Director Danny Boyle is taking in the sights at SXSW this week (Renn’s doing his due diligence as well) and promoting his new film Trance. The subject of a Trainspotting sequel was seemingly brought up during the Trance junket because it always gets brought up. And with good reason – Irvine Welsh, writer of the original Trainspotting novel on which the film was based actually wrote a sequel, Porno (buy it here), in 2003. If Boyle were so inclined to revisit Rents, Spud and Begbie, the progenitor exists.
And now it’s on record from Boyle himself. Here’s what The Playlist was able to coax out of the filmmaker:
“This has been a long time coming. There’s always been this long term plan for Trainspotting 2, if John [Hodge] can produce a decent enough script, I don’t think there will be any barriers to Ewan [McGregor] or any of the cast coming back. 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. That will be the only criteria I think.”
Count me among the above-mentioned cherishers of the original Trainspotting. It’s such a complex work, filled with equal amounts optimism against hopeless despair. It’s funny, heart-wrenching, provocative; and to this day it’s still my favorite of Boyle’s works. The seminal film also provided a coterie of performers that continues making waves today – names like Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and Kevin McKidd.
Boyle indicates that 2016, 20 years after the original film, would be prime setting for a followup loosely based around Welsh’s sequel. The Oscar-winning director seems optimistic he can get his players back. If the story’s right and worthy, I have no doubt he’ll accomplish exactly that.