During his visit to Paris to present his new film Trainspotting Q2, Danny Boyle has done us the pleasure of answering a few questions ! Find out why the title is made to “piss off James Cameron“, what is his relationship with Ewan McGregor, and a few excluded on the music of the film.
Find our interview in French and in English (below) for the purists ?
Interview on January 26, 2017 by Clara Laurence
The question and Answer session with Danny Boyle about Trainspotting T2
Can you explain the title ?
Well, I didn’t want to call it Trainspotting 2. You do not want to make a replica, a copy. It was a way to create an independence vis-à-vis the original film. It was thought : “How the characters would call it ? “. And also, just to annoy James Cameron (laughter).
You really want to make a sequel ?
The film is weird. The characters know, somehow, that there was a film on them. They refer to it. It has this duality to be weird. We didn’t want to make a sequel, because a sequel is something that is done very quickly after the first film as we wanted to have a deeper reason to do the film. We gave up on our version is inspired of ” Porn “, the book, to make something more personal. It is a film about time, the masculinity with the time passing by and because they are nostalgic and want to do what they did twenty years ago and have the same feeling.
What can you tell us about the soundtrack ?
This is not Iggy Pop… and Renton can’t play. He has lost his voice, and this is also why there are no voice overs in the film. He lives an existential crisis, he no longer has confidence in him as before. He overcomes this crisis in the last scene.
How was it with Iggy for the first film ?
I had to call him to ask him for the permission. I explained to him for the film. He knew the book. This is a great guy and his last album is also excellent, done in collaboration with the singer of the Arctic Monkeys. Of course for the film, he must have rights, except when one wants to make a remix : and in this case we must contact them and get along with the artist.
Can you give us a list of good suites of movies (sequels) ?
I’m not a big fan of Star Wars, so I can’t say Star Wars. I can put The Godfather, necessarily, and of course Terminator 2. No matter which suite of Pixar is always good. And Blade Runner. I really admire Denis Villeneuve, and its closing scene in Prisoners, which is one of my favorites : when I saw it I was in the mode ” What ? Oh damn I don’t believe it ! “. Otherwise, for other suites, we can quote The Dark Knight, the silence of The lambs…
When have you started to think about a sequel ? Ten years were not enough ?
In this case, I have a good laugh with the journalists. According to me, ten years is not enough because the actors were not aged because they remain in force, doing sports etc, But to be honest, I didn’t want to even do it. I wanted the actors have aged. The cinema makes people glamorous, even Daniel Blake, and this is why I wanted my actors have aged, and are not glamorous.
I wondered how you had pitché this to the actors, how you’ve led so that they look like the same characters twenty years ago ?
They knew that they didn’t look like what they were twenty years ago. Just a little aside, I’d like to say that we receive really are the best questions to Paris (laughs). In short. With desperate efforts, they have tried to renew the bravery of their first job. But it is a job almost impossible. The film is saturated with images of children or women disappointed. Disappointed men as they were not present for their children. The film also forms a loop : Proust writes about it, and I wanted to, I, too, speak of the loop time. It is a film about the passage of time, and of men who often want to relive their prime of youth, far more than women.
That happened with Ewan ?
I had made it believe that it is the casterait in the film The beach, but it has not been the case. I’m not very proud of this, instead I have cast Leonardo Di Caprio. They are both super guys, but Ewan had been very hurt. T2 is also because of this, a film about the betrayal, and in this case, it is quite autobiographical. But Ewan and I are good friends now. Also, I’m really happy of this last scene, because this emotion, see Ewan dancer is really great for me. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I’ll be proud of my work, having finished it.
Check out the review of the movie Transpotting T2 on Oblikon
The interview of Danny Boyle, in its entirety in English
Can you explain the title ?
Well, I didn’t wanna call it Trainspotting 2. You don’t wanna feel like you’re doing a replica. It was a way of creating an independence from the original film. We thought : “What the characters would want to call it ? “. Also, just to annoy James Cameron (laughs).
So did you really want to do a sequel ?
The film is weird. The characters sort of know they have a movie about them. They resort to it. It has that weird duality. What I understand by sequel, in a way (because we didn’t want to make a sequel because a sequel is something you do really quickly after the first one where as we wanted a deeper reason to make the movie. We abandoned the “Porn” version based on the book, because we wanted to do something more personal. It is a film about time, and masculinity with the time passing by because they’re nostalgic and want to do what they used to do 20 years back and get the same feeling.
What about the soundtrack ?
It’s not Iggie Pop and he can’t play it (Renton), Renton lost his voice and that’s also why there is not a voice over. He’s living a real crisis, he is not confident like he used to be. He overcomes this crisis in the last scene.
How was it with Iggy Pop for the first movie ?
I had to ring him up to ask for his permission. I explained to him about the film. He knew the book. He’s an amazing guy and this is an amazing album, also with the guy from The Arctic Monkeys in his last album. Of course for the movie you have to get the rights except when you want to do a remix, then you have to contact and get along with the artist.
Can you make a list of good sequels ?
I’m not a big Star Wars fan, so I can’t say Star Wars. I can put Godfather, obviously, and of course Terminator 2. Any Pixar # 2 is always gonna be good. And Blade Runner. I really admire Denis Villeneuve and his ending scene in Prisoners, which is one of my favourites. When I saw it I was like : What ?! Holy Fuck ! “. And, as for sequels, of course The Dark Knight, Silence of the lambs.
When did you start to think about a sequel ? Wasn’t ten years enough ?
In this case, I joked with journalists. In my opinion, ten years is not enough, the actors hadn’t aged because they usually work out. But to be honest, I didn’t want to make it yet. I wanted the actors to have aged. The cinema makes people glamourous, even Daniel Blake, and that’s why I wanted my actors to have aged and not to be glamoured.
I was wondering how you pitched that to the actors, how you directed them into the same characters 20 years later ?
They know they didn’t look like what they looked like before. Also, just wanna say that you get the best issues in Paris (laughs). With desperate efforts, they tried to renew the bravado of their first work. But you can’t relive it like that. The film is saturated with the image of childrens gold disappointed women disappointed with them because the men didn’t raise their children). Also there’s a loop : Proust writes about it, and I wanted to talk about the loop of time. This is a film about the passing of time, and that men often want to relive their youth, much more then women.
What happened with Ewan ?
I led him to believe we would cast him in The Beach, but I didn’t a t. I’m not very proud of that because instead I casted Dicaprio. They’re both great guys aim Ewan was very hurt. T2 is also, because of that, a film about betrayal, and in that case, it is autobiographical. Aim Ewan and I are very good friends now.
I’m really happy with that last scene, because this emotion, seeing Ewan’s dancing is really great for me. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I’ll be proud of my work, to sign off with that.