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Trainspotting (film)
Encyclopedia
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical
/drama film
directed by Danny Boyle
based on the novel of the same name
by Irvine Welsh
. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts
in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh
and their passage through life. The film stars Ewan McGregor
as Mark Renton, Ewen Bremner
as Spud, Jonny Lee Miller
as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd
as Tommy, Robert Carlyle
as Begbie, and Kelly Macdonald
as Diane. Author Irvine Welsh
also has a cameo appearance
as hapless drug dealer Mikey Forrester.
The Academy Award-nominated screenplay, by John Hodge, was adapted from Welsh's novel. The title of the film refers to a hobby of sitting and watching trains pass by and is used as a metaphor for wasting time. Beyond drug addiction, other concurrent themes in the film are exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in "culturally rich" Edinburgh.
The film has been ranked 10th spot by the British Film Institute
(BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films
of all time. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.
) narration as he and his friend Spud (Ewen Bremner
) run down Princes Street
pursued by security guards. Renton states that unlike people who "choose life" (children, financial stability and material possessions), he has chosen to live as a heroin addict. Renton's close circle of football enthusiast friends are introduced: amoral
con artist Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller
), clean-cut athlete Tommy (Kevin McKidd
), simpleminded, good-natured Spud, and violent sociopath
Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle
). Sick Boy, Spud and Renton are all heroin addicts, and spend their time shooting up at the flat of their drug dealer Swanney (Peter Mullan
).
One day, Renton decides to quit heroin. Realizing he needs one last high, he buys opium rectal suppositories from Mikey Forrester (Irvine Welsh
). After this final hit (and a violent spell of diarrhea), he locks himself into a cheap hotel room to endure withdrawal. He later goes with his friends to a club, finding that his sex drive has returned, and eventually leaves with a young woman, Diane (Kelly MacDonald). After sex, Diane refuses to let him sleep in her room and he spends the night on a sofa in the hallway of the flat. In the morning, he realizes that Diane is a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and that her "flatmates" are actually her parents. Horrified, Renton tries to shake the incident but remains friends with Diane.
Tommy had been dumped by his girlfriend Lizzy after a chain of events inadvertently initiated by Renton. Renton had borrowed one of Tommy and Lizzy's personal sex tapes, hiding it in the case of a football video. Lizzy angrily believed that Tommy had returned their tape to the video store. Sick Boy, Spud and Renton decide to start using heroin again, and a brokenhearted Tommy begins using as well, despite Renton's reluctance to get him started. One day the group's heroin-induced stupor at Swanney's flat is violently interrupted when Allison, their friend and fellow addict, discovers that her infant daughter, Dawn, has died from neglect. All are horrified and grief-stricken, especially Sick Boy, who is implied to be Dawn's father.
Renton and Spud are later caught stealing from a book shop and are pursued by security guards and arrested, as seen in the opening scene of the film. Due to prior convictions, Spud goes to prison, but Renton avoids punishment by entering a Drug Interventions Programme, where he is given methadone
. Despite support from his friends and family, Renton is constantly depressed and bored with life and escapes to Swanney's flat, where he nearly dies of an overdose. Renton's parents take him home and lock him in his old bedroom so he can beat the addiction cold turkey
. As Renton lies in his bed and goes through severe withdrawal symptoms, he hallucinates that he is seeing Diane singing to him, his friends giving him advice, and Allison's dead baby crawling on the ceiling. The heroin withdrawal is inter-cut with a bizarre, imagined TV game show in which host Dale Winton
asks Renton's parents questions about HIV
. Renton is finally roused from his nightmares and hallucination by his parents, who tell him he needs to get tested. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative.
Clean of heroin, Renton is neverthless bored and depressed, feeling that his life has no purpose. He visits Tommy, who is now far gone into addiction and living with HIV in a dark, filthy flat. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London
and starts a job as a property letting agent
. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety, and saves up money on the side while corresponding with Diane. His happiness is again short-lived, however; Begbie commits an armed robbery and arrives at Renton's London flat seeking a hiding place from the police. Sick Boy, who now sees himself as a well-connected pimp
and drug pusher, also shows up at Renton's doorstep. Renton's "mates" make his life miserable, stealing from him and wrecking his flat. Seeking to be rid of them, he puts them up in a property he is responsible for, which they use as a base to commit theft. They soon learn of Tommy's death from toxoplasmosis
and travel back to Edinburgh for his funeral.
Back home, they meet Spud, who has been released from prison. Sick Boy suggests a profitable but dangerous heroin transaction. Sick Boy needs Renton's help to supply half of the initial £4,000. After the purchase, Renton injects a dose of heroin to test the purity. The four then sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000. They go to a pub and celebrate, discussing possible plans for the money. As Begbie and Sick Boy leave to order another round of drinks, Renton suggests to Spud that they both steal the money. Spud is too frightened of Begbie to consider it. Renton, however, believes that neither Sick Boy or Begbie deserve the cash. Early in the morning as the others sleep, Renton quietly takes the money. Spud sees him leave, but does not tell the others. When Begbie awakens, he destroys the hotel room in a violent rage, which attracts the police, presumably leading to his arrest.
