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Choose life... choose fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets! Join us as we count down the most captivating trivia from Danny Boyle's cult classic "Trainspotting" on its 30th anniversary! (397 characters)
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00:00Sooner or later, this kind of thing was bound to happen.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:06And today we're counting down our picks for the most fascinating trivia related to Danny Boyle's co-classic masterpiece, Trainspotting.
00:12I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life.
00:16I'm looking forward to it already.
00:19Number 10, John Hodge's Experience.
00:22Well, John, was it hard for you?
00:24Well, I wasn't very optimistic about it at first.
00:26Because?
00:27Irvin's book is a collection of short stories.
00:29That's how it was conceived rather than as a novel.
00:31Before adapting Irvine Welsh's debut novel, John Hodge worked as a doctor in Edinburgh.
00:36His extensive knowledge of the effects of narcotics and withdrawal brought a grim authenticity to the screenplay for Trainspotting.
00:42He even added some set pieces to Welsh's episodic narrative based on personal accounts.
00:46The downside of coming off junk was I knew I would need to mix with my friends again in a
00:50state of full consciousness.
00:51It was awful.
00:53They reminded me so much of myself I could hardly bear to look at them.
00:56The novelist initially questioned if his culturally and structurally particular portrait of modern Scotland could work as a film.
01:02But this kind of commitment to tackling its darkest subculture convinced him to largely step away from the adaptation process.
01:08Pile misery upon misery.
01:10Keep it up on a spoon and dissolve it with a drop of bile.
01:12Then squirt it into a stinking, purulent vein and do it all over again.
01:16He did give his blessing by appearing in the film as the dealer Mikey Forrester, following Hodge's cameo as a
01:21security guard in the opening chase sequence.
01:23Number 9.
01:24Begby's Big Secret
01:25Enough of luck.
01:28Well, the game was mine.
01:34And that was it.
01:35In a 2009 interview for BAFTA's website, Robert Carlyle revealed that he built his performance as Franco Begby around a
01:41private backstory.
01:42He believed that the character's volatile alpha male persona stemmed from struggles with his secret homosexuality.
01:48Remarkably, Irvine Welsh responded in an interview with the Times that this is how he conceived Begby in the book.
01:54He even further explored the toxic insecurity in the 2002 sequel without ever officially outing Begby.
02:00I'm afraid it's a no, Frank.
02:05Well, well, well.
02:07That was a morning blow, I can tell you.
02:09This revelation still added a new layer of tragedy to this imposing antagonist and what he represented in a hyper
02:15-masculine culture.
02:16With instincts that keen, it's no wonder Carlyle received BAFTA's Scotland nominations for both Trainspotting and its original sequel.
02:23Aye.
02:24Alright, Frank.
02:27Now you're a good man, Mr. Wilson.
02:31I respect you for that.
02:32Number 8.
02:33Miller.
02:34Johnny Lee Miller.
02:35Certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life.
02:38What do you mean?
02:41Well, at one point you've got it, and then you lose it.
02:45Trainspotting was noted for its dedication to casting Scottish actors, save for one Englishman.
02:49Johnny Lee Miller's name was floated out there after he showcased his accent skills in the American thriller, Hackers.
02:55A pitch-perfect Sean Connery impression during the audition sealed the deal.
02:59Do you see the beast?
03:01Have you got it in your sights?
03:04Clear enough, Mitch Moneypenny.
03:06This should present no significant problems.
03:10Miller then went full method, keeping up Simon Sick Boy Williamson's accent between takes, and during outings in Glasgow.
03:16A few confidants supposedly supported this facade, until Miller surprised several attendees at the wrap party with his real voice.
03:23What's most impressive is that he did it all with no dialect coach.
03:37He did, however, use one for T2, which Ewan McGregor crudely joked was due to Miller quitting drinking.
03:43Number 7.
03:44McGregor's Method.
03:45I think you're lying.
03:47You're right.
03:48You see, they don't really know me.
03:49No, Alex.
03:50We don't really love you.
03:52The breakout star of Shallow Grave was so confident that he'd be in Danny Boyle's follow-up that he shaved
03:57his head for the role before it was offered.
03:59Sure enough, Ewan McGregor was the first choice to play Mark Rentboy Renton.
04:03Then came the hard work.
04:04The actor lost nearly 13 kilos in two months to portray heroin dependency, and even contemplated using the dangerous drug
04:11to understand its effects.
04:13I'm in the junkie limbo at the moment.
04:15Too ill to sleep.
04:16Too tired to stay awake.
04:19But the sickness is on its way.
04:20He instead stuck to extensive research that involved visiting the Calton Athletic Recovery Group, where patients taught him how to
04:27cook heroin.
04:28McGregor was as dedicated to authenticity as his health would allow.
04:30Maybe I, maybe I should go back to the clinic.
04:34No, no clinics.
04:36No methadone.
04:38Only made you worse.
04:40You said so yourself.
04:41This paid off with a BAFTA Scotland Award for the performance that made him a legend.
04:45Number 6, A Clockwork Orange.
04:56It's not hard to spot one key influence on Danny Boyle's stylish and darkly-heated
05:00humor and narration on moral decay in British society.
05:03A Clockwork Orange was among the films screened for the cast of Trainspotting as Education.
05:07Oh?
05:09And what's so stinking about it?
05:13It's a stinking world because there's no law nor other anymore.
05:16Still, audiences might have missed the ingenious easter eggs in the design of the Volcano nightclub scene.
05:22The white sculptures, lighting, and writing on the walls reference the Kurova milk bar in Stanley Kubrick's controversial masterpiece.
05:29All the while, the sound system blasts Temptation by Heaven 17, who named themselves after a fictional pop band in
05:35Anthony Burgess' original novel.
