Seminal Brit flick Trainspotting, based on Irvine Welsh’s bestselling novel, became an instant cultural phenomenon upon its release in 1996. With a tense storyline unfolding in the tougher, more run down areas of Edinburgh, the film catapulted a number of its stars to Hollywood fame and posters of its quirky characters lined students’ bedroom walls up and down the country.
And who could forget the soundtrack? Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Primal Scream and of course Underworld’s “Born Slippy” all jostling for attention on the music from the motion picture that Entertainment Weekly voted the 17th best soundtrack of all time in a 2013 countdown.
The unforgettable tale, a heady mix of hard-hitting drama and laugh-out-loud black comedy, centres on the turbulent lives of four Scottish friends, Renton, “Spud,” “Sick Boy” and Begbie, three of whom are heroin users and one of whom is a dangerous psychopath, as they attempt to navigate the trials and tribulations of a life lived on the edge of society.
The main focus is Mark “Rent Boy” Renton, brilliantly played by the then-relatively-unknown-outside-of-the-UK Ewan McGregor, and his struggle to kick the deadly habit that almost costs him his life.
At the end of the film, following a major drug deal that nets them £16,000, Renton escapes with all the money made from the sale (though he does leave behind £2000 for his best friend “Spud”), betraying the others and “choosing life.”
Now after years of speculation the four main stars, McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle, have all expressed an interest in returning for a sequel, set 10 years after the original and based on Welsh’s follow-up novel Porno.
It is not yet known whether Kelly MacDonald, who has also gone on to enjoy a very successful career, will reprise her role as Renton’s love interest Diane. What is known is that the busy schedules of two of the leading actors, Miller and Carlyle, make it unclear when work on a sequel could begin, although the script has already been written.
Miller stars as Sherlock Holmes in US TV series Elementary, while Carlyle is currently appearing in another American TV show Once Upon A Time.
Ideally, Boyle would like to have the movie out in 2016, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original, but it remains to be seen whether that will be possible.
