Ewan McGregor has warmed his way into the hearts of movie audiences for the better part of two decades (most recently in Miles Ahead). The actor had long desired to make the leap to feature film director, but truly needed it to be the right project. He could not have chosen a more challenge tale than the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Phillip Roth, American Pastoral! Oh, and he also wanted to star in the film as The Swede, the main character whose family dynamics are thrown into a political and social bonfire during the 1960s.
Things started well for the first time helmer when the author let it be known that the screenplay had his blessing. “I’m glad he liked it, but I still would be a little uncomfortable discussing it with him. I would have felt a great sense of failure if he had not like it,” McGregor told The Movie Mensch at a recent press day for the film.
When the Scotland native finished his last edits, he reported that he was beyond proud of the work and more than ready to send his artistic baby into the world. “Of course in the final analysis it was my interpretation of his novel — yet at the same time, I wanted it to reflect his novel and have a certain Roth-iness to it.”
The 1960s is a turbulent time in America, as so many of us know from the history books and many a Hollywood movie and American novel that has tacked this era. There is something so incredibly rich about what happened to the country when this post-World War II ideals ran smack into the societal revolution that was occurring across the American landscape.
“[It’s] this extraordinary time in American history when this generation and their children’s generation collide in this spectacular way,” McGregor said. “It was such a tough time. There was such an incredible amount of bombings that went on at that time. I had no idea. I knew about Vietnam and the politics affected by Vietnam in the U.S. I also had a strong sense of America in the ’50s — the post-war America when America had won the war and anything was possible. But the bombings in the U.S. took me by surprise.
Many who see American Pastoral will be as shocked as McGregor was when he learned more and more about the reality of that time.
“We found this incredible piece of footage where the newscaster is going, ‘Between May of last year and June of this year, there have been over 4,000 bombings in the United States of America,’’ he reported. “I was gob smacked! Over 4,000 bombings! I have always assumed that 9/11 was the first attack on American soil. But here we have so many bombings going off. [It was] quite the revelation for me.”
The story of a father who had it all and did everything he could to raise a daughter that was more than ready to head out in the world resonated with McGregor. His character’s daughter (played by Dakota Fanning) rejects everything he and her mother (portrayed by Jennifer Connolly) has taught her and gets involved in the violent revolutionary movement seeking to end the Vietnam War.
McGregor has four daughters and even though what happens to The Swede is a nightmare, he could put himself in the position to tell this story, from the point of the lead actor experiencing it and the director telling the vast scope of this story.
“I know absolutely what that relationship’s like and what it’s about. When I read the script for the first time, it broke my heart because of that — because I know how you feel about your girls as a dad. But in a way, although this is about a very extreme loss, I can relate it to my eldest, Clara, who’s 20, going away to college. I can relate it to her not being in the house when I wake up in the morning anymore. She’s not in the house in the morning at breakfast. So I was thinking about that, I guess, when I first read the script, which also was why I was so attached to it and why it drew me into this so hard. I didn’t think to not be in it when I became the director. No one can play this part like me!” he said, then laughed.
So, what was that audition process like for the lead role, Mr. Director? “I was really tough on myself. The casting couch was very interesting. Somewhat of a solo affair,” McGregor said and laughed.
“I wanted to direct for so long, and the planets sort of lined up to give me this opportunity. What grabbed me about the story initially was the relationship between the father and his daughter. I’m a dad of four girls, so I know very much about that relationship and how powerful it is and special and unique it is.”