Renton travels to London and vows to live the stable, traditional life he described at the beginning of the film. In the final scene, Spud finds £2,000 left for him by Renton in his locker.
or worse". Hodge read it and made it his goal to "produce a screenplay which would seem to have a beginning, a middle and an end, would last 90 minutes and would convey at least some of the spirit and the content of the book". Boyle convinced Welsh to let them option the rights to his book by writing him a letter stating that Hodge and Macdonald were "the two most important Scotsmen since Kenny Dalglish
and Alex Ferguson
". Welsh remembered that originally the people wanting to option his book "wanted to make a po-faced piece of social realism
like Christiane F or The Basketball Diaries
". He was impressed that Boyle, Hodge and Macdonald wanted everyone to see the film and "not just the arthouse audience". In October 1994, Hodge, Boyle and Macdonald spent a lot of time discussing which chapters of the book would and would not translate into film. Hodge finished the first draft by December. Macdonald secured financing from Channel 4
, a British television station known for funding independent films.
. According to Boyle, for the role of Renton, they wanted somebody who had the quality "Michael Caine
's got in Alfie and Malcolm McDowell
's got in A Clockwork Orange
" - a repulsive character with charm "that makes you feel deeply ambiguous about what he's doing". McGregor shaved his head and lost 26 pounds for the film. Ewen Bremner had played Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting and agreed to play the role of Spud. He said, "I felt that these characters were part of my heritage". Boyle had heard about Jonny Lee Miller playing an American in the film Hackers
and was impressed when he auditioned by doing a Sean Connery
accent. For the role of Begbie, Boyle thought about casting Christopher Eccleston
because he resembled how the director imagined the character in the book, but decided to go a different route and asked Robert Carlyle instead. Carlyle said, "I've met loads of Begbies in my time. Wander round Glasgow
on Saturday night and you've a good chance of running into Begbie". For the role of Diane, Boyle wanted an actress with no previous experience "so no-one would twig that a 19-year-old was playing the part" of a 14-year-old. The filmmakers sent flyers to nightclubs and boutiques and even approached people on the street, eventually hiring Kelly Macdonald.
and heroin to prepare for the role. He also went to Glasgow and met people from the Calton Athletic Recovery Group, an organisation of recovering heroin addicts. He was taught how to cook up heroin with a spoon using glucose
powder. McGregor considered injecting heroin to better understand the character, but eventually decided against it. Many of the book's stories and characters were dropped in order to create a cohesive movie script of adequate length. Danny Boyle had his actors prepare by making them watch older movies about rebellious youths like The Hustler
, The Exorcist
and A Clockwork Orange
. The latter film is directly homaged in the scene set in the Volcano nightclub, which is very similar to that set in the Milk Bar in Kubrick's film. Indeed, the track playing in the Volcano club is by Heaven 17
, who took their name from A Clockwork Orange
.
. Although it looks thoroughly offputting, the faeces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland scene was actually made from chocolate. For the look of the film, Boyle was influenced by the colors of Francis Bacon
's paintings, which represented "a sort of in-between land - part reality, part fantasy".
to sell the film as a British Pulp Fiction
, flooding the market with postcards, posters, books, soundtrack albums, and a revamped music video
for "Lust for Life
" by Iggy Pop
directed by Boyle.
Upon its initial release in the United States, the first 20 minutes of Trainspotting were re-edited with alternative dialogue to allow the American audience to comprehend the strong Scottish accents
and slang. In addition, to ensure that the film received an R rating, Boyle trimmed two scenes: a graphic display of a syringe filled with heroin being inserted into a vein and Kelly Macdonald straddling McGregor during an orgasm. The original dialogue was later restored on the Criterion Collection laserdisc
in 1997 and then on the re-release of the "Director's Cut (The Collector's Edition)" DVD
in 2004.
, apart from the opening scenes of the film which were filmed in Edinburgh, and the final scenes which were filmed in London.
Notable locations in the film include:
30 of the 50 locations used were in the then derelict Wills' Cigarette Factory on Alexandra Parade, Glasgow.
were two best-selling albums of music centred around the film. The first is a collection of songs featured in the film, while the second includes those left out from the first soundtrack and extra songs that inspired the filmmakers during production.
but was shown out of competition, according to the filmmakers, due to its subject. However, it went on to become the festival's one unqualified critical and popular hit. The film made £12 million in the domestic market and $72 million internationally. By the time it opened in North America, on July 19, 1996, the film had made more than $18 million in Britain. It initially opened in eight theaters and on its first weekend grossed $33,000 per screen. The film finally made $16.4 million in North America. Trainspotting was the highest-grossing British film of 1996, and at the time it was the fourth highest grossing British film in history.
, Derek Malcolm gave the film credit for actually tapping into the youth subculture of the time and felt that it was "acted out with a freedom of expression that's often astonishing.". Empire
magazine gave the film five out of five stars and described the film as "something Britain can be proud of and Hollywood must be afraid of. If we Brits can make movies this good about subjects this horrific, what chance does Tinseltown have?"
