me, and I was in there with him.”