Obi-Wan Kenobi Actor Had an Embarrassing First Meeting With George Lucas

Actor Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, has shared an embarrassing story of the first time he met George Lucas.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, McGregor recalled the time he went to the sound stage and got a first look at the massive submarine-like ship that Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Jar Jar Binks rode in to get out of Otoh Gunga in The Phantom Menance. The embarrassing part was that McGregor thought the ship was functional and that he would actually be headed underwater inside it.

"I remember looking at these props, these art department guys sort of carving this huge polystyrene thing into the submarine and there was a cockpit. And I looked at it and I went, 'Will we go under?'" he recalled. "[Lucas] looked at me and went, 'What?' I said, 'Will we go underwater with it?' And he looked at me like I was insane. He said, 'None of that is real, you know.' And I went, 'Oh, yeah.'"

McGregor's voice can be heard in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but he didn't act in the movie. Just this week, the actor said he hopes Lucasfilm will make one or more Obi-Wan movies and that he'd like to be involved in them.

McGregor's next movie is American Pastoral, which represents his directorial debut. Based on the book by Philip Roth, the film stars McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, and Dakota Fanning; it opens on October 21.

Next up for Star Wars is the spinoff movie Rogue One, which comes out in December. The newest trailer was released last week--and there was a lot of new footage on display. Watch the trailer here and check out our breakdown of the key moments here.