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‘Trainspotting’ rolls into a new station for a new generation

Stars and ASU faculty talk ‘Trainspotting’ then and now

Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle in "T2 Trainspotting" in 2017. 

Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle in "T2 Trainspotting" in 2017. 


Drug induced, high-octane fun with a grounded and honest story is the type of experience the original “Trainspotting” offered when it was released just over 20 years ago. 

Its new iteration, “T2 Trainspotting,” revives the story and themes of the first, while never feeling bogged down by its routes providing a fresh turn that ASU faculty and cast members have looked forward to revisiting.

“Trainspotting,” and “T2 Trainspotting” stars Ewan McGregorJonny Lee MillerEwen Bremner, director Danny Boyle. ASU faculty have taken the impending release of the long-awaited sequel as a chance to reflect on the release of the first film and the new one, along with the impact it made on them personally and culturally. 

The first film, based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, follows drug addict Renton and his friends as they live within the Edinburgh drug scene, struggling to find peace within it or searching for a way out. 

The new film, hitting Harkins Camelview Fashion Square on Friday, revisits Renton and his friends 20 years later and explores what happens when past and present collide. 

Boyle, who returned to direct the sequel, said returning to this film and these characters was something they had tried to do 10 years earlier when the sequel novel, “Porno,” had just been released.

“We had a go at it, and it was not very good,” Boyle said.“I didn’t even bother sending it to the actors because I didn’t feel that there was a real reason to do it. Obviously there’s an onus on you when you return to something with the impact that the first film had. If you’re going to update it you’ve got to have a reason.”

He said that two years ago, he, the original screenwriter, Welsh, and the two producers sat down and said that they needed to work at it because of its 20 year anniversary on the horizon.

“What emerged was much more personal and gave us a reason to make the film, really,” Boyle said. “It becomes not just a sequel — it is obviously a sequel, you can’t deny that — but it has its own right to exist ... which is obviously the passage of time, and especially masculine behavior over time.”

Jason Davids Scott, an assistant professor in the film and media production program at ASU, had a chance to attend an early screening of the new film.

“I was very impressed,” Scott said. “When you have the original writer, the original director, all of the original cast, and they’re all very much committed to the quality of the project … I was optimistic that it would be a quality experience.”

Scott said he was excited for the project because he felt the cast and crew were returning not for the money, but to tell a new story. The original film was not met with initial acclaim, but over time has become a fan favorite. 

“When the film came out, it was the kind of thing I remember having a slow build,” he said. “It wasn’t an instant blockbuster. It had a great word of mouth.”

He said that it became one of those movies that if you allowed yourself to experience it, you became a big fan.

Film and media studies associate professor Jeremy Carr, who has yet to see the film, said when he first heard about a sequel, he was “cautiously optimistic.”

“After the first one, I didn’t walk away saying, ‘I’m ready for more adventures with these guys,’” Carr said. “It felt like a good stand-alone film. So the idea of picking up with them really intrigued me.”

When he saw the trailer for “T2 Trainspotting,” he said the nostalgia of it got to him.

“The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the way it was tapping into the nostalgia of a, ‘Hey remember these guys? Look they are a little bit older,’” Carr said. “It gave you the idea that there will be some familiarity to it, but at the same time, they were bound to change.”

McGregor, who has gone on to star in major blockbusters such as “Star Wars” as Obi-Wan Kenobi and more recently, “Beauty and the Beast’s” Lumiere, said when the original “Trainspotting” was made, they had about seven weeks to make the film and put a lot of effort to it. He said this go 'round was much the same.

“To come back together and find each other again under the same conditions, if you like, and with the same responsibility for the film was just fantastic,” McGregor said. “It felt just like coming home.”


Reach the reporter at balnero13@gmail.com or follow @BaldnerOwen on Twitter.

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