American film critic Roger Ebert
gave the film three out of four stars and praised its portrayal of addicts' experiences with each other. In his review for the Los Angeles Times
, Kenneth Turan wrote, "in McGregor ... the film has an actor whose magnetism monopolizes our attention no matter what". Entertainment Weekly
gave the film an "A" rating and Owen Gleiberman
wrote, "Like Scorsese
and Tarantino
, Boyle uses pop songs as rhapsodic mood enhancers, though in his own ravey-hypnotic style. Whether he's staging a fumbly sex montage to Sleeper
's version of Atomic
or having Renton go cold turkey to the ominous slow build of Underworld
's Dark and Long ... Trainspotting keeps us wired to the pulse of its characters' passions". In her review for The New York Times
, Janet Maslin
wrote, "Trainspotting doesn't have much narrative holding it together. Nor does it really have the dramatic range to cope with such wild extremes. Most of it sticks to the same moderate pitch, with entertainment value enhanced by Mr. Boyle's savvy use of wide angles, bright colors, attractively clean compositions and a dynamic pop score".
Rolling Stone
s Peter Travers wrote, "the film's flash can't disguise the emptiness of these blasted lives. Trainspotting is 90 minutes of raw power that Boyle and a bang-on cast inject right into the vein". In his review for the Washington Post, Desson Howe wrote, "Without a doubt, this is the most provocative, enjoyable pop-cultural experience since Pulp Fiction
". Jonathan Rosenbaum
, in his review for the Chicago Reader, wrote, "Like Twister and Independence Day
, this movie is a theme-park ride — though it's a much better one, basically a series of youthful thrills, spills, chills, and swerves rather than a story intended to say very much". Trainspotting has a 89% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
and an 83 metascore on Metacritic
.
Its release sparked some controversy in some countries, including Britain
, Australia
and the United States
, as to whether it promoted drug use or not. U.S. Senator Bob Dole
accused it of moral depravity and glorifying drug use during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, although he later admitted that he had not actually seen the film. Despite the controversy, it was widely praised and received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in that year's Academy Awards
. Time
magazine ranked Trainspotting as the third best film of 1996.
(BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films
of all time, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film
named it the fourth greatest British film of all time. The Observer
polled several filmmakers and film critics who voted it the best British film in the last 25 years. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time by the public in a poll for The List magazine. Trainspotting has since developed a cult following
. It has also been recognised as an important piece of culture and film during the 1990s
British cultural tour de force known as Cool Britannia
. It was featured in the documentary Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
as well.
The film title is a reference to a scene in the original book (not included in the film) where Begbie and Renton meet "an auld drunkard" who turns out to be Begbie's estranged father, in the disused Leith Central railway station
, which they are visiting to use as a toilet. He asks them if they are "trainspottin'."
Irvine Welsh has also stated in a Q&A that the title is a reference to people thinking trainspotting makes no sense to people not within that group. And he says he feels the same about heroin addicts, to non-addicts the act seems pointless. However if you take heroin, it makes absolute sense.
Some character names are alluded to in the anime Eureka Seven
.
in 1995, including John Hodge for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Best British Film. Hodge won in his category. Hodge also won Best Screenplay from the Evening Standard
British Film Awards. The film won the Golden Space Needle (the award for Best Film) at the 1996 Seattle International Film Festival
. Ewan McGregor was named Best Actor from the London Film Critics Circle
, BAFTA Scotland Awards, and Empire magazine. Hodge was also nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
but failed to win.
to Trainspotting which would take place nine years after the original film, based on Irvine Welsh's sequel, Porno
. He was reportedly waiting until the original actors themselves aged visibly enough to portray the same characters, ravaged by time; Boyle joked that the natural vanity of actors would make it a long wait. Ewan McGregor has stated in interviews that he would not like to make a sequel, due to his preference for being remembered for the critically acclaimed first film, and not an inferior sequel. McGregor is also reportedly angry at Boyle for not casting him in the movie The Beach. As of 1 November 2011, there are no plans to move forward with Porno.
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
/drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...
based on the novel of the same name
Trainspotting (novel)
Trainspotting is the first novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh. It is written in the form of short chapters narrated in the first person by various residents of Leith, Edinburgh, who either use heroin, are friends of the core group of heroin users, or engage in destructive activities that are...
by Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and their passage through life. The film stars Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
as Mark Renton, Ewen Bremner
Ewen Bremner
-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
as Spud, Jonny Lee Miller
Jonny Lee Miller
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd is a Scottish television and film actor and director. Before playing the role of Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy, McKidd starred as Lucius Vorenus in the historical drama series Rome, and provided the voice of Captain John "Soap" Mactavish in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the sequel...
as Tommy, Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
as Begbie, and Kelly Macdonald
Kelly Macdonald
Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2...
as Diane. Author Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
also has a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as hapless drug dealer Mikey Forrester.
The Academy Award-nominated screenplay, by John Hodge, was adapted from Welsh's novel. The title of the film refers to a hobby of sitting and watching trains pass by and is used as a metaphor for wasting time. Beyond drug addiction, other concurrent themes in the film are exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in "culturally rich" Edinburgh.
The film has been ranked 10th spot by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
(BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films
BFI Top 100 British films
In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people from the world of British film and television to produce the BFI 100 list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were 'culturally British'...
of all time. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.
