There's no question that British director Danny Boyle has come a long way since his breakthrough 1996 cult hit "Trainspotting." But in another sense, he's right back where he started. In the sequel, "T2 Trainspotting," Boyle reteams with original co-stars Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and Ewen Bremner as a gang of Scottish friends who reunite after 20 years to rekindle (or put to rest) some old habits.
In between, Boyle’s career has run the gamut — from the frenetic zombie thriller “28 Days Later” (2002) to the sweet coming-of-age parable “Millions” (2004), from the intimate personal drama “127 Hours” (2010) to the world-famous one “Steve Jobs” (2015). Along the way, he won an Oscar for 2008’s fanciful “Slumdog Millionaire.”
The 60-year-old director spoke about his new movie during a recent telephone interview from Austin, Texas, where “T2” screened during the SXSW Film Festival.
Q: When did you first have the idea of revisiting these characters?
A: Well, the first time was about seven years after the original. (Author) Irvine Welsh published a novel ("Porno") that took place 10 years later, and (co-screenwriter) John Hodge and I tried to adapt it, but not very successfully, so we decided to forget it. As we got closer to the 20th anniversary, though, it felt like a now-or-never kind of idea, with a much more personal and critical reason to do it. There's an obvious acuteness about what 20 years means to a person. The characters were now at an age when they couldn't keep trying to relive the good old days, that there were things from the past to atone for or to make peace with. Suddenly, the idea felt very rich. We didn't want to get trapped into just making a sequel. That would've been too easy. There was a quality threshold it had to live up to. It needed to have its own integrity.
Q: Is it fair to say that the original “Trainspotting” put you and the co-stars on the map?
A: Very much so. We were all aware of how much we owed to the first film. It launched all of us into our individual careers, so there was an obligation not just to do a good job, but also to honor it correctly. We applied that to the way we set up the film. Everyone was paid the same, and not very much. This isn't some sort of a cash cow. If the film does well, we'll each earn a share (of the box-office profits) on the back end. It was a true investment going in, not just financially, but also of time and love. By not taking a huge salary from the studio, that gave us a certain freedom and independence to let the second film simply evolve and emerge in the process.
Q: How have you changed as a director since then? Is your filmmaking style or approach to the work any different or better than it used to be?
A: I wouldn't say "better," necessarily, but maybe more accomplished, just having a lot of other experiences in between and learning a lot more about filmmaking in general. In the case of "T2," it was one thing to replicate the visual style of the first "Trainspotting," but the approach to the material was something else. We tried to make many of our storytelling decisions as late as possible, giving the actors more input into their characters, instead of simply imposing the characters on them. As extreme as the characters might seem to be on paper, there's a common humanity about them that really comes across on screen.
Q: Did that involve walking a fine line? One can appreciate the filmmaking technique and the caliber of acting in “T2,” but at the same time, the characters are potentially unlikable and the situations they get into are somewhat unpleasant.
A: There's a broad range of different types of movies, and that's healthy. Some do speak to the dark side, but the main objective is to always be honest to your subject matter. That was our commitment here. The material can be bleak, but we also wanted to invest it with a certain amount of humor, too.
Q: Your films are so varied. Is there anything that connects them? What inspires or compels you to do one project and not another?
A: Generally speaking, I always need to have a strong belief in the story, and a way of trying to create a sense of community among the people I'm working on it with. You persuade them to come aboard for the journey, and hopefully it's not just a job for them. There was a creative energy to the making of "T2," a real feeling of responsibility and achievement, finding a sense of hope and healing in the characters, no matter how dark or cynical the landscape.
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