Danny Boyle confirms Trainspotting Sequel

Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire among many others, has confirmed plans for a Trainspotting sequel, scheduled for release next year which also marks the 20th Anniversary of the original box-office hit.

Based on the Irvine Welsh novel by the same name, Trainspotting was Boyle’s first major hit following 1994’s Shallow Grave. The movie also helped shoot its stars Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Jonny Lee Miller to fame. The movie often appears in charts of the best British films.

“All the four main actors want to come back and do it,” said Boyle. “Now it is only a matter of getting all their schedules together which is complicated by two of them doing American TV series,” he added.

The sequel, based on Welsh’s 2002 sequel ‘Porno’, takes up ten years after events wrapped up in Trainspotting where Sick Boy (Miller) now runs a gastropub, Renton (McGregor) has kicked the habit, Begbie (Carlyle) is still a violent psychopath and Spud Murphy (played by Bremner) is attempting to kick the habit.

The novel has been adapted by John Hodge, with Boyle declaring the sequel’s script “terrific”, and Boyle wants the film to be his next project, if the scheduling issues can be resolved.

McGregor, had previously said that a sequel would be a “terrible shame”, but the actor has become more enthusiastic about the project and recently told the Edinburgh International Film Festival that “it would make sense for the sequel to be made in 2016, the 20th anniversary of the original”.

Welsh has been involved in creative discussions over the sequel and he had previously said: “We’re not interested in doing something that will trash the legacy of Trainspotting. We want to do something that’s very fresh and contemporary.”

The highest-grossing British film of 1996, the Oscar-nominated Trainspotting was ranked 10th by the British Film Institute in its list of top 100 British films. Shot for just £1.5m, the Channel 4 film went on to take £48m at the global box office and continues to rack up DVD sales.

Trainspotting’s soundtrack album, featuring Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” and Underworld’s “Born Slippy”, became a huge hit at the height of Britpop in the 1990s.