TORONTO — In "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which arrived in theaters Friday, there are men. There are goats. And, yes, staring is involved.
Not revealed in the title is that the truth-based, anti-war farce contains the rare sight of George Clooney doing an awkward white-guy's boogie to Billy Squier's slice of '80s bombast, "The Stroke," that rivals Elaine's spaz-tastic dance on "Seinfeld." Consider yourself warned.
But the moments that earn the biggest laughs in this dark comedy, based on the U.S. Army's actual efforts to train a unit of psychic soldiers, are the result of the on-screen presence of a certain star of a highly popular, if much-derided, sci-fi trilogy.
"Do you want to be a Jedi warrior?" inquires Clooney's Lyn Cassady, a paranormal operative.
The person he's addressing: a down-on-his-luck reporter played by none other than Ewan McGregor, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the "Star Wars" prequels. When his puzzled Bob Wilton, who is investigating the secret operation, asks Cassady, "What's a Jedi warrior?," it only adds to the absurdity.
McGregor didn't have to be psychic to know moviegoers might be distracted by the inside joke. The Scottish actor, 38, discussed the coincidence with director Grant Heslov.
"I asked him, 'How do you feel about all the Jedi references, in that I am one?' He claimed to not have thought about it at all."
It seems that Heslov somehow missed the second wave of the Force. "I only saw the first 'Star Wars films,' and that was a long time ago," he explains. "I thought about him from his other films." The good news: "Audiences love the references."
McGregor also worried that his character might end up being extra baggage as he and Cassady head off on an eventful road trip through Iraq. Along the way, they encounter the far-out founder of the First Earth Battalion (Jeff Bridges, riffing on the Dude from "The Big Lebowski") and a renegade psychic soldier in charge of a training camp (Kevin Spacey in seething villain mode).
"I liked the script very much but, on the page, Bob was quite the straight man," McGregor says. Heslov convinced him that the reporter was colorful in his own right. Plus, he and Clooney engage in a classic love-hate relationship. "He's like Bob's hero to begin with," he says. "By the end, they are lost in the desert, bickering and arguing."
Actually, getting a chance to work with Bridges and Spacey, as well as Clooney, was incentive enough to join the cast. Especially since he and Clooney didn't exchange a word the first time they shared screen time. Back in 1997, McGregor guest-starred on "ER" as a robber who ends up being shot. Clooney's surgeon tries to save him. "I was literally unconscious. He was just doing all the dialogue over my undressed body."
He also had a memorable encounter with Spacey when the "American Beauty" star directed a commercial for Film4 TV in England. "I was going to be dressed as a huge tomato in Trafalgar Square with Dame Judi Dench, who was dressed as a large lobster. I couldn't resist."
McGregor was most excited about interacting with Bridges, and their first scene together did not disappoint. "Our characters had taken LSD, and we had these great big black contact lenses put in so it looked like we were stoned. There was this old keyboard in the corridor of this facility. He was like, 'Hey, man!' We started playing all this psychedelic music until they shouted, 'Action.' I was having all these drug scenes with the Dude."
But probably his closest castmate on the set turned out to be the furriest one.
"It was when George and I are lost, and we are sleeping in the desert. I am supposed to be awakened when a goat with a little bell walks by. I follow the goat, and it leads us to water. It saves our lives. We did the first take, and the goat just ran through."
But on the second take, something magical happened. The movie turned into "The Goat Who Stares at Men."
"The goat looked at me, and it stopped perfectly in the frame. It stood there looking at me for almost 30 seconds. I looked at the goat, and the goat looked at me, then it was almost as if he nodded and just carried on. It was absolutely perfect."
Except for the fact that sand got into the camera lens and ruined the shot. Says McGregor with a sigh, "I know what happened, and that is good enough for me."
Titular goats? We kid you not
Since the beginning of the 20th century, there have been about 90 films brave enough to risk having the word "goat" in their title, not exactly an audience draw.
A quick glance at the list on the Internet Movie Database reveals maybe one had any real influence. That would be the 1981 French comedy "The Goat." There was no goat on screen, however. But Gerard Depardieu was around as a detective.
Of course, when it was released overseas, the title took the untranslated form of "La Chèvre"— which sounds sexier than "The Goat." When Hollywood remade the farce in 1991, it dropped the goat and renamed it "Pure Luck." Which, as far as box office goes, it wasn't.
But when the 2004 nonfiction book "The Men Who Stare at Goats" was optioned for a movie, author Jon Ronson says it was the offbeat title, suggested by his wife over a bottle of wine, that attracted the attention of studio types.
"Goats" director Grant Heslov certainly never saw the titular animals as a problem. Especially since his film at least has actual goats. "It's the title of the book. I just always loved it. I liked the fact it is odd."