Ewan McGregor: 'Beginners a true collaboration'

Ewan McGregor has said that he worked extensively with Beginners director Mike Mills in order to retain the real-life drama that the film is based on.

Beginners is inspired by Mills's relationship with his own father, who came out as gay at the age of 75.

McGregor disclosed that it was vitally important to explore Mills's true feelings about his father's radical lifestyle changes.

"He's an amazing director and our work together was that of real, true creative collaboration so we kind of worked it through together. There was never a sense that he was trying to make me play him or mimic him or give a kind of impersonation of him," the actor told Access Hollywood.

The star added: "He wanted to make [McGregor's character Oliver] my own, but at the same time I very much wanted to feel like Mike because it is his story and these are his words. These are the scenes he's chosen to put in the film and they are very important to him."

McGregor further explained that he went so far as to listen to Mills's audio recordings of the movie's dialogue so he could replicate the filmmaker's speech pattern.

"They're very sensitive and personal things in his life. So I wanted to feel like him. I had him record all the dialogue so I could listen to it on my computer before each scene so I could try to have a flavour of his voice. I watched him a lot. I tried to feel like him as I moved through the scenes," he said.

Beginners, which also stars Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent, opens on June 3 in the US and on July 22 in the UK

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Watch a trailer for Beginners below: