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Ewan McGregor has wielded a light saber, dived into a toilet, serenaded Nicole Kidman, and repeatedly gone full-frontal on the big screen. He also made the jump to reality TV in 2004. Fortunately, it wasn’t on Dancing with the Stars (although I might actually watch the show if he was a contestant). In A Long Way Round, Ewan and best friend Charley Boorman chronicled their 20,000-mile motorcycle trip from London to New York by way of Siberia.
Avid motorcyclist Ewan took a second trip with Charley starting May, 2007, in an 85-day ride from Scotland to South Africa that’s covered in Long Way Down.
Ewan told TV Guide that the idea for the second trip came from a charity visit he made to Malawi with UNICEF, saying “I’d been really touched by what I saw. I just thought, ‘God, I want to ride my bike down there!’”
Unlike the TV Guide article, I doubt UNICEF will use that particular quote on their promotional materials.
Ewan is actually a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and visited several UNICEF projects on the Africa trip, so he’s not as biker-dude shallow as that quote makes him sound. He is using Long Way Down to raise awareness not only of the beauty of Africa, but of the plight of the continent’s children.
“Educating children about landmines is so vital for children’s futures,” said Mr. McGregor. “With landmines and unexploded ordnance lying in homes, fields, rivers and schools in Ethiopia and other countries, I can really see how UNICEF’s Mine Risk Education is an essential life-saving intervention.”
[From the United Nations Web site]
Ewan is rarely in the tabloids, unlike good friend and former roommate Jude Law. He has been married to Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, for 13 years. Although she doesn’t share his adrenaline enthusiasm, Eve did surprise Ewan by joining him on part of the journey.
I was absolutely thrilled. The first day she rode, she was really quite upset. It’s a whole new set of skills, isn’t it? But, instead of giving up and going, “Oh, well, I’ll drive a car,” she battled through. I was so proud.
[From TV Guide, print edition, September 1, 2008]
Ewan and Eva have three daughters, including one they adopted from Mongolia. Ewan is very protective of his family’s privacy.
One of Ewan’s favorite parts of the trip was the Ethiopian Highlands.
The landscape is staggeringly beautiful. Southern Ethiopia is very flat and barren but Northern Ethiopia is huge mountains. It’s absolutely stunning.
[From TV Guide, print edition, September 1, 2008]
Although he didn’t like being away from his kids for so long, and the kids didn’t like him being gone, Ewan told TV Guide there may be a third installment of his series. “It would be good to do South to North America. We’ve done A Long Way Round and Long Way Down. Now we have to do A Long Way Up!
Long Way Down airs Saturdays at 9 on Fox Reality Channel.
You can learn more about the show, and Ewan and Charley’s journey, on UN’s Long Way Down website, and the website for the show, Longwaydown.com.
All photos credit Longwaydown.com, BBC and Unicef.
Written by sammie323
Posted in Charley Boorman, Good Causes, Good Celebrity
12 Responses to “Ewan McGregor on another epic motorcycle trip for charity”
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Love Ewan, love the series, last one particularly good but loathe - LOATHE - Charlie ‘Boreman’ Boorman. I’ve been wanting something *unfortunate* to happen to him since the first series….not fatal, of course not,
just something that would involve extended bedrest off-camera and a nice new bike mate for Ewan. @Anon,
@ Long Way Shopping (but Ewan only, no Boreman!)
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LWR and LWD are the best - I bought several copies of each DVD and loan them to friends who become instant Ewan fans.
As for Charley, well, one needs an upper class twit to make a good Britcom! But he truly knows his way around motorcycle repair and riding techniques. Ewan loves him, so that’s good enough for me.
Not enough is seen of cameraman Claudio Von Planta in LWD, though, as he is a real cutie! I’ve come to love their entire production team.
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I adore Ewan but I have never seen the series! Why is it not on a better network? I will have to seek it out since Fox Reality Channel is not one I normally pay attention to.
Why do you guys say you don’t like his friend - just out of curiousity?
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Love Ewan. Saw the first doc, and I *really enjoy* seeing Ewan all bushy and bright-eyed.
I just have a thing about Scotsmen. One of my first lovers was a Scotsman.
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@lily rose.
For me, Boreman is just one of those people who’s incredibly cocky and arrogant without having anything to be cocky or arrogant about. Irrational dislike on my part, maybe, but he just really irritates. But the series themselves are brilliant and well worth seeing (despite him!) -
Fell in love with Ewan when he did a PBS special about polar bears. I think it was polar bears. I just couldn’t take my eyes off him. He’s the full package.
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I’d love to see a third series (and for those of you who don’t like Boorman, don’t watch Road to Dakar–Mr. Nonymous and I really enjoyed it, but it doesn’t have much Ewan at all since he didn’t do that ride). But the headline for this post sounds like it’s a little premature.
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These are awesome shows!! I started TIVO-ing the Long Way Down…its so great to see all the preparation they do for these kind of trips. All the passports and visa’s they have to obtain to travel through all those countries. All the planning(they even practiced hostage situations!)…and they take like NOTHING with them…just two pairs of pants and two t-shirts…or something like that. Crazy!!
Its totally worth watching though.
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love him and i love that his family life is quiet and private…yeah, brangelina, i’m talking to you.
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I *love* Ewan McGregor. And I’ve seen the first series, it’s great. I need to pick up the second one.
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Ewan McGregor is number one on my freebie list, the guy I could sex up even though I’m married. The husband understands. LOL.
He’s hot, smart, a great husband and dad. What’s not to love?
Anon:
geronimo:
WB:
Lily Rose:
Kaiser:
KDRockstar:
KateNonymous:
Nova:
kate:
Ginny:
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*squee*
I love both series and would love to see a third. Though I think I could even be convinced to watch a documentary of ‘Long Way Shopping’, in which they go to the cornershop to procure milk and half a loaf of bread - even that would be entertaining. McGregor is the best.
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