Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting was undeniably a landmark film for British cinema in the nineties, and there have been few and far between since then that have enjoyed a similarly iconic status. It’s been almost twenty years since the film came out, and now Danny Boyle has been speaking about returning to that world with a Trainspotting sequel, which has the potential to be brilliant.
The original film is of course based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, which itself was followed by the sequel, Porno.
Speaking to The Playlist, Boyle notes that the sequel would be very loosely based on Porno, but wouldn’t be a straight adaptation from page to screen.
If all goes according to plan, then he’d be looking to make the Trainspotting sequel in 2016, marking the 20th anniversary of the original film. And it sounds like he’s confident that the original cast, led by Ewan McGregor, would be happy to come back for more.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “There’s always been this long term plan for ‘Trainspotting 2,’ if John can produce a decent enough script, I don’t think there will be any barriers to Ewan or any of the cast coming back,” he said. “I think they’ll wanna know that the parts are good so they don’t feel like they are letting anyone down.
“The reason for doing it again is that people cherish the original, people remember it or have caught up with it if they never saw because they were younger. So you want to make sure you don’t disappoint people,” he continued. “That will be the only criteria I think.”
And when asked about what kind of film it would be, he replied,
“It’s very loosely based on ‘Porno.’ There’s a couple of things that are based on the book, but obviously we’d have to have Irvine on board.”
John Hodge, with whom Boyle has collaborated for years (Hodge wrote Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, and most recently Boyle’s upcoming Trance), is already getting to work on the screenplay, and that’s naturally very encouraging.
Boyle also notes that he’s working on two period films, one of which will be an adaptation of an as-yet-unnamed novel, and the other is currently being written by Hodge as well.
“We’re working on two period pieces at the moment, but they won’t be like, ‘Downton Abbey’ period movies,” he said. “They’re like… they’re interesting. They’ve arisen very naturally. I never thought I’d do a period piece. It’s weird the way it happens. Maybe because we’re running out of genres,” he chuckled.
And when asked which film would be coming first:
“Well, the ideal time would be ‘Porno’ in 2016,” he said. “Because it was 1996 when ‘Trainspotting’ came out. 20 years, it’s like wow, where did that go.”
Naturally, it sounds like Boyle is fully aware of the kind of status the original Trainspotting film has, and how much love people have for it. Regardless of how good the sequel is, the brilliance of the original won’t change. But, of course, we all want it to live up to the expectations set by the first film. The bar is set very high, but if all of the original talent return as Boyle expects, then I’d definitely be looking forward to the results.
Boyle’s next film, Trance, will be released on 27th March in the UK and will open in limited release on 5th April in the US. And here’s to hoping that the Trainspotting sequel won’t be too far behind it. If you’ve seen the original, let us know your thoughts on the possibility of a sequel in 2016.
