Ewan McGregor | British GQ (2022)

The Thai crew working on tsunami film The Impossible initially feared the production was "cursed" and performed a ritual to improve their luck, according to actor Ewan McGregor.

The new drama chronicles the story of a family's survival in the aftermath of the horrific Indian Ocean tidal wave that killed more than 230,000 people on December 26th, 2004.

McGregor travelled to Thailand to shoot scenes on location and admits bouts of bad weather prompted fears among locals that the project was doomed.

He tells Britain's The Guardian newspaper, "It was a very difficult film to make, especially with...

RICHARD CROUSE
FOR METRO CANADA
May 12, 2009 1:00 a.m.

While sitting atop the Castel Saint Angelo in Rome waiting to interview Angels & Demons star Ewan McGregor, I had a panoramic view of the city and the beautiful chaos that makes life in the Eternal City tick.

The traffic is crazy and there are people everywhere. It’s an intense place, even more so, I imagined, if you were shooting a big budget Hollywood picture that takes place in some of the city’s busiest spots.

“The funny thing is I didn’t shoot any of it in Rome,” McGregor said when asked. “I shot in this place called Caserta....

The Asian tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, killed almost a quarter-million people in 14 countries. The scale and speed of the devastation defy comprehension, and no movie could be expected to convey the full measure of the horror. But disaster, real and imagined, is a staple of the modern cinematic imagination, and an event like the tsunami presents itself to an ambitious filmmaker as both a technical challenge and a moral risk.
“The Impossible,” the second feature from the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, uses digital imagery, meticulous sound design and tried-and-true editing techniques...