Plot
The film begins with Mark Renton's (Ewan McGregorEwan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
) narration as he and his friend Spud (Ewen Bremner
Ewen Bremner
-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
) run down Princes Street
Princes Street
Princes Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and its main shopping street. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1 mile from Lothian Road in the west to Leith Street in the east. The street is mostly closed to private...
pursued by security guards. Renton states that unlike people who "choose life" (children, financial stability and material possessions), he has chosen to live as a heroin addict. Renton's close circle of football enthusiast friends are introduced: amoral
Amoral
Amoral may refer to:*Amorality, the absence of morality; for example, a stone, a chair, or the sky may be considered amoral**Specific amorality, the absence of some particular moral standard, principle, code, or knowledge...
con artist Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller
Jonny Lee Miller
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
), clean-cut athlete Tommy (Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd
Kevin McKidd is a Scottish television and film actor and director. Before playing the role of Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy, McKidd starred as Lucius Vorenus in the historical drama series Rome, and provided the voice of Captain John "Soap" Mactavish in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the sequel...
), simpleminded, good-natured Spud, and violent sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
). Sick Boy, Spud and Renton are all heroin addicts, and spend their time shooting up at the flat of their drug dealer Swanney (Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan
Peter Mullan is a Scottish actor and film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.-Early life:Mullan, the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia, a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician who worked at Glasgow University. He...
).
One day, Renton decides to quit heroin. Realizing he needs one last high, he buys opium rectal suppositories from Mikey Forrester (Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
). After this final hit (and a violent spell of diarrhea), he locks himself into a cheap hotel room to endure withdrawal. He later goes with his friends to a club, finding that his sex drive has returned, and eventually leaves with a young woman, Diane (Kelly MacDonald). After sex, Diane refuses to let him sleep in her room and he spends the night on a sofa in the hallway of the flat. In the morning, he realizes that Diane is a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and that her "flatmates" are actually her parents. Horrified, Renton tries to shake the incident but remains friends with Diane.
Tommy had been dumped by his girlfriend Lizzy after a chain of events inadvertently initiated by Renton. Renton had borrowed one of Tommy and Lizzy's personal sex tapes, hiding it in the case of a football video. Lizzy angrily believed that Tommy had returned their tape to the video store. Sick Boy, Spud and Renton decide to start using heroin again, and a brokenhearted Tommy begins using as well, despite Renton's reluctance to get him started. One day the group's heroin-induced stupor at Swanney's flat is violently interrupted when Allison, their friend and fellow addict, discovers that her infant daughter, Dawn, has died from neglect. All are horrified and grief-stricken, especially Sick Boy, who is implied to be Dawn's father.
Renton and Spud are later caught stealing from a book shop and are pursued by security guards and arrested, as seen in the opening scene of the film. Due to prior convictions, Spud goes to prison, but Renton avoids punishment by entering a Drug Interventions Programme, where he is given methadone
Methadone
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic and a maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients with opioid dependency. It was developed in Germany in 1937...
. Despite support from his friends and family, Renton is constantly depressed and bored with life and escapes to Swanney's flat, where he nearly dies of an overdose. Renton's parents take him home and lock him in his old bedroom so he can beat the addiction cold turkey
Cold turkey
"Cold turkey" describes the actions of a person who abruptly gives up a habit or addiction rather than gradually easing the process through gradual reduction or by using replacement medication....
. As Renton lies in his bed and goes through severe withdrawal symptoms, he hallucinates that he is seeing Diane singing to him, his friends giving him advice, and Allison's dead baby crawling on the ceiling. The heroin withdrawal is inter-cut with a bizarre, imagined TV game show in which host Dale Winton
Dale Winton
Dale Winton is an English radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Winton's father, Gary, was "domineering" and died when Winton was 13. Winton was brought up by his mother, actress Sheree Winton...
asks Renton's parents questions about HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
. Renton is finally roused from his nightmares and hallucination by his parents, who tell him he needs to get tested. Despite years of sharing syringes with other addicts, Renton tests negative.
Clean of heroin, Renton is neverthless bored and depressed, feeling that his life has no purpose. He visits Tommy, who is now far gone into addiction and living with HIV in a dark, filthy flat. On Diane's advice, Renton moves to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and starts a job as a property letting agent
Letting Agent
A letting agent is a United Kingdom term for a facilitator through which an agreement is made between a landlord and tenant for the rental of a residential property. In the UK the agreement between landlord and tenant is normally formalised by the signing of a tenancy agreement...
. He begins to enjoy his new life of sobriety, and saves up money on the side while corresponding with Diane. His happiness is again short-lived, however; Begbie commits an armed robbery and arrives at Renton's London flat seeking a hiding place from the police. Sick Boy, who now sees himself as a well-connected pimp
Pimp
A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...
and drug pusher, also shows up at Renton's doorstep. Renton's "mates" make his life miserable, stealing from him and wrecking his flat. Seeking to be rid of them, he puts them up in a property he is responsible for, which they use as a base to commit theft. They soon learn of Tommy's death from toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself...
and travel back to Edinburgh for his funeral.
