T2 Trainspotting

T2 Trainspotting
British release poster
Directed by	Danny Boyle
Produced by	Bernard Bellew Danny Boyle Christian Colson Andrew Macdonald
Screenplay by	John Hodge
Based on	Porno and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Starring	Ewan McGregor Ewen Bremner Jonny Lee Miller Robert Carlyle Anjela Nedyalkova
Cinematography	Anthony Dod Mantle
Edited by	Jon Harris
Production companies	Film4 Creative Scotland Cloud Eight Films DNA Films Decibel Films
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date	22 January 2017 (2017-01-22) (Edinburgh) 27 January 2017 (2017-01-27) (United Kingdom) 17 March 2017 (2017-03-17) (United States)
Running time	117 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$18 million[2][3]
Box office	$41.6 million[3]

T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 British comedy drama film, set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland. The film is directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge, based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his novel Trainspotting and its follow-up Porno. T2 was released in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2017^[4] and worldwide throughout February and March 2017.

A sequel to Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, T2 stars the original ensemble cast, including Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald. T2 is deliberately self-referential, with film-clips, music and echoes from the first film. The screenplay is based on Porno, with characters and elements lifted from the novel Trainspotting.^[5]

Plot

In the 20 years since Mark Renton stole £16,000 in drug money from his friends he has married and been living in Amsterdam. After going through a divorce which renders him homeless and being diagnosed with ACS, he decides to return to Edinburgh. Daniel "Spud" Murphy, still a heroin addict, has lost his construction job and is estranged from his girlfriend, Gail, and son, Fergus. Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson now abuses cocaine, owns a pub he inherited from his aunt, and engages in blackmail schemes with his Bulgarian dominatrix girlfriend Veronika. Francis "Franco" Begbie is serving a 25-year prison sentence and is denied parole due to his violent temper.

Renton stops by his childhood home, where his father tells him of his mother's death. He visits Spud at his flat, preventing him from committing suicide. Spud initially resents the intervention, but Renton offers to help him out of his addiction, telling him he needs to channel his addiction into something else. Renton then visits Simon at the pub intending to apologise and pay his share of the £16,000. They fight, but ultimately make peace.

Begbie escapes from prison and reunites with his wife and college-bound son, whom he wants to join him in burgling houses. Begbie visits Simon, and learns that Renton has returned. Simon keeps both Begbie and Renton unaware of his contact with the other.

Renton, Simon, and Veronika become partners in various crimes, using the proceeds to renovate the second floor of Simon's pub into a brothel. They fraudulently apply for an EU business-development loan. Veronika begins an affair with Renton. One of Simon's blackmail targets reports him to the police and Renton seeks legal advice from his former girlfriend, Diane, now a solicitor. The proceeds of their crimes are used up in legal fees. A menacing encounter with the owner of a rival brothel intimidates Renton and Simon into abandoning their brothel scheme. Veronika tells Renton and Simon that the business-development loan was approved and they have £100,000.

Begbie and Renton accidentally meet in the toilets of a nightclub, resulting in a chase from which Renton barely escapes. Begbie visits Spud and discovers he has been writing his memoirs, with Veronika's encouragement. From the pages spread throughout Spud's apartment, Begbie learns for the first time that Renton had left Spud his £4,000 share of the drug deal earnings. When Veronika stops by, Begbie takes her phone which he uses to trick Mark and Simon into meeting him at Simon's pub.

Veronika asks Spud to leave with her, promising him half of the £100,000 loan money. He declines, but helps her steal the money by forging Renton's and Simon's signatures.

Simon and Renton meet at the pub, and Spud arrives to warn them of Begbie's trap. Begbie arrives and knocks Simon unconscious. Renton hides upstairs, then falls from the rafters and gets caught in cables, which strangle him. As Begbie attempts to finish killing Renton, Simon revives and uses pepper spray on Begbie. As Begbie retrieves and loads a shotgun, Spud knocks him unconscious with a toilet bowl.

The three leave Begbie trapped in the boot of a car parked outside the prison from which he'd escaped. Veronika returns to Bulgaria with the £100,000. Spud channels his addiction into his writing and begins mending his relationship with Gail and Fergus. As Gail reads his writings, the implied title of the book is "Trainspotting". Renton and Simon resume their old friendship. Renton moves back into his father’s home and embraces him before going into his bedroom and playing "Lust for Life" on his record player.

