Date: 18th January 2002

Ewan Mistaken For Heroin Junkie


EWAN McGREGOR's brilliant portrayal of a heroin addict in cult movie TRAINSPOTTING (1996) still lands him in all sorts of trouble - because people believe he really is a drug user. The Scottish actor studied heroin addicts in a train station in Luxembourg while he was filming Pillow Bock - after learning he'd landed the role in the movie adaptation of Irvine Welch's book.

But even he admits the role has dogged him ever since. He says, "I used to go to the train station there and watch the addicts down there and see what they did. I saw this addict just go forward and forward and then he'd catch himself and he was having an argument with this guy and then he went backwards until he was flat on the ground.

I just thought it was such an amazing thing to see. It was so bizarre. I was labelled a heroin addict in the press for months but it only really hit me when I was coming to America to do an episode of ER and I arrived at Chicago airport and I had a Warner Brothers visa and the guy looked at it and he asked me what I was doing there and I told him. He said, `What do I know you from?' and I said, `

The only film that you'll know me from is Trainspotting,' and with that he wrote something on my thing and then I went to the next bit and gave them this bit of paper and they said, `You need to go over there,' and I was walking towards this red bit and the green bit was over there and I thought, `That's weird. ' They had every single thing out of my bag and they took me too a room and strip searched me. He associated me with that film and imagined that I would be carrying a lot of heroin. "
(KL/WNV/MCM)

Source: WENN