The new film from Roman Polanski stars Ewan McGregor as a ghost writer who undertakes the writing of the ex-Prime Minister's memoirs. Anyone seen it?

I saw it last week, and quite enjoyed it overall. I did feel that the task of writing a 600+ page book in 4 weeks was a little unrealistic, however!...

I enjoyed the Robert Harris book it's based on v much, Becky, so would like to see this.

I can't seem to take Ewan McG seriously in anything though. No idea why, because he seems lovely. I don;t think I've ever recovered from him singing in various films...

I really enjoyed the book, so I'll be looking out for the DVD at some stage. I don't know if I'd have believed an autobiography could be written so fast it wasn't for the DWS blog.

I suppose if you REALLY got your head down... the character in this film spent the first two weeks running around being chased by the CIA though, so I don't think much writing got done.

I sort of know what you mean about Ewan McGregor, Caroline - I thought he was pretty awful in I Love You Philip Morris recently. This is a bit better though.

His worst role was surely that merchant banker that lost all that money - he was rubbish, with a very silly accent.

I saw the film a few weeks back so my memory is a bit hazy but wasn't the book written already, by the dead bloke he was replacing, presumably, and all he had to do was edit? There was this huge manuscript, and I know he did a lot of crossing out and rewriting, but thats not the same as starting out to write 600 pages.

I liked the scenery and the idea but I agree McGregor didn't make a convincing writer. He seemed completely free of any 'angst' or 'demons', and I understand you have to have at least one of these to be a writer. He was so sunny-natured and obliging and sensible that I felt he was building expectations that could do real writers no good.I know my husband was less tolerant of my own outbursts of temper after seeing the film.

Sheila