[Newscast] "The Impossible" update

Filming stops after Ewan McGregor stand-in sends him 'death ode'

Alistair Foster, Showbusiness Correspondent
23 Dec 2010

A Hollywood shoot was halted after Ewan McGregor received a death threat in verse from his stand-in.

The star was in Thailand filming The Impossible, about the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, when the man was found in his trailer writing a death ode. It included a line about the author facing McGregor, 39, "twisting the knife as I look into your eyes".

The American stand-in, who lives in Thailand, was being paid about £60 a day. Stand-ins take an actor's place when the camera team are setting up a scene.

A member of production crew Santa Films said: "He looked a little wide-eyed and preoccupied. The producers decided he was a serious risk. We could not call Thai police because he had only written poetry, and they would be unlikely to understand. There was no confrontation. The actor was told he ... would be called when it was time. He was not called.

"I understand he later applied for a position on Scorpion King 3. I hope there is no further problem."

The scare happened in Phang-na, which was devastated by the tsunami. In The Impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, McGregor and Naomi Watts play a couple on holiday with their sons when disaster strikes.