Back home, they meet Spud, who has been released from prison. Sick Boy suggests a profitable but dangerous heroin transaction. Sick Boy needs Renton's help to supply half of the initial £4,000. After the purchase, Renton injects a dose of heroin to test the purity. The four then sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000. They go to a pub and celebrate, discussing possible plans for the money. As Begbie and Sick Boy leave to order another round of drinks, Renton suggests to Spud that they both steal the money. Spud is too frightened of Begbie to consider it. Renton, however, believes that neither Sick Boy or Begbie deserve the cash. Early in the morning as the others sleep, Renton quietly takes the money. Spud sees him leave, but does not tell the others. When Begbie awakens, he destroys the hotel room in a violent rage, which attracts the police, presumably leading to his arrest.
Renton travels to London and vows to live the stable, traditional life he described at the beginning of the film. In the final scene, Spud finds £2,000 left for him by Renton in his locker.
Cast
- Ewan McGregorEwan McGregorEwan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
as Mark "Rent Boy" Renton - Ewen BremnerEwen Bremner-Early life:Bremner was born in Edinburgh, the son of two art teachers. He attended Davidson's Mains Primary School and Portobello High School. He originally wanted to be a circus clown, but was offered a chance in show business by television director Richard D. Brooks. One of his first notable...
as Daniel "Spud" Murphy - Jonny Lee MillerJonny Lee MillerJonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
as Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson - Robert CarlyleRobert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
as Francis "Franco" Begbie - Kevin McKiddKevin McKiddKevin McKidd is a Scottish television and film actor and director. Before playing the role of Owen Hunt in Grey's Anatomy, McKidd starred as Lucius Vorenus in the historical drama series Rome, and provided the voice of Captain John "Soap" Mactavish in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the sequel...
as Tommy MacKenzie - Kelly MacdonaldKelly MacdonaldKelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress, known for her role in the independent film Trainspotting and mainstream releases such as Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park, Intermission, No Country for Old Men and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2...
as Diane Coulston - Peter MullanPeter MullanPeter Mullan is a Scottish actor and film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.-Early life:Mullan, the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia, a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician who worked at Glasgow University. He...
as Swanney "Mother Superior" - Eileen Nicholas as Mrs. Renton
- Susan Vidler as Allison
- Pauline Lynch as Lizzy
- Shirley HendersonShirley HendersonShirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .-Early life:...
as Gail - Irvine WelshIrvine WelshIrvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
as Mikey Forrester - Brianna Maja Harrington as The Baby
- Jayme Frances Hinman as the Cat
Production
Producer Andrew Macdonald read Irvine Welsh's book on a plane in December 1993 and felt that it could be made into a film. He turned it on to director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge in February 1994. Boyle was excited by its potential to be the "most energetic film you've ever seen - about something that ultimately ends up in purgatoryPurgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
or worse". Hodge read it and made it his goal to "produce a screenplay which would seem to have a beginning, a middle and an end, would last 90 minutes and would convey at least some of the spirit and the content of the book". Boyle convinced Welsh to let them option the rights to his book by writing him a letter stating that Hodge and Macdonald were "the two most important Scotsmen since Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
and Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman "Alex" Ferguson, CBE is a Scottish association football manager and former player, currently managing Manchester United, where he has been in charge since 1986...
". Welsh remembered that originally the people wanting to option his book "wanted to make a po-faced piece of social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
like Christiane F or The Basketball Diaries
The Basketball Diaries (film)
The Basketball Diaries is a 1995 American drama film directed by Scott Kalvert, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, James Madio, and Mark Wahlberg...
". He was impressed that Boyle, Hodge and Macdonald wanted everyone to see the film and "not just the arthouse audience". In October 1994, Hodge, Boyle and Macdonald spent a lot of time discussing which chapters of the book would and would not translate into film. Hodge finished the first draft by December. Macdonald secured financing from Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, a British television station known for funding independent films.
Casting
Pre-production began in April 1995 with Ewan McGregor cast in advance after impressing Boyle and Macdonald with his work on their previous film, Shallow GraveShallow Grave
-Track listing:# Leftfield – "Shallow Grave" – 4:38# Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave Theme" – 3:30# Nina Simone – "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – 3:38# Simon Boswell – "Laugh Riot" – 3:02# Leftfield – "Release the Dubs" – 5:45...
. According to Boyle, for the role of Renton, they wanted somebody who had the quality "Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
's got in Alfie and Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years.McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange and Caligula...
's got in A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
" - a repulsive character with charm "that makes you feel deeply ambiguous about what he's doing". McGregor shaved his head and lost 26 pounds for the film. Ewen Bremner had played Renton in the stage adaptation of Trainspotting and agreed to play the role of Spud. He said, "I felt that these characters were part of my heritage". Boyle had heard about Jonny Lee Miller playing an American in the film Hackers
Hackers (film)
Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...
and was impressed when he auditioned by doing a Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
accent. For the role of Begbie, Boyle thought about casting Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
because he resembled how the director imagined the character in the book, but decided to go a different route and asked Robert Carlyle instead. Carlyle said, "I've met loads of Begbies in my time. Wander round Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
on Saturday night and you've a good chance of running into Begbie". For the role of Diane, Boyle wanted an actress with no previous experience "so no-one would twig that a 19-year-old was playing the part" of a 14-year-old. The filmmakers sent flyers to nightclubs and boutiques and even approached people on the street, eventually hiring Kelly Macdonald.