Cast

Production

In January 2009, Danny Boyle declared his wish to make a sequel to his 1996 film 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 stated in an interview that he would return for a sequel, saying "I'm totally up for it. I'd be so chuffed to be back on set with everybody and I think it would be an extraordinary experience."^[6]

In March 2013, Boyle said he wanted to make a sequel that would be loosely based on Porno which he had described as "not a great book in the way that Trainspotting, the original novel, is genuinely a masterpiece". Boyle said that if the sequel were to happen, it would be for a 2016 release.^[7]

On 6 May 2014, during a BBC Radio interview with Richard Bacon, Welsh confirmed that he had spent a week with Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and the creative team behind Trainspotting to discuss the sequel. Welsh stated that the meeting was in order to "explore the story and script ideas. We're not interested in doing something that will trash the legacy of Trainspotting. ... We want to do something that's very fresh and contemporary."^[8] Welsh did not however confirm any kind of timeline for the film, unlike Boyle's comments about wanting the film to come out in 2016.

In a newspaper interview with The Scotsman on 17 November 2014, Welsh revealed that McGregor and Boyle had resolved their differences and had held meetings about the film, saying "I know Danny and Ewan are back in touch with each other again. There are others in the cast who've had a rocky road, but now also reconciled. With the Trainspotting sequel the attention is going to be even more intense this time round because the first was such a great movie—and Danny's such a colossus now. We're all protective of the Trainspotting legacy and we want to make a film that adds to that legacy and doesn’t take away from it."^[9]

On 7 September 2015, at the Telluride Film Festival, Boyle stated his next film would be a sequel, tentatively titled Trainspotting 2.^[10]

In a 27 September 2015 interview with ComingSoon.net, Boyle revealed that a script for the sequel had been written, and that filming would reportedly take place between May and June 2016, in the hopes of releasing the film within that same year to commemorate Trainspotting's 20th anniversary.^[11]

While promoting Steve Jobs in November 2015, Boyle reiterated the hopes of beginning principal photography for the sequel in May and June 2016, and said that pre-production had begun in Edinburgh. Boyle also clarified that John Hodge wrote an original screenplay for the sequel, and that the film would not be a strict adaptation of Porno. An earlier script was reportedly written about 10 years prior, but was scrapped so that the original cast would agree to return for a film sequel. The working title for the sequel was T2.^[12][13][14]

In a November 2015 phone interview with NME, Robert Carlyle confirmed he would be returning for the sequel to play Begbie. According to Carlyle, he and other members of the Trainspotting cast had already read John Hodge's script, and it would take place 20 years (much like its intended 2016 release) after the original plot. Expecting to start filming in the middle of 2016, Carlyle praised Hodge's screenplay and hinted that T2 "is going to be quite emotional for people. Because the film sort of tells you to think about yourself. You are going to be thinking: 'Fuck. What have I done with my life?'"^[15]

In early December 2015, it was announced that Sony's TriStar Pictures had acquired worldwide rights to the film and that the original lead cast would be returning.^[16]

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on 10 March 2016, in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to director Boyle.^[17][18][19] Filming was previously scheduled to take place in May 2016.^[19]

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack was released on 27 January 2017. It features Blondie, The Clash, Wolf Alice, High Contrast, The Prodigy, Queen, Run–D.M.C., Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Underworld, The Rubberbandits and Young Fathers.^[20]

Release

T2 was released in the United Kingdom on 27 January 2017, followed by rolling worldwide releases from 10 February 2017. The film was given a limited release in the US on 17 March 2017, followed by a wider release on 31 March 2017 in a few other major cities.^[21][22] T2 also screened out of competition at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.^[23]

As of 9 April 2017, T2 Trainspotting has grossed $1.6 million in the United States and Canada, $21.1 million in the United Kingdom and $15.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $37.9 million, against a production budget of $18 million.^[3]

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 188 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's consensus reads, "T2 Trainspotting adds an intoxicating, emotionally resonant postscript to its classic predecessor, even without fully recapturing the original's fresh, subversive thrill."^[24] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[25]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website
• T2 Trainspotting on IMDb