Yahoo Finance Mary Elizabeth Winstead on the best Star Wars advice husband Ewan McGregor gave her
One of the most delightful discoveries to come out of the Star Wars galaxy over the past few years was when Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor, admitted to EW that he sometimes Force-waves at automatic grocery store doors to pretend he's opening them… with his mind!
We brought this up to McGregor's wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, when she and Ahsoka costars Rosario Dawson and Natasha Liu Bordizzo stopped by EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast, and she confirmed the tomfoolery.
"I have definitely caught him doing that," she said, laughing.
With her upcoming role as pilot and rebel military leader Hera Syndulla, Winstead has now joined her spouse (as well as McGregor's daughter, Esther Rose McGregor, who played Daiyu spice peddler Tetha Grig on Obi-Wan Kenobi) in the galaxy far, far away. So what kind of advice did her Star Wars legend husband give Winsted about becoming part of the franchise?
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
"He was just so happy and excited for me," Winstead said. "He really was. He's just like, 'There's just nothing else like being embraced by this community and being a part of it. It's just such a special thing.'"
There was a time when McGregor seemed content to be done with the role of Obi-Wan, telling Magic Radio in 2016, "I don't have a burning need to do it again, or indeed any sort of fascination for the movies that everyone else seems to have. I don't really have that. Maybe because I've been in them. I've seen behind the curtain, you know what I mean? It doesn't have the same type of wonderment to me."
But time — and hearing the steady stream of appreciation from fans who grew up with the prequel films — softened McGregor's stance to the point where he was excited to don the robes and pick up his lightsaber again for the 2022 Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series. "Over the years, he's grown in his appreciation more and more and more and more," Winstead said. "And I've been able to witness that and to see that grow in him, and to see his Obi-Wan series happen, and how that felt for him to be greeting the fans and getting their response."
Lucasfilm Ltd. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla on 'Ahsoka'
It was that back-and-forth between star and fans that made the biggest impression on the actress. "Just to get to be a part of that world and to be part of something that people care so much about and characters that people are so invested in is such a special thing," Winstead said. "So it's kind of amazing that we get to be in this world together, but not together, you know?"
Her costar Dawson loves that the couple can now share Star Wars. "I love that y'all are like a Star Wars family," she gushed. "I know when Obi-Wan was coming out and you were telling me that in the anticipation of it coming up, people were just walking up like, 'May the Force be with you.'"
"It was so great," Winstead responded. "We'd be with security guards on places we would go ,and they would give him like a little bit of special attention and then go, 'May the Force be with you.' It was when Obi-Wan was coming out, like there was this special time that people were like, 'Oh, God, we know it's coming and we want to tell you we approve.' It was so nice."
Here's hoping those same fans approve when his wife's show Ahsoka premieres in August on Disney+.
To listen to our entire interview with Winstead, Dawson, and Bordizzo, check out the latest episode of Dagobah Dispatch.
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