Pre-production
McGregor read books about crackCrack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
and heroin to prepare for the role. He also went to Glasgow and met people from the Calton Athletic Recovery Group, an organisation of recovering heroin addicts. He was taught how to cook up heroin with a spoon using glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
powder. McGregor considered injecting heroin to better understand the character, but eventually decided against it. Many of the book's stories and characters were dropped in order to create a cohesive movie script of adequate length. Danny Boyle had his actors prepare by making them watch older movies about rebellious youths like The Hustler
The Hustler (film)
The Hustler is a 1961 American drama film directed by Robert Rossen from the 1959 novel of the same name he and Sidney Carroll adapted for the screen...
, The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
and A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
. The latter film is directly homaged in the scene set in the Volcano nightclub, which is very similar to that set in the Milk Bar in Kubrick's film. Indeed, the track playing in the Volcano club is by Heaven 17
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...
, who took their name from A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
.
Principal photography
Trainspotting was shot in the summer of 1995 over seven weeks on a budget of $2.5 million with the cast and crew working out of an abandoned cigarette factory in Glasgow. Due to a lack of budget and time constraints, most scenes were done in one take which contributed to the grungy look of the film. For example, when Renton sinks into the floor after overdosing on heroin, the crew built a platform above a trap door and lowered the actor down. The scene where Renton (McGregor) dives in a toilet is a reference to Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's RainbowGravity's Rainbow
Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973.The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military, and, in particular, the quest...
. Although it looks thoroughly offputting, the faeces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland scene was actually made from chocolate. For the look of the film, Boyle was influenced by the colors of Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)
Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
's paintings, which represented "a sort of in-between land - part reality, part fantasy".
Marketing and theatrical release
Macdonald worked with Miramax FilmsMiramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
to sell the film as a British Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, flooding the market with postcards, posters, books, soundtrack albums, and a revamped music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Lust for Life
Lust for Life (song)
"Lust for Life" is a 1977 song performed by Iggy Pop and co-written by David Bowie, featured on the album Lust for Life. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it #147 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-Music:...
" by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
directed by Boyle.
Upon its initial release in the United States, the first 20 minutes of Trainspotting were re-edited with alternative dialogue to allow the American audience to comprehend the strong Scottish accents
Scottish English
Scottish English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Scotland. It may or may not be considered distinct from the Scots language. It is always considered distinct from Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language....
and slang. In addition, to ensure that the film received an R rating, Boyle trimmed two scenes: a graphic display of a syringe filled with heroin being inserted into a vein and Kelly Macdonald straddling McGregor during an orgasm. The original dialogue was later restored on the Criterion Collection laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in 1997 and then on the re-release of the "Director's Cut (The Collector's Edition)" DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2004.
Filming locations
Despite being set in Edinburgh, almost all of the film was filmed in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, apart from the opening scenes of the film which were filmed in Edinburgh, and the final scenes which were filmed in London.
Notable locations in the film include:
- The opening scene showing Renton and Spud being chased by store detectives was filmed on Princes StreetPrinces StreetPrinces Street is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and its main shopping street. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1 mile from Lothian Road in the west to Leith Street in the east. The street is mostly closed to private...
, Edinburgh. A scene showing the actual theft did not make the final cut and was filmed in the music department of the since-closed John MenziesJohn MenziesJohn Menzies plc is a Scottish business established in 1833. It has two main divisions: Menzies Distribution and Menzies Aviation. Menzies Distribution is a major distributor of newspapers and magazines throughout the United Kingdom...
, also on Princes Street, the store still exists but is now owned by the retail giants NextNext- Film and stage :* Next , an American film starring Nicolas Cage* Players , a Bollywood film produced under the name Next* Next , by Terrence McNally...
. - The scene where the chase ends is on Calton Road, Edinburgh, near the rear entrance of Waverley Station.
- The park where Sick Boy and Renton discuss James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
, and The Name of the RoseThe Name of the Rose (film)The Name of the Rose is a 1986 film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the book of the same name by Umberto Eco. Sean Connery is the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Christian Slater is his apprentice Adso of Melk, who are called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval...
is Rouken Glen Park in Newton MearnsNewton MearnsNewton Mearns is a suburban town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. It lies southwest of Glasgow City Centre on the main road to Ayrshire, above sea level. It has a population of approximately 22,637.The town is part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...
, near ThornliebankThornliebankThornliebank is a small suburban village in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, south of Glasgow. It is served by Thornliebank railway station and lies to the east of the M77 motorway.-History:...
. The park was also the site of the grave in Boyle's previous film, Shallow GraveShallow Grave-Track listing:# Leftfield – "Shallow Grave" – 4:38# Simon Boswell – "Shallow Grave Theme" – 3:30# Nina Simone – "My Baby Just Cares for Me" – 3:38# Simon Boswell – "Laugh Riot" – 3:02# Leftfield – "Release the Dubs" – 5:45...
