Man Crush #2: Ewan McGregor

Best Known For: Star Wars

I don't actually like that many of Ewan's movies.

That's not to say that he's a bad actor, or that he only does bad movies.  More so that he just doesn't have any movies that I would consider to be in the pantheon of my movie loving heart.  I'm a Star Wars guy, sure, but the 'new trilogy' is definitely not the reason why.  Trainspotting was good, as was Black Hawk Down.  But that's 5 films.  Out of his entire filmography, I can only think of 5 films to list.  And I don't really even like 2 of them.

Granted, this list isn't solely about an actor's body of work, but it does feel kind of weird to have a guy sitting at the number 2 spot on this list, while still not considering his movies to be required viewing.  If Kevin Smith comes out with a movie, I will see it.  Even after Cop Out.  Ewan, however... I haven't even seen any of the movies that he's been in since The Island.  And that came out in 2005.

Deception looked interesting, and I wanted to see The Men Who Stare at Goats, but I never got around to it.  When Tony Jaa comes out with a new movie, I'm willing to push an old lady down a flight of stairs if she's standing in the way of me getting to the theatre.  The phrase 'I never got around to it' isn't even a possibility.  Yet Tony Jaa barely made the Top 25 and Ewan is at Number 2.  Number freakin' 2!

As such you might conclude that my list making abilities are slightly suspect.  That perhaps I need to take a good long look at the criteria in which I built this list upon and reevaluate how I do things.  But I beg to differ.  I think, if anything, it's further proof just how strong my Man Crush for Ewan is that I don't really even like what he does, and yet I'm still manamoured with him.

You see, this list was built with an emphasis on one thing above all else: personality.  Ewan just seems like a fun-loving, down to earth, genuinely good dude.  The type of guy that you would actually want to be friends with.  Jason Statham?  I'm not sure.  I don't really have a sense of what his personality might be away from the camera.  I get a good vibe, sure, but if someone told me he was a complete asshole, I wouldn't be able to defend him, because I honestly wouldn't know.  He's a guy that makes the list for seeming awesome, and making the kind of movies that I like.  Ewan makes it because despite not making the type of movies that I like, I'm almost positive that he's awesome.  If he's not, it's easily one of the most elaborate and convincing jobs that anyone has ever done to hide the fact that they're really just a douche.

So how did I get this seemingly impossible proof that Ewan is so great?  Well, The Long Way Round, of course.  I don't know if Ewan would have even cracked my Top 100 back in 2004, and I've only seen 2 of his movies since watching the glory that is Long Way, and I assure you, those 2 movies (Revenge of the Sith and the aforementioned The Island) are not what shot him to damn near the top of this very-difficult-to-succeed-on list.

And before you cry foul, Long Way alone is not the sole reason that he's here.  But it certainly was the genesis.  I knew who Ewan was prior, sure, but without Long Way I definitely wouldn't have made every appearance he's had on Craig Ferguson part of my must-see-tv viewing schedule.  Those appearances backed up everything I assumed about Ewan after having watched Long Way, and cemented his Man Crush legacy in stone.  Speaking of which…

Proof of Awesomeness:

 

Sorry to make you click over to the actual YouTube page, but once again the good old copyright issue has come up for this clip, and I just can't be bothered to re-encode it and host the clip myself just to save you from having to navigate to another site.  I do much prefer embedding a clip, but not that much.

.