Danny Boyle, 56, is
one of the great British auteurs currently working today – bringing a hip
stylistic vision and indie sensibility to Hollywood Prestige filmmaking. This
month he has a new film coming to theaters entitled
Trance – a crime thriller about
an art auctioneer who gets caught up in a heist. The problem is, he cannot
remember where he hid the merchandise and thus a hypnotherapist must work with
him to recover the lost painting. It stars
James McAvoy,
Rosario Dawson,
and
Vincent Cassel.
It looks very much a return to Boyle’s more gritty crime dramas and filmmaking
(like
Shallow Grave). Boyle
is also again working with frequent collaborators screenwriter
John Hodge,
producing partner
Christian
Colson, composer
Rick Smith,
cinematographer
Anthony
Dod Mantle, and production designer
Mark Tildesley. View the
trailer:
here.
Early Career:
Boyle started his career in the
theatre in the early 1980s. He worked with the Joint Stock Theatre Company,
Royal Court Theatre (directing The Genius and Saved), and the Royal Shakespeare
Company (directing five plays for them). Years later, in 2011, he returned to
the theatre directing a brilliant stylized version of
Frankenstein for the National
Theatre Live (it starred
Jonny Lee Miller
and
Benedict
Cumberbatch).
He next worked extensively in
British television, getting his start as a producer for BBC Northern Ireland in
1982. He then began directing, helming a number of TV movies and episodes of
series and mini-series. Most notable are his TV movies
The Nightwatch and
For the Greater Good.
Transitioning to
Feature Films:
Boyle’s love of
Francis Ford Coppola’s
Apocalypse Now inspired
and influenced him towards directing feature films. For his first, Boyle teamed
up with producer
Andrew
Macdonald and writer John Hodge for the crime thriller Shallow Grave. The
film stars
Ewan
McGregor (launching his career),
Kerry Fox, and
Christopher Eccleston.
It is about three flatmates who discover their new roommate dead and loaded
with cash, leading them down a dark path. Boyle knew that the film was going to
be a hit when it was very warmly received at the Cannes Film Festival by
audiences and critics (the festival organizers had to set up additional screens
to satisfy demand). It went on to be the most commercially successful British
film of 1995, winning the BAFTA for Best British Film.
Hot off the success of Shallow
Grave, Boyle, Hodge, and Macdonald acquired the rights to
Irvin Welsh’s
novel
Trainspotting
and quickly went into production. McGregor returned as well in the leading
role, with
Ewen
Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller,
Kevin McKidd,
Robert Carlyle,
and newcomer
Kelly Macdonald
co-starring. The story centers around Renton a Scottish heroin addict who tries
to get clean, but he keeps getting pulled back in by his friends. The film was
a breakout hit for Boyle internationally, playing to acclaim everywhere
(garnering Hodge an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). It is both
among IMDb’s Top 250 and number ten on BFI’s Top 100 British Films of All-Time
(and among my personal top 50 favorite films).
Hollywood Calling:
Shallow Grave and Trainspotting
(along with
Bottle
Rocket,
Pulp
Fiction,
Fargo,
Clerks.,
Swingers, and
The Usual Suspects)
were among the films revolutionizing cinema in the early to mid-1990s, as
independent film was becoming the way forward for great films and filmmakers
with new visions. In this changing landscape, studios started subsidiaries (or
purchasing smaller distributors) to acquire these indie films (like Disney’s
purchase of Miramax in 1993).
Boyle signed a production deal and
moved to Hollywood (as other indie filmmakers were also signing deals with
studios). The first project that he was approached for was
Alien Resurrection,
but he declined, instead wanting to continue to work with his creative team.
A Life Less Ordinary became Boyle’s
first Hollywood film (though with British financing), again with a script from
Hodge, Macdonald producing, and McGregor in the lead.
Cameron Diaz was
also cast, fresh off her breakout success in
The Mask (as well as
She’s the One and
My Best Friend’s Wedding),
along with
Holly
Hunter and
Delroy
Lindo. The film is about a cleaning man in L.A. who takes the boss’s
daughter hostage after being replaced by a robot. Meanwhile, two angels are
charged with a mission to make them fall in love – a tall order. The film
opened to mixed reviews and box office failure. It is probably a bit too weird
for mainstream audiences.
For his next film, the studio wanted
a bit more control and wanted Boyle to cast a bigger star in the lead. Boyle
agreed and cast
Leonardo
DiCaprio (who had just made
Romeo
+ Juliet and
Titanic) in
The Beach, which left
McGregor upset (only very recently have they made up) as he had expected to be
cast in the lead (they have yet to work together again). However, Hodge stayed
on, writing the script based on
Alex Garland’s
cult novel, and Macdonald as producer. The film is about Richard, a young man
who goes to Thailand to find himself. Boyle cast
Virginie Ledoyen,
Guillaume Canet,
Tilda Swinton, and Robert
Carlyle in the main supporting roles. He also brought in
Darius Khondji to shoot the film
(his first time not working with
Brian
Tufano). All the pieces were in place for Boyle to have a hit, but again
the film just did not connect with mainstream audiences or critics. After two
films made for Hollywood, Boyle was burnt out and looking for something
different.