05:46It looks as though A Clockwork Orange had a lingering influence on British youth culture after all.
05:51Number 5, The Worst Toilet in Scotland.
05:53Heroine makes you constipated.
05:55The heroin from my last hit is fading away and the suppositories have yet to melt.
06:02I'm no longer constipated.
06:04Renton's bathroom emergency during a comedown leads to one of the film's most infamous sequences.
06:09A whimsical underwater fantasy doesn't quite take audiences out of the fact that he's fishing around the worst toilet in
06:14Scotland to save opioid suppositories.
06:17But maybe there's comfort in knowing that the set was actually coated in chocolate.
06:20This reportedly sweet-smelling scene had to have been less challenging than shooting Renton's Lagoon Daydream in a swimming pool
06:27in Glasgow.
06:36Danny Boyle just had to round out his homage to the toilet scene in the Thomas Pinchon novel Gravity's Rainbow.
06:42Who would have thought that such a disgusting set piece would have such an elevated and appetizing backstory?
06:46It's a theater trick. So what you do is you, there's a, there's a toilet bowl, you know, and you
06:52cut it in half.
06:54But the camera's there so it only sees the half that remains.
06:57Number 4, Where's Tommy?
06:59You always got the truth from Tommy. It was one of his major weaknesses.
07:02He never told lies, he never took drugs, and he never cheated on anyone.
07:06You may have noticed a glaring absence from the iconic character posters for Trainspotting.
07:09Trainspotting. The initially clean-living footballer Tommy McKenzie has the most tragic arc in the whole Bleak Affair.
07:15But while after Kevin McKidd went to Tunisia on holiday straight after production wrapped,
07:19the cast photo shoot for promotional materials was hastily arranged.
07:23Again, it broke the mold. That isn't what a film poster looks like.
07:28Is it true that this was the day after, was it the wrap party?
07:31Thus, Tommy would be the only principal character not featured on Trainspotting's posters and video covers.
07:37McKidd never received an explanation on why he was cut from this permanent art installation on dorm room walls.
07:42So while the world enjoys his incredible performance,
07:45he says that the classic film is tainted for him by the lack of closure to his hard work.
07:49You take your taste?
07:53Aye.
07:57Clear?
07:59Aye.
08:00Number 3.
08:01The soundtrack.
08:02Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance.
08:05Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments.
08:08Choose a starter home.
08:09Choose your friends.
08:11How could a film with this low of a budget afford one of the great soundtracks of the 1990s?
08:16They certainly couldn't afford to use David Bowie's Golden Years.
08:18Still, the music icon was such a fan of Irmine Welch's novel and Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave
08:24that he recommended Iggy Pop's Lust for Life.
08:32This leverage opened doors to some major artists, and Bobby Gillespie was so moved by a test screening of Trainspotting
08:38that Primal Scream donated the titular theme song.
08:41Charlie Nicholas, David Niven, Malcolm McLaren, Elvis Presley.
08:45Okay, okay, so what is the point you're trying to make?
08:47Many more contributors would enjoy a solid return on their investment as the two-volume soundtrack album blew up the
08:52charts.
08:53With Bowie helping to make that possible, T2 pays his respects with the scene of Renton going through his albums.
08:58Number 2.
08:58American Distribution
09:00Now, I've justified this to myself in all sorts of ways.
09:03It wasn't a big deal, just a minor betrayal, or we'd outgrown each other.
09:08Trainspotting had grossed around eight times its budget in the UK by the time it came to the US.
09:13And yet, local distributor Miramax Films was concerned that the subject matter and thick accents would alienate audiences.
09:20When we were all in this together, and I wanted to put across the general idea rather than the details.
09:24Like, people get all hung up on details.
09:26Like, which school did I go to?
09:27How many oknays did I get?
09:29Could be like six!
09:30Thus, the actors dubbed the first 20 minutes of dialogue with softened accents to help American ears adjust.
09:36The sexual content was also trimmed to avoid the MPAA rating of NC-17.
09:40Failure on your part to live up to these very reasonable expectations will result in swift resumption of a non
09:46-sex situation.
09:48Right?
09:48And still, Trainspotting performed below expectations across the pond.
09:53It didn't help that Senator Bob Dole claimed that the film glorified heroin, despite having not seen it.
09:58Thankfully, the uncut version has become a cult classic in the States, along with the rest of the world.
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10:30Number 1.
10:31Production Difficulties and Triumph.
10:43Trainspotting was shot in 35 days with a budget of 1.5 million pounds.
10:48Director Danny Boyle and company had to get creative.
10:51This book blazes with passion about stories, about characters again, that don't have to be told reminding you of the
10:58narrator or anything like that.
11:00They saved money by mostly filming Glasgow for Edinburgh.
11:02The long summer days required careful scheduling for night shoots after 11pm.
11:06I was very impressed with the capable and stylish manner in which you dealt with that situation.
11:10And I was thinking to myself, now this girl's special.
11:13Thanks.
11:14What's your name?
11:15Diane.
11:16And most of the scenes were shot in a single take, with elaborate set pieces requiring improvisation.
11:21The filmmakers effectively hid their modest memes, but then there was the matter of marketing.
11:26What's on the menu this evening, sir?
11:28The dodgiest scam in a lifetime of dodgy scams.
11:31Polygram Filmed Entertainment gambled a then-unprecedented £800,000 promotion budget as a sign of faith in the project.
11:38The result was a massive commercial and critical hit that made stars of its entire team.
11:43These gentlemen are £2,000 bundles.
11:46That's two.
11:49That's four.
11:51We settled in £16,000.
11:53Three decades and a hit sequel later, Trainspotting remains an important underdog story.
11:58What's your favorite bit of behind-the-scenes trivia for Trainspotting?
12:01Serve up your favorite dish in the comments.
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