The new Star Wars film may be smashing box-office records and selling out screenings across the globe, but its legions of fans are likely to have missed a well-hidden cameo by one of Perthshire’s best known faces.
Crieff-born Ewan McGregor recorded a bit-part in the Force Awakens, the film’s director has revealed.
The Trainspotting actor can be heard in a flashback scene involving Daisy Ridley’s character Rey.
Revising his Obi Wan Kenobi role from the Star Wars prequels, McGregor tells Rey: “These are your first steps.”
The cameo was confirmed by director JJ Abrams in an interview with America’s Entertainment Weekly magazine.
He said: “We asked Ewan McGregor to come in and do the line. He was awesome and we were very grateful.
“He was incredibly sweet and handsome, and all that stuff. Then he rode off on his motorcycle. Literally the coolest voiceover actor ever.”
He explained that McGregor’s voice was spliced with that of the late Alec Guinness, who played Kenobi in the original movies, in post-production.
Like most details about the film, McGregor’s cameo was kept a closely guarded secret.
McGregor, who starts shooting the Trainspotting sequel in the spring, is not the only famous star who has a hidden cameo in the Force Awakens.
James Bond actor Daniel Craig makes an appearance as a stormtrooper who falls victim to some Jedi mind tricks, while Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg is hidden in costume as an alien junk dealer on the planet Jakku. Frank Oz also appears as the voice of Yoda.
The Force Awakens, the first of three planned Star Wars sequels, has already made $1 billion since its highly anticipated release just days before Christmas.