This PowerPoint is for Section B revision for the WJEC Film Studies AS Level exam. It is good to have some information about your 'star' if you're answering the star question. But the best way to revise for this section is to watch British films featuring your star actor/actress and writing practice questions.
2. BACKGROUND
• He was born at 3.45PM on the 31st of March 1971 in Perth, Scotland
• His father was a PE Teacher and his mother was a School Administrator and
Teacher
• He went to Guildhall School of Music and Drama and studied for three years
graduating in 1992
• He ranked #37 in Empire Magazine’s “the top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list
in the October issue 1997
• He says that he was inspired to get into show business by his uncle, actor
Denis Lawson. Lawson played Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy.
3. GENERAL FACTS
• He has been nominated for 31 awards and has won 23 of these.
• He does not perform his own stunts
• At 16 he joined Perth Repertory Theatre and later worked as a stagehand
there.
• He often presented the impersonations of Elvis Presley to entertain his
friends and family.
• He has a production company called Natural Nylon and is in business with his
good friends Johnny Lee Miller, Jude Law and Sadie Frost
• He enjoys ‘taking his kit off’ in movies as he believes that he is ‘doing it for the
sisters’ and making a feminist stance.
• He is a feminist.
4. PERSONAL QUOTES
"Isn't Halle Berry the most beautiful woman? I have a film I'd like to be in her with.
I mean, I'd like to be with her in“
“I won't buy into the Hollywood thing... I want to be in good movies.”
“I fight cynicism. It's too easy. It's really boring. It's much harder to be positive and
see the wonder of everything. Cynicism is a bunch of people who aren't as
talented as other people, knocking them because they make them feel even
more untalented.”
“It taught me a lesson which was an actor should not say, "I won't do that." Once
you've agreed the script, you must be willing to go as far as it needs to go on
set. With some directors, you do the scene and they say that it's fine, but you
think to yourself, "Is that really enough? Is there not more?“
“...as an actor there's nothing better than a great moody moment to play with
nothing to say. It's so much easier to do because you can really get inside
your head.”
5. FILMOGRAPHY
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER 1999
NORA 2000
ANNO DOMINI 2000
MOULLIN ROUGE! 2001
BLACK HAWK DOWN 2001
STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE
CLONES 2002
SOLID GEOMETRY 2002
DOWN WITH LOVE 2003
YOUNG ADAM 2003
BIG FISH 2003
ROBOTS 2005
VALIANT 2005
STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE
SITH 2005
THE ISLAND 2005
STAY 2005
ALEX RIDER: OPERATION 2006
STORMBREAKER 2006
SCENES OF A SEXUAL NATURE 2006
MISS POTTER 2006
CASSANDRA’S DREAM 2007
INCENDIARY 2008
DECEPTION 2008
I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS 2009
ANGELS & DEMONS 2009
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS 2009
AMELIA 2009
THE GHOST 2010
NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS 2010
JACKBOOTS ON WHITEHAL 2010
BEGINNERS 2010
PERFECT SENSE 2011
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN 2011
HAYWIRE 2011
THE IMPOSSIBLE 2012
THE CORRECTIONS 2012
JACK THE GIANT SLAYER 2013
AUGUST: OSTAGE COUNTY 2013
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST 2014
SON OF A GUN 2014
LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR 1993
THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK 1993
FAMILY STYLE 1993
BEING HUMAN 1994
SHALLOW GRAVE 1994
DOGGIN’ AROUND 1994
KAVANAGH QC 1995
BLUE JUICE 1995
TRAINSPOTTING 1996
KARAOKE 1996
THE PILLOW BOOK 1996
TALES FROM THE CRYPT 1996
EMMA 1996
BRASSED OFF 1996
NIGHTWATCH 1997
ER 1997
THE SERPENT’S KISS 1997
A LIFE LESS ORDINARY 1997
VELEVET GOLDMINE 1998
LITTLE VOICE 1998
DESSERTS 1999
STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE
PHANTOM MENACE 1999
ROGUE TRADER 1999
6. WATCHING THESE MCGREGOR FILMS WILL HELP YOU TO
UNDERSTAND HIS VERSATILITY AND STAR QUALITIES
B R I T I S H
• TRAINSPOTTING
(1996)
• SHALLOW GRAVE
(1994)
• ROGUE TRADER
(1999)
• LITTLE VOICE (1998)
A M E R I C A N
• BIG FISH ( 2005)
• THE ISLAND (2005)
• THE IMPOSSIBLE
(2012)
• SALMON FISHING IN
THE YEMEN (2011)
7. HIS FACE (AGAIN SHOWING HIS VERSATLITIY)
LIPSTICK ON YOUR
COLLAR 1993
BIG FISH 2003 SON OF A GUN 2014