Ewan McGregor Appears on CBS SUNDAY MORNING Today

Actor Ewan McGregor hesitated taking on the role of a real-life tsunami survivor in his latest film "The Impossible," he tells Tracy Smith in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood (9:00 AM, ET) to be broadcast today, Dec. 9, 2012 on the CBS Television Network.

McGregor – who has appeared in nearly 50 films, including three "Star Wars" installments – stars with Naomi Watts in "The Impossible," as a father searching for his three sons who are lost during the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.

"I wondered, is it right to do that? Is it right to be making a movie about a disaster that really happened, where so many people lost their lives?" he tells Smith. He decided to take it on after reading the script.

"I felt like by watching this one family's path through it, you got a great deal of understanding it," he says. "It's an exploration of human nature, ultimately, and for me an opportunity to play a father for, really, the first time in my career."

In a wide-ranging interview, McGregor discusses his craft, being the married father of four, giving up drinking a decade ago and his famed nude scenes.

"Being naked is something that happens in either end of the day for me, and if you're lucky, somewhere in the middle as well," he says. "And I don't understand why it's an issue. I don't take my clothes off in movies because I want to flash my body around. I took my clothes off for movies because I'm an actor." He continues, "I believe in the movies that I make say something about the world and therefore they should reflect human instincts and natures and desires. A big part of that for us is our sexual life and romantic life."

Smith's profile of McGregor will be broadcast today, Dec. 9, 2012 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.