Ewan McGregor has revealed getting sober gave him ‘joy and happiness and peace’ that he never knew before.
The actor, 50, who has been sober for more than two decades after struggling with alcohol, discussed addiction with Pedro Pascal for Variety’s Actors on Actors series.
In his new TV series Halston, Ewan portrays American fashion designer Roy Halston who nearly lost everything when he became addicted to alcohol.
Honest: Ewan McGregor has revealed getting sober gave him ‘joy and happiness and peace’ that he never knew before
The film star previously played a heroin addict in the 1996 film Trainspotting, although did not have problems with addiction himself until after filming.
Ewan said of filming Trainspotting: ‘I didn’t realize I would end up with addiction problems myself then. I became sober in 2000.
‘So now, when I’m looking at characters who are addicts, I look at it through a different lens of understanding it more. An everyday part of my life is being sober.
‘But at the same time, it’s quite an important part because it’s given me such joy and happiness and peace in a way I didn’t have before I was sober.
Role: In his new TV series Halston, Ewan portrays American fashion designer Roy Halston who nearly lost everything when he became addicted to alcohol
‘It’s interesting to do all those lines of coke and all those cigarettes and shots that Halston was doing and just being glad they weren’t real. Just being happy about that, but understanding it.’
Ewan recalled how he and the rest of the cast of Trainspotting were shown how to use heroin in preparation for the film.
He said: ‘When I was doing Trainspotting, I worked with some really extraordinary guys. There’s a club in Glasgow called the Calton Athletic club and it’s a recovery group.
‘They have meetings, they help each other with support and they play soccer. We worked with those guys, and we had a drug adviser.
Candid: The actor, 50, who has been sober for more than two decades after struggling with alcohol, discussed addiction with Pedro Pascal for Variety’s Actors on Actors series
‘We were all given the things we would need to cook up a shot of heroin, like a little cigarette lighter and a spoon and matches and some bicarb soda and pretend heroin.
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‘He demonstrated how you would do it, and then he would walk up and down the line as we’re all trying to do it. He’d be like, ‘More bicarb. That’s not enough heroin.’ It was so funny.’
Pedro added: ‘A tutorial on how to shoot up.’
Ewan said he signed on to do Halston, which premiered on Netflix in May, after meeting the show’s director Dan Minahan.
Past: He also previously played a heroin addict in the 1996 film Trainspotting, although did not have problems with addiction himself until after filming
He said: ‘I had one of those afternoons where my agent set up a few meetings. I very rarely go to the actual agency, but I went there, they put me in a room, and I met three directors, one after the other, who were all trying to raise funds for different projects.
‘The first person through the door was Dan Minahan, who directed the whole series of Halston. And he started talking about this man I’d never heard of, like the most famous person I’d never known.
‘I only want to work with people where I’m going to be taken somewhere creatively, or pulled in one direction or another.
‘The second I started talking with Dan, I felt like he was somebody that would do that with me. I felt like I trusted him already.’
Ewan said of filming Trainspotting: ‘I didn’t realize I would end up with addiction problems myself then. I became sober in 2000’ (pictured in Trainspotting, 1996)
It comes after Ewan recently told how he is ‘not judgemental’ about addiction as he has been through it himself.
Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning, he said: ‘I understand it, addiction. And I’m not judgmental about it, you know?
‘Because I’ve walked that path for so many years, and it’s very cunning and you will absolutely live in denial, you know? People can’t see it.’
Ewan previously told People he was a ‘happy drunk’ at first but then felt alcohol made him ‘miserable’.
He said: ‘Originally I was a happy drunk. But later I was miserable because it’s a depressant. I was just ashamed of myself, really.’
Health: It comes after Ewan recently told how he is ‘not judgemental’ about addiction as he has been through it himself
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