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'Christopher Robin' star Ewan McGregor on Stephen King, Obi-Wan and old-school romance

BEVERLY HILLS – These are words Winnie the Pooh lives by: "Doing nothing often leads to the very best something."

How about “Christopher Robin” star Ewan McGregor? “I’m traditionally not very good at" sticking to that, the Scottish actor says. “But I’ve realized that it’s important to get a better balance and not work so much.”

McGregor, 47, has worked steadily in film and TV since quitting school to focus on acting at age 16: He's about to shoot "The Shining" sequel "Doctor Sleep," won a Golden Globe for his "Fargo" performance earlier this year and just released sci-fi movie "Zoe" on Amazon last month.

USA TODAY sat down with McGregor, the fast-talking titular star of Disney's live-action movie inspired by the beloved A.A. Milne children's books, to talk about his attachment to his honey-loving co-star, how he might anger Stephen King and why he'd be down with revisiting his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars."

Question: You spend a lot of screen time with Winnie the Pooh in "Christopher Robin." Has the bear inspired you to spend more time doing "nothing"?

Ewan McGregor: I've got a teddy bear Pooh from the shoot. I was so fond of him. I spent four months looking at his little eyes. I asked them, quietly, if they would make me one. ... This year, I have been off. ("Christopher Robin" finished shooting last November.) It was a decision not to work. I spent so much time away, always on the road or back home knowing I'm away again soon.

Q: What do you do on typical day off?

McGregor: (On Sunday), I worked on an old car, took the car for a drive, came back, put up a swing. I didn't go anywhere really. I call it "bimbling," when you don't have an appointment to make. … There were a few things I was supposed to read and didn't.

Q: You have another movie out now, “Zoe,” where you play an inventor who has a relationship with a robot. Was this a weird concept for you to get behind?

McGregor: There's something really old-fashioned about it. The obstacle here – in most classic love stories, there's an obstacle – is he doesn't feel like he can be in love with her. ... I watched some porn videos of people having sex with those dolls, for research. But it was really sad, mostly misogynist and horrible.

Q: But you liked that the film was a love story – albeit one that borders on incest?

McGregor: I've always liked romance in movies, the more romantic the better. As a little boy, I liked "It Happened One Night" or "The Philadelphia Story." They were more unabashedly romantic in the old days. Now we have the romantic comedy where we sort of have to veil the romance with the comedy because we're a bit embarrassed by them.

Q: Do you think Stephen King will like what you’re doing in "The Shining" sequel “Doctor Sleep”? (McGregor stars as Danny Torrance, who was a kid in the first movie.)

McGregor: I think he felt "The Shining" wasn't a faithful adaptation of his book. Our script is faithful to his novel. But for one thing. And I'm not going to give anything away. I'm reading Stephen King's novel every day and I'm really enjoying it. There are points where Stephen has written a bit, and I'm going "Oh, that's not right. I don't think that's quite (Danny)." Like, now I'm already thinking I know the character more than Stephen King.

Q: Another character you know well is Obi-Wan Kenobi from "Star Wars." There’s been talk about a spin-off movie, but less so after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” didn’t do as well as anticipated.

McGregor: I don't know anything more than you do. I'd still be happy to do it. I haven't seen a script. I don't know that they're planning to do it. I hope they do. And I thought "Solo" was fine. I liked it.

Q: I’ll be honest: I listened to “Elephant Love Medley” to get hyped for this interview. Do you ever listen to your music from "Moulin Rouge"?

McGregor: Now and again. I sort of play chords on the guitar and I know how to play "Come What May" on the piano. I embarrassingly do play that from time to time. If someone heard it wafting from the window, it would be quite funny.