Ewan McGregor: Obi-Wan Kenobi would not survive in 1980s Leith

Ewan McGregor, who played both of the iconic roles has finally answered the question - and no, Obi-Wan Kenobi would not survive on the streets of Leith.

The Hollywood actor was ‘in conversation’ with Alan Cumming at Pitlochry Festival Theatre when he made the remarks.

He also shared that he will start filming a new documentary next month which will see him sailing from Oban across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro.

Next year Ewan McGregor will also join Alan Cumming on stage in Pitlochry for the Scottish stage premier of the play ‘Supernova’, which was announced just hours before the pair took to the stage at the theatre in the hills.

An audience member asked if Renton and Obi-Wan Kenobi switched places for one day, who would survive longer in the other’s universe.

“I think Rent Boy would be fine in space, in a galaxy far away, wouldn’t he?” he said.

“He would wheedle his way and be fine.

“But I don’t know about [Obi-Wan Kenobi] in Leith in the 80s though. So Renton would win that one.”

McGregor also said he wants to find out what happens next to Obi-Wan Kenobi after his character’s TV show.

He said: “I’d like to do what happens next. I wasn’t frustrated in any way with the story that we told because I loved it, but I’m really interested in what happens next.

“At the end he accepts he can’t just sit looking over Luke, he’s got to allow Luke to have a childhood. So he goes off and we know we find him as Alec Guinness, but what happens in between?

“I know there’s a story there with Obi-Wan and I’ve got a feeling I want it to be about him reaching out to Yoda.

“That’s the story that I think I could tell.”

The Crieff-born actor also revealed he has some Star War props, including his lightsaber from Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

“I don’t want to get the props master into any trouble because they took that very seriously after an R2D2 was stolen off the set,” he joked.

“Butthe props master did make me a little Episode I - The Phantom Menace lightsaber, but I don’t know where it is! It must be somewhere, in an old storage unit.

“That’s what I tell Anakin not to do, not to lose his lightsaber!

“Also there’s a moment in the TV series where I go into the sand and dig up a box, and there is mine and Anakin’s lightsabers, and I’ve got that box.

“But if anyone tries to find it in my house, it’s not in my house.”

He also recounted the differences between using the lightsaber props in the films compared to what was used in the TV series - and why he prefers the metal props from the films.

“When we did the lightsaber fights, they were metal tubes with no colour or anything on them, and after every take, especially between me and Hayden [Christensen], we would be going at each other so hard that our lightsabers were all bent, almost in a U-shape sometimes.

“There was a guy who just stood in the corner remaking all the lightsabers for us.

“When we did the series we used plastic lightsabers which actually had the light in them, but the only problem for me is they’re a little bit bouncy for my liking.

“I like my heavy contact, so I don’t like the bouncy ones so much.”

Before McGregor takes to the Pitlochry Festival Theatre stage again, he will be filming a brand new sailing documentary with his childhood friend Eric Strickland.

The pair are getting ready to take on an epic sailing journey from the west coast of Scotland all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil.

He will begin the journey at the end of August.

He said: “I’m going to sail from Oban to Rio de Janeiro. My longest friend in the world, who I grew up with, is a sailor and I’m not, but he inherited a boat from his father.

“But during the lockdown it got flooded because nobody was allowed to use it and all the woodwork got damaged and the interior was ruined.

“He was telling me about it and I flippantly said ‘we should do up the boat and sail it across the Atlantic’, and his eyes lit up.

“We started looking into it and in the end we couldn't do it on Eric’s dad’s boat because it was going to cost so much money and no one wants to watch two middle-aged guys spending a load of money.

“So we bought a 1988 55-foot oyster boat for £1 and it just sailed out of Southampton.

“So yeah, the next trip is to Rio, Oban to Rio, which has a good ring to it.

“I thought it was only going to take 10 days or something, but it’s going to be like two months.”

He said he is “obsessed” with the story of Donald Crowhurst, who attempted to come first in a sailing race around the world, but ended up committing suicide after trying to cheat. The story has since been made into a film starring Colin Firth.

However, he is hoping his own sailing journey has a happier ending than the tale of Donald Crowhurst.