Bleeding Love follows a worried father and his daughter on a Southwestern road trip hours after her near-fatal drug overdose. The pair attempt to reconcile their troubled relationship while tackling her refusal to admit she’s an addict. They meet strange characters on a visually artistic odyssey from Dutch director Emma Westenberg in her feature film debut.

Real-life father-daughter duo Ewan McGregor and Clara McGregor star in the powerfully dramatic and at times whimsical narrative. Clara pulls triple duty as the story’s creator and executive producer with her business partner Vera Bulder, who also has a memorable cameo. Ewan speaks proudly of his daughter’s achievements and talent on set. Her hilarious response, “Nic Cage was busy.”

The characters spend much of the film driving down desolate highways together. Westenberg praised Ewan for being an excellent “stunt driver” and allowing the filmmakers to shoot the intimate scenes in close confines. Ewan’s love of motorcycles and riding is well-known from his travel documentaries with Charley Boorman: Long Way Round, Long Way Down, and Long Way Up. Ewan couldn’t give us full details, but confirmed another motorcycle adventure is forthcoming with “yes, watch this space!” Please see above and read below our interview with Ewan and Clara McGregor.

Complete Encouragement Among the McGregors
Bleeding Love 3/5 Release Date February 16, 2024 Director Emma Westenberg Cast Ewan McGregor , Clara McGregor , Jake Weary , Kim Zimmer , Travis Hammer Runtime 1hr 36min Writers Vera Bulder , Ruby Caster , Elle Malan

MovieWeb: Clara, let me start with you. This is your baby. We spoke to director Emma Westenberg about knowing you in New York City and working with producer Vera Bulder to get this process started. Was this always going to be a film with you and your dad?

Clara McGregor: In my mind, that’s always how I pictured it, when I started thinking of the concept. We didn’t know if we could get him though.

Ewan McGregor: I’m very expensive (laughs).

Clara McGregor: So that was definitely my goal…and Nic Cage was busy (laughs).

MW: So continuing on that thread, you guys are working together. You’re a father and daughter, and obviously, you’re actors on set working in a professional environment. But any time I’m with my father for more than a half hour, there’s always some headbutting going on. Was there a peace treaty made, not to take anything personal into the movie?

Clara McGregor: We’re having a great time…

Ewan McGregor: There was no need. I think we were there for each other every step of the way. I was so proud of Clara for having achieved this very difficult task of getting a movie made. We were on set there because Clara dreamed up the story, had it written, produced it, and found a crew. I was so proud of her. If anything, there was just encouragement all the time, you know, ‘Go for it!’ And not to hold back, because the nature of some of the scenes, it would be very upsetting things to say to your dad or to hear from your daughter.

And in those moments, it was almost like a complete encouragement to go for it. It was wonderful to get to play with her, it was just an amazing opportunity to spend that time together, to live in those scenes together, it was just brilliant. I mean, it was great acting by Clara. I had no idea really until I was there.

Clara McGregor: I forced you to say all of this (laughs).

Ewan McGregor: Yes, what else was I supposed to say (laughs)?

MW: The film tackles addiction. It deals with it in a very realistic and powerful way. I’ve read from the press notes this didn’t have anything to do with your personal relationship as father and daughter. But there has to be some kind of research that gives realism to the story. Talk about preparing for those scenes.

Ewan McGregor: My perspective on it, it’s very interesting, because it’s not somebody who’s living on the street. We have ideas of what somebody’s rock bottom should be. And the truth is, addiction is so layered and multi-layered. People can have problems with alcohol and drugs. You might not even know. It doesn’t have to be that somebody’s homeless or in a hospital. It can just be people who are suffering from addiction. That’s what I liked about [Bleeding Love], that it’s sort of like her aspect. Her opinion is that this is every day. This is what all my friends are like. This is not a problem. It’s not an issue. And from this standpoint, as somebody who is sober, he can see that it is a problem. It is an issue. I like that about it. That is going to speak to a lot of people in that respect.

