'I thought how can you play a heroin addict without taking it?': Ewan McGregor reveals he considered smoking class A drug before shooting 1996's Trainspotting - but changed his mind after meeting real addicts

By Geraint Llewellyn For Mailonline

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Ewan McGregor has revealed he considered smoking heroin before shooting 1996's Trainspotting, where he played Glasgow drug addict Mark Renton. 

Speaking to the Smart-Less podcast the Obi Wan-Kenobi star, 51, said as a young actor didn't think he could play the character without ever trying the illegal substance. 

However after meeting real addicts in the Scottish town where the movie was filmed he soon changed his mind and didn't want his actions to be 'disrespectful' to his colleague. 

'I thought how can you play a heroin addict without taking it?': Ewan McGregor reveals he considered smoking drugs before shooting 1996's Trainspotting - but changed his mind after meeting real addicts

'I thought how can you play a heroin addict without taking it?': Ewan McGregor reveals he considered smoking drugs before shooting 1996's Trainspotting - but changed his mind after meeting real addicts

Ewan, who returned to the role in the film's 2017 sequel, said:  'At first, early on, I thought, 'How can you play a heroin addict without having taken it? I was young and I thought, f*** it, just do it'.

'I didn't do heroin and I've never done it but I did think about it. It did cross my mind and I did say to Danny [Boyle the movie's director]  'Do you think we should do it?'.

'I thought I'd do it with Danny I just wanted to get f***ed up with Danny'. 

Renton: However after meeting real addicts in the Scottish town where the movie was filmed, and seeing the detrimental effects of drugs he soon changed his mind (pictured in the movie)

Renton: However after meeting real addicts in the Scottish town where the movie was filmed, and seeing the detrimental effects of drugs he soon changed his mind (pictured in the movie)

However he went on to say: 'But we didn't. Because, of course, as soon as we started the first thing I remember doing was meeting heroin addicts in Glasgow.' 

'But it just really became apparent that that was a really disrespectful idea to the people we were working with.'

The movie followed Renton as he stumbled through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). 

Movie: The movie followed Renton as he stumbled through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd)

Movie: The movie followed Renton as he stumbled through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends -- Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd)

His next role will see him  an aristocrat in a new adaptation of Amor Towles' novel A Gentleman In Moscow which begins shooting later this year.

Ewan said he is 'very excited' to take on the part of Count Alexander Rostov, while also serving as an executive producer on the project.

The film follows the story of Count Rostov, who finds himself on the wrong side of history after the end of Russian revolution in 1923.

Set in the aftermath of the Russian revolution, Ewan's character is spared immediate execution but is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside. 

The series will see decades of history unfold outside the hotel doors, with the character building a new life and discovering the value of friendship, family and love.

Speaking about his new role, Ewan said: 'It's an amazing, wonderful story and I am very excited to get to play such a fabulous role.'

The series is written by showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone, whose work of note includes Netflix hit The Last Kingdom.

The series is slated to debut in 2023 on new streaming service Paramount+ internationally, and on Showtime in the U.S.

Exciting times! His next role will see him an aristocrat in a new adaptation of Amor Towles' novel A Gentleman In Moscow which begins shooting later this year

Exciting times! His next role will see him an aristocrat in a new adaptation of Amor Towles' novel A Gentleman In Moscow which begins shooting later this year

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