. - Corrour railway stationCorrour railway stationCorrour railway station is a railway station on the West Highland Line,Scotland. It is situated near Loch Ossian and Loch Treig, on the Corrour Estate. It is the highest mainline railway station in the United Kingdom.- Location :...
is the setting for the "great outdoors" scene in the film. - The flat that Renton shows the young couple around when he gets the job as an estate agent and ultimately stashes Begbie and Sick Boy in is 78A Talgarth Road in West KensingtonWest Kensington- Commercial/education :Local business consists of small shops, offices and restaurants, with the Olympia Exhibition Centre nearby. Indeed, it is the mix of local shops that give the area its character....
, London, opposite West Kensington tube stationWest Kensington tube stationWest Kensington is a London Underground District Line station in West Kensington. It is located in North End Road close to the junction of that road and West Cromwell Road/Talgarth Road ....
. - The scenes where they do their drug deal takes place in BayswaterBayswaterBayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
. The scene where they parody the cover of The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
album Abbey Road takes place as they walk out of Smallbrook Mews across Craven Road to the Royal Eagle, 26–30 Craven Road, BayswaterBayswaterBayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
. - The school attended by Diane is JordanhillJordanhill SchoolJordanhill School educates children from age 5-18. It is located on Chamberlain Road in Glasgow, Scotland.Uniquely among mainstream Scottish schools, it is funded directly by the Scottish Executive, rather than through the local authority, in this case Glasgow City Council...
in Glasgow's West End. - The pub in which Begbie throws a pint glass off a balcony is Crosslands, located on Queen Margaret Drive, GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. The pub has an oil painting depicting the scene hung in the upstairs area.
30 of the 50 locations used were in the then derelict Wills' Cigarette Factory on Alexandra Parade, Glasgow.
Soundtracks
The Trainspotting soundtracksTrainspotting (soundtrack)
-Trainspotting #2: Music from the Motion Picture, Vol. #2:-Complete soundtrack list:The following is a complete list of songs that appear in Trainspotting in order of appearance:#"Lust for Life" - Iggy Pop#"Carmen Suite No.2" - Georges Bizet...
were two best-selling albums of music centred around the film. The first is a collection of songs featured in the film, while the second includes those left out from the first soundtrack and extra songs that inspired the filmmakers during production.
Reaction
Trainspotting was screened at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival1996 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Francis Ford Coppola *Nathalie Baye *Greta Scacchi, actrice *Michael Ballhaus *Henry Chapier *Atom Egoyan *Eiko Ishioka *Krzysztof Piesiewicz *Antonio Tabucchi...
but was shown out of competition, according to the filmmakers, due to its subject. However, it went on to become the festival's one unqualified critical and popular hit. The film made £12 million in the domestic market and $72 million internationally. By the time it opened in North America, on July 19, 1996, the film had made more than $18 million in Britain. It initially opened in eight theaters and on its first weekend grossed $33,000 per screen. The film finally made $16.4 million in North America. Trainspotting was the highest-grossing British film of 1996, and at the time it was the fourth highest grossing British film in history.
Critical reception
In Britain, Trainspotting garnered almost universal praise from critics. In his review for The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Derek Malcolm gave the film credit for actually tapping into the youth subculture of the time and felt that it was "acted out with a freedom of expression that's often astonishing.". Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazine gave the film five out of five stars and described the film as "something Britain can be proud of and Hollywood must be afraid of. If we Brits can make movies this good about subjects this horrific, what chance does Tinseltown have?"
American film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film three out of four stars and praised its portrayal of addicts' experiences with each other. In his review for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Kenneth Turan wrote, "in McGregor ... the film has an actor whose magnetism monopolizes our attention no matter what". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the film an "A" rating and Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
wrote, "Like Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
and Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, Boyle uses pop songs as rhapsodic mood enhancers, though in his own ravey-hypnotic style. Whether he's staging a fumbly sex montage to Sleeper
Sleeper (band)
Sleeper were a British Britpop band in the 1990s fronted by Louise Wener. The band had eight UK Top 40 hit singles and three UK Top 10 albums. Their music was also featured in the soundtrack of Trainspotting.-Career:...
's version of Atomic
Atomic (song)
"Atomic" is a song by the American New Wave band Blondie, written by Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri and produced by Mike Chapman. It was released as the third single from the band's 1979 album Eat to the Beat.-Song information:...
or having Renton go cold turkey to the ominous slow build of Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...
's Dark and Long ... Trainspotting keeps us wired to the pulse of its characters' passions". In her review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
wrote, "Trainspotting doesn't have much narrative holding it together. Nor does it really have the dramatic range to cope with such wild extremes. Most of it sticks to the same moderate pitch, with entertainment value enhanced by Mr. Boyle's savvy use of wide angles, bright colors, attractively clean compositions and a dynamic pop score".
