Ewan Flogs His Pants

Ewan McGregor and co-star Jim Broadbent held court last night (9 October) at a special charity screening of Moulin Rouge in London. The Everyman cinema in Hampstead was packed to the rafters with an audience who had paid top dollar for a performance and subsequent Q & A session hosted by Empire. Sharing anecdotes about the production, McGregor exclusively revealed the original model for Moulin Rouge's lecherous Duke. "There isn't any royalty here is there?" he enquired, scanning the audience, before sharing that Nicole Kidman's odious suitor was originally intended to be "a Prince Charles-like figure." Similarities to the prince were eventually abandoned in favour of a younger Duke, to provide greater sexual tension between the characters. Probably a good thing too, or the Prince of Wales' experience at the Royal Premiere could have gone very differently. Expecting the birth of his second child in just two weeks, McGregor declared that he has no imminent plans to return to the screen. Instead, he's planning to take six months off and, depending on the possible Equity strike, may return to tread the boards on London's stage. The interview was followed by an auction of merchandise to raise money for the Children's Hospice Association of Scotland. Among the goodies on offer were a number of signed posters, including a Phantom Menace poster signed by McGregor 'Och aye the force!', and a Moulin Rouge photo book signed by McGregor, Broadbent and Kidman, which went for a princely