Clara McGregor: I think that for me, it was more about tapping into a version of myself when I was younger, that didn’t know really who I was yet, and didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin, and was lashing out, and was finding other ways to cope with whatever it was. I think it was more tapping into that level of emotion, the kind of desperation you can feel when you can’t really express yourself yet, or know who you are.

Bleeding Love Is a Young, Female-Driven Movie

MW: Let’s talk about Emma. She’s had a lot of work as a director, but this is her debut feature. The film, I saw it cold, surprised me with its visual style. There is an artistic flair as you both go on this Homeric Odyssey and meet all these freaky people. The tow truck driver, who I think is Vera Bulder, your [Clara McGregor] producing partner, was absolutely hilarious. So talk about working with Emma, because Clara, in one sense, you’re a new actor and a new producer. And then Ewan, you’re an experienced, veteran actor. What was it like dealing with her for both of you?

Clara McGregor: Vera actually played the woman in the parking lot. The tow truck driver is actually Vera’s mother-in-law. Jake’s mom, Jake [Weary] had the clown outfit on. There are a lot of family ties going on. But it was amazing working with Emma. I think one thing that has always stood out to me before I really dug into her work was her aesthetic, and her worlds, these kinds of elevated, stylized worlds that are still somehow super rooted in reality.

Clara McGregor: And so I loved her vision for it, the ideas that she brought forward for the film, and how she envisioned it was perfect. And definitely was greater than anything I could have ever thought up myself. It was amazing working with her. It was a very cool story that Emma directed the first movie that Vera was ever in. So they have that connection. We have known each other for a while now. It was a lot of fun.

Ewan McGregor: She’s a brilliant director. She was courageous in terms of the work before we started shooting. She had very firm ideas about the script. There were some changes that she implemented. She was really gentle but confident in them, and she was right. On set as well, she’s got real artistry. She had a great touch. It was impressive to see a young woman in that role just making it happen and leading the crew. It was a very young female-driven movie all round. It was just brilliant to see and feel that sort of power on the set was great.

Ewan McGregor’s Further Motorcycle Adventures

MW: Most of the intimate action between you and Clara takes place in the truck when they’re driving. Those scenes are beautifully shot and cut by Emma. She gave you a lot of credit for your driving. She was like, “Ewan’s basically a stunt driver.” So number one, talk about filming those scenes. And number two, Ewan, I’m a huge fan of your motorcycle docs with Charley Boorman, Long Way Round, Long Way Down, and Long Way Up. Are we ever going to see you on a bike again?

Ewan McGregor: Yes, watch this space! Watch this space! I mean, the last one, we did the last trip in 2019. We got it just before the pandemic. I mean, what good timing. We were lucky to finish in December 2019. And by March 2020, we were shut down, weren’t we? And by the time we had edited and got it out, everyone was in lockdown for a year, so there was this travel show that everyone was ready for. I was pretty lucky. So, we will definitely do more. I’m not able to talk about it at the moment, but just watch this space here.

And that absolutely influences me. We’d done three long, long trips, me and Charley, riding our bikes with cameras, so we’re just so used to riding up close to the camera and like overtaking it, whatever it be, it’s sort of second nature to us now. I should touch wood immediately, because that is a dangerous thing to say.

(Ewan gets up and knocks on the wall of his hotel)

Ewan McGregor: So when it comes to driving a car in a film set, I pretty much feel like I’m really good at that! I also really like driving anyway. But I didn’t do all the driving [in Bleeding Love], sometimes the car was on a loader, and that was nice because we just got loads of time […] Clara and I would have like 15 minutes to chat.

Clara McGregor: We had the greatest transpo team, I’ve got to say as well.

Ewan McGregor: Yeah, that’s true.

Clara McGregor: The team was amazing, especially with a movie like this. You know, it’s an indie film. We’re in this old truck that we’re just praying doesn’t break down, but they were incredible.

Ewan McGregor: Yes, for no money. And it never did break down.

Bleeding Love is currently in theaters and available on demand from Vertical. You can rent or buy it on platforms like Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and below through Google Play:

Watch Bleeding Love