writhing on the shag pile

Ewan Yaws

Extracts from Ewan McGreogor's interview with Out

"Of course, gay audiences have long been loving McGregor, known for hot man-on-man action in films like The Pillow Book and Velvet Goldmine - something he never thought twice about.

"I remember I heard Sharon Stone once say, 'I'll never do nudity again,'" he says. "I just question that. As an actor you should be excited to portray anything and everything. It was weird with me and the Japanese guy in The Pillow Book because it was the first time I'd ever done a gay sex scene. But it was just as strange for me the first time I had to do a straight sex scene- there's really no difference. And I loved it." In fact, he talks about it all the time. On a break while taping a television show in Britain, the host said he'd be asking about filming that scene in The Pillow Book. "I thought they were changing videotapes, and I ended the break saying, 'I'm going to have to find a way to answer that without using the words 'smoothe, leathery scrotum.' I thought they were changing tapes, but when it aired on television, they included that." So how does "smooth, leathery scrotum" come up in conversation? "That's all I could remember about it," shrugs the actor, taking another drag off his cigarette. "I have quite the memory of his scrotum, for some reason. I don't know why." Clearly this is a man with few hang-ups. "I've never beenr eally worried about being masculine," he admits. "I know it's a very popular thing - especially in America - to not want to be seen as a homosexual. But I thought it was kind of exciting." Exciting on-screen but not in real life. "Any gay experiences?" he puzzles when I ask him if he's ever jumped the fence. "No. Unfortunately not." But that hasn't stopped him from defying sterotypes. The actor gladly admits he enjoys wearing a little eye makeup. "I wear eyeliner a lot," he confesses. It's something he picked up during Velvet Goldmine. "It was the first time I wore those smoky eyes and nail varnish and stuff. I just like it," he says. "A lot of actors walk around pretending they don't wear makeup, and we *all* wear makeup. There's nobody walking down the red carpet who's not fucking covered."