Mary Poppins Returns isn’t Disney’s only upcoming reboot of a beloved British period piece. There is also the Friday release Christopher Robin (a character created by A. A. Milne and is based on the author’s own son), a hybrid of live action and animation that finds the grown-up title character — played by Ewan McGregor — getting a visit from his old stuffed pal, Winnie the Pooh. Pooh shows up to help out Christopher when he’s struggling to balance the demands of his job with his commitment to his wife (Hayley Atwell) and daughter (Bronte Carmichael).
Let’s hear it from Golden Globe-winner Ewan McGregor.

How familiar were you with the characters created by A.A. Milne?

I remember the books, obviously. They were read to me when I was a little boy and I remember being very fond of them, and I read them to my children (Clara Mathilde, 22; Jamyan, 17; Esther Rose, 16; and Anouk, 7) as well. I had a bear like Winnie the Pooh… it was a sort of old-fashioned bear with arms and legs that had those funny joints. It wasn’t a Winnie the Pooh bear, but it was very much like him. And when I acted with our Winnie the Pooh it reminded me of my old bear. 

Can you talk about the animal characters in the film?

The creatures that they’ve been made or designed for this film are amazing. They’re amazingly characterful just sitting still.

What attracted you to this role?

I was quite charmed by the script and loved that they made Christopher Robin a man of my age and that Winnie the Pooh comes back to him at a difficult time in his life. I found that really moving. Christopher Robin is the father of a daughter who he’s not very close to, and he recognises that and would like to be closer to her. And certainly, you get the feeling that she would like to be closer with her dad as well, and there’s something about this coming together of a father and his daughter that really appealed to me as a father of girls.

What can you tell us about the sets?

Looking at our sets and the stuff we’ve done outdoors on the streets where we’ve turned the streets of London into those from 1949, it looked so real. I’ve done lots of period things and the danger with period films is that they can become sort of in-your-face and you can see the period. But in this film, somehow, it didn’t… it just felt very realistic. And I think it was due to our talented production design and costume design (teams). 

How was it working with director Marc Forster?

Because of Marc and the people he chose to make this film with, like our DP Matthias Konigswieser, who did an amazing job, and the beautiful exterior and interior sets… everything looked absolutely beautiful and classic and real. 

Talk about Hayley Atwell, who plays your wife Evelyn in the film.

I love Hayley. Hayley and I did a Woody Allen film with Colin Farrell some years ago called Cassandra’s Dream (2007). I think it might have been her first movie out of drama school, but it was fun working with her on that. So I was happy when Marc told me that he was thinking about casting her in this. 

How was it working opposite a stuffed bear?

In this film we had to do takes with the hero teddy bears… they call them stuffies… now I don’t know if that was an Americanism or a filmi-sm, but they were basically teddy bears. So when I did the first takes, I did those with Pooh, and what Marc did brilliantly was cast players for Pooh, Tigger, Kanga and Eeyore, actors who stood in for each of them. The film wouldn’t be nearly as effective, and the acting wouldn’t feel as real and as good if it wasn’t for those actors playing the characters. 

How did the stuffed animals look?

They looked beautiful and very real with a sort of aged look to them, like Winnie the Pooh had a little balding patch on his tummy. They all looked like they had been in a toy box for 30 years. 

Were you able to relate to the character of Christopher Robin?

I really like Christopher Robin. I really liked playing him, and I felt like I wanted to play him — not him particularly — but this character, I feel like I’d had in me for a long time.

What do you think audiences will take away from the film?

I think people will be surprised and I think it’s probably what Walt Disney wanted from the beginning… a film that is for children, but not just for children.