Ewan McGregor on his dual acting triumph in Fargo—and why they’re the role(s) of a lifetime
HUNDREDS OF ACTORS have gained weight for lots of reasons. Typically, it’s for a career-changing movie or multiple episodes of a big TV show or a season on Broadway. They often don’t get hefty for a very short nude scene. Unless they happen to be Ewan McGregor. The Scottish thesp, 46, put on an estimated 20 pounds this year to play the pudgy Ray Stussy, one of his two roles in the heralded (and just as deliriously wild) third season of FX’s Fargo.
“I had to gain the weight!” the actor says. “Ray needed to look real when he was naked. It needed to justify the padding I wore on my stomach and chest for the rest of the series.” McGregor also portrays Ray’s older brother, Emmit (aka the Parking Lot King of Minnesota), who is richer, thinner and caught up in a bad business deal with nefarious, torture-happy investor V. M. Varga (David Thewlis)—and may or may not have intentionally scammed his younger sibling out of his inheritance. It depends on who you ask. And as is often the case with the bloodletting on Fargo, getting attached to one or both of these men would be ill-advised. McGregor, who recently returned to Los Angeles from the show’s wintry Calgary set, gave us the, ahem, skinny on his first leading TV role and the hush-hush (and likely crime-littered) season finale.
As with many other Fargo alums, you braved the bitter cold of Calgary and lived to tell the tale.
This story is from the June 12, 2017 edition of TV Guide Magazine.
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This story is from the June 12, 2017 edition of TV Guide Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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