McGregor tells why he fell out with movie team
Ewan McGregor says he has not spoken to the film team which made him a major star after they snubbed him for the starring role in The Beach.
McGregor was hurt they passed him over for Leonardo DiCaprio to make the big budget adaptation of Alex Garland's best-selling book.
The actor admits in an interview to be screened by FilmFour that there was now a rift between him and the director, Danny Boyle, and adds: "It was badly handled."
Boyle, producer Andrew McDonald and writer John Hodge were behind many of the films which helped McGregor to become a household name such as Shallow Grave and Trainspotting.
They also cast him as the lead when they headed to Hollywood for their big budget A Life Less Ordinary.
Although he was widely expected to star in The Beach, the film-makers opted for DiCaprio as it was thought that a name which would appeal to the US market was needed to head the cast. DiCaprio was still a red-hot property from Titanic.
"As a result we've not seen each other since," McGregor said in the interview with broadcaster and writer Mark Kermode for FilmFour.
"It was very badly dealt with, and not about the film. You know, the film was almost irrelevant; it was a friendship issue and all of those things. It was very unfortunate and so I don't see any of them anymore and that's a shame."
Since being overlooked for The Beach, McGregor has starred in a number of major hits such as Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down and the lavish Baz Luhrmann hit Moulin Rouge, opposite Nicole Kidman.
His FilmFour interview, to be screened on Saturday at 9pm, is part of a season of British movie hits this month.
