Ewan McGregor says that the plot of his new movie, the espionage thriller Our Kind of Traitor, has a lot in common with the Panama Papers, the recent leak of documents which exposed the financial dealings of many high-profile figures.
In the new film, an adaptation of John Le Carré's novel of the same name, McGregor plays Perry, a mild-mannered poetry professor who befriends a money launderer for the Russian mafia who is trying to go clear.
McGregor's character becomes entangled in high stakes dealings between the British Secret Service and the Moscow underworld that leads to the top of British political life and speaking to TEN, the Scottish actor says he sees parallels in the story and the recent leak of financial documents known as the Panama Papers.
McGregor and Naomie Harris in Our Kind of Traitor
"We have been finding out that the people we are supposed to rely upon to run our society are as corrupt as anybody and it is depressing and disappointing," McGregor told TEN.
"You're supposed to look up to these people in how to behave and there is a British sense that we should do things right and live our lives right and pay our taxes but these are people who make loads of money and hiding it and not supporting the country who made you rich in the first place . . . it's bulls**t really."
Click on the video link to watch TEN's interviews with McGregor, his co-star Stellan Skarsgård, and director Susanna White
Our Kind of Traitor also stars Stellan Skarsgård as Dima, a Russian oligarch seeking asylum in the UK, Damian Lewis as an immaculately dressed M16 man, and Naomie Harris as Perry's estranged wife.
Stellan Skarsgård as Dima
Our Kind of Traitor opens in Irish cinemas on Friday, May 13
