Ewan McGregor has admitted that outside of playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, he sometimes gives some Jedi tricks a go in the real world. In an interview for sci-fi series Obi-Wan Kenobi, on its way to Disney Plus, he admits he occasionally throws in a little hand movement.
“Have I ever tried to use a Jedi mind trick? Not really. I mean, I’ve been accused of doing it here and there by people who are trying to be funny. But no, I don’t think so,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “I’ve seen TV hypnotists and stuff who do sort of similar repeating things. I’ve seen that on TV a bit where they actually get people to believe something that’s not true, or something by the way they say things. But no, I don’t have those skills.”
However, when it comes to automatic doors, he’s been known to imagine he’s in a galaxy far, far away. “I do it with doors. I like to do that with them automatic doors for my own amusement. I always do a little Jedi move for the doors,” he says. “I have occasionally been caught doing it. You know, at like the supermarket or something when I’m wheeling my trolley. It makes me laugh, but occasionally I’ve been caught doing that and that’s kind of embarrassing.”
Considering he’s the actor who took one of the greatest Star Wars characters from Jedi padawan to master, we’d say McGregor has no reason to be embarrassed. He has more license than most to believe in the ways of the Force.
McGregor will be back as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Disney Plus series of the same name, coming this May. Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the show finds Obi-Wan protecting a young Luke Skywalker on Tattooine. We don’t know much else about the plot, but Hayden Christensen is also returning, to play Darth Vader, making the whole thing seem very intriguing indeed.
Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on Disney Plus May 25.