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Peter Travers wrote, "the film's flash can't disguise the emptiness of these blasted lives. Trainspotting is 90 minutes of raw power that Boyle and a bang-on cast inject right into the vein". In his review for the Washington Post, Desson Howe wrote, "Without a doubt, this is the most provocative, enjoyable pop-cultural experience since Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
". Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
, in his review for the Chicago Reader, wrote, "Like Twister and Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
, this movie is a theme-park ride — though it's a much better one, basically a series of youthful thrills, spills, chills, and swerves rather than a story intended to say very much". Trainspotting has a 89% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and an 83 metascore on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Its release sparked some controversy in some countries, including Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as to whether it promoted drug use or not. U.S. Senator Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
accused it of moral depravity and glorifying drug use during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, although he later admitted that he had not actually seen the film. Despite the controversy, it was widely praised and received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in that year's Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine ranked Trainspotting as the third best film of 1996.
Legacy
The film had an immediate impact on popular culture. In 1999, Trainspotting was ranked in the 10th spot by the British Film InstituteBritish Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
(BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films
BFI Top 100 British films
In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people from the world of British film and television to produce the BFI 100 list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were 'culturally British'...
of all time, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
named it the fourth greatest British film of all time. The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
polled several filmmakers and film critics who voted it the best British film in the last 25 years. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time by the public in a poll for The List magazine. Trainspotting has since developed a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
. It has also been recognised as an important piece of culture and film during the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
British cultural tour de force known as Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia is a media term that was used during the late 20th century to describe the contemporary culture of the United Kingdom. The term was prevalent during the 1990s and later became closely associated with the early years of "New Labour" under Tony Blair...
. It was featured in the documentary Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop
Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop is a 2003 documentary film written and directed by John Dower. The documentary is a study of popular culture in the United Kingdom during the mid to late 1990s...
as well.
The film title is a reference to a scene in the original book (not included in the film) where Begbie and Renton meet "an auld drunkard" who turns out to be Begbie's estranged father, in the disused Leith Central railway station
Leith Central railway station
Leith Central Railway Station was a railway station in Leith, Scotland. It formed the terminus of a North British Railway branch line from Edinburgh Waverley...
, which they are visiting to use as a toilet. He asks them if they are "trainspottin'."
Irvine Welsh has also stated in a Q&A that the title is a reference to people thinking trainspotting makes no sense to people not within that group. And he says he feels the same about heroin addicts, to non-addicts the act seems pointless. However if you take heroin, it makes absolute sense.
Some character names are alluded to in the anime Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven, known in Japan as , is a mecha anime TV series by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians....
.
Awards
Trainspotting was nominated for three British Academy Film AwardsBritish Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
in 1995, including John Hodge for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Best British Film. Hodge won in his category. Hodge also won Best Screenplay from the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
British Film Awards. The film won the Golden Space Needle (the award for Best Film) at the 1996 Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
. Ewan McGregor was named Best Actor from the London Film Critics Circle
London Film Critics Circle
The London Film Critics' Circle is the name by which the Film Section of The Critics' Circle is known internationally.The word London was added because it was thought the term Critics' Circle Film Awards lacked meaning — for people in LA for example — and the Film Section wished its annual Awards...
, BAFTA Scotland Awards, and Empire magazine. Hodge was also nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
but failed to win.
Sequel
Boyle has stated his wish to make a sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to Trainspotting which would take place nine years after the original film, based on Irvine Welsh's sequel, Porno
Porno (novel)
Porno is a novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, and is the sequel to Trainspotting.The book describes the characters of Trainspotting ten years after the events of the earlier book, as their paths cross again, this time with the pornography business as the backdrop rather than heroin use...
. He was reportedly waiting until the original actors themselves aged visibly enough to portray the same characters, ravaged by time; Boyle joked that the natural vanity of actors would make it a long wait. Ewan McGregor has stated in interviews that he would not like to make a sequel, due to his preference for being remembered for the critically acclaimed first film, and not an inferior sequel. McGregor is also reportedly angry at Boyle for not casting him in the movie The Beach. As of 1 November 2011, there are no plans to move forward with Porno.
Further reading
- Trainspotting, by Fredric Dannen, John Hodge, Barry Long, Irvine Welsh. Published by Hyperion, 1997. ISBN 0-7868-8221-2.
- Trainspotting screenplay by John Hodge
- Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting: A Reader's Guide, by Robert A. Morace. Published by Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 0-8264-5237-X.
- Working-class Fiction: From Chartism to Trainspotting, by Ian Haywood. Published by Northcote House in association with the British Council, 1997. ISBN 0-7463-0780-2.
- Trainspotting: Director, Danny Boyle, by Martin Stollery. Published by Longman, 2001. ISBN 0-582-45258-9.
- Welsh Warner and Cinematic Adaptation Contemporary Scottish Fictions—Film, Television, and the Novel: Film, Television and the Novel, by Duncan J. Petrie. Published by Edinburgh University Press, 2004.ISBN 0-7486-1789-2. Page 101-102.
- Screening Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, by Aaron Kelly. Published by Manchester University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-7190-6651-4.Page 68.
- Trainspotting and My Name is Joe Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada, and the U.S., by Susan C. Boyd. Published by Routledge, 2008. ISBN 0-415-95706-0. Page 169
External links
- Article on Trainspotting at MetaPhilm
- Review: Trainspotting at Counter Culture
- BBC Films review - Trainspotting Definitive Edition DVD (1996)