While A Life Less Ordinary and
The Beach are among Boyle’s weaker films, they still have some interesting
aesthetics and make for entertaining viewing for fans of Boyle’s style.
Experimenting with
Digital Photography:
Boyle saw the Danish film
The Celebration and was
fascinated by the digital photography. He immediately wanted to meet Anthony
Dod Mantle, who shot the film, and experiment with the medium himself.
Together, they made two digital films for BBC television –
Strumpet and
Vacuuming Completely Nude in
Paradise.
Happy with the results, Boyle,
Macdonald, and Dod Mantle set out to make their first digital feature. Boyle
tapped Alex Garland to write the script, and together they reimagined and
reinvigorated the Zombie genre with
28 Days Later…. Starring
Cillian Murphy,
Naomie Harris,
Christopher Eccleston,
Brendan Gleeson,
and
Megan Burns,
the film is about a young man who awakens in London to find that the world has
been ravaged by a virus. To survive, he must band together with a few strangers
and look for somewhere safe to hide. The film was a huge commercial and
critical success (essentially resurrecting Boyle’s career). While it is not the
first digital feature, it had a major impact on how audiences viewed the medium
and garnering its acceptance among filmmakers (though the night scene at the
end was shot on 35mm film). Boyle has said that the film would not have been
possible if he shot on film, especially the exterior scenes in London. He also
aesthetically liked the look of DV for the post-apocalyptic landscape.
Next, Boyle returned to crime
dramas with his heist film
Millions.
However, it has a very different feel (at times) compared to his past work, and
is his first film not to be rated ‘R’. While he again shot on digital using Dod
Mantle, the film marked his first without producing partner Macdonald. The
story centers on two children who discover a bag of money (which was lost
during a heist, but the criminals are looking for it). It stars newcomers
Alex Etel and
Lewis McGibbon,
with
James Nesbitt
co-starring. Audiences and critics did not really know what to make of it, as
it is oddly different than anything Boyle had done before tonally, but also sort
of the same in moments too.
Prestige Films:
Again wanting to do something
completely different, Boyle set out to make a psychologically-minded sci-fi
thriller/drama akin to
Stanley Kubrick’s
2001: A Space Odyssey
and
Andrey
Tarkovskiy’s
Solaris
with
Sunshine
– as the film deals with what happens when man meets his maker (in a sense).
Boyle again worked with producer Macdonald, composer
John Murphy (a frequent
collaborator of Boyle’s, working on five of his films), production designer
Mark Tildesley, writer Alex Garland, and star Cillian Murphy on the film. He
hired brilliant photographer
Alwin
H. Kuchler to shoot the film (and he does a spectacular job). In addition
to Murphy, the film also stars
Chris Evans,
Michelle Yeoh,
Rose Byrne,
Mark Strong, and
Hiroyuki Sanda.
The film is visually incredible and emotionally powerful (but had a tough time
with domestic mainstream audiences). It is a must-see for fans of hard science
fiction (and it is among my favorite films in the genre). Boyle had such a
grueling experience making the film that he has claimed that he will never make
another sci-fi project.
Continuing his trend of trying
new genres with each film, Boyle decided to make his next film in India – a
romance thriller called
Slumdog
Millionaire. He also put together a new creative team, working with
producer Christian Colson (who has since produced all Boyle’s films) and writer
Simon Beaufoy.
However, Boyle again brought in Dod Mantle to shoot the film digitally.
Starring
Dev Patel and
Freida Pinto (and making stars
out of both of them), the film is about the amazing adventure of an
impoverished boy in Mumbai who grows up in the slums only to win ‘Who Wants To
Be A Millionaire?’. The film was a sensational hit for Boyle, being both his
highest grossing and most critically successful film. It won eight Oscars
including Best Picture and Best Director at the 2009 Academy Awards. It also
marked the first digitally-photographed film to win an Oscar for Best
Cinematography.
Next, Boyle adapted the true
story of Aaron Ralston, an outdoorsman who gets his arm trapped under a boulder
while canyoneering along near Moah, Utah. He must resort to insane and
desperate measures to survive. Boyle again collaborated with his Slumdog
Millionaire team to make
127
Hours, and cast
James
Franco to star (who is fantastic in the film). It opened to critical acclaim
garnering six Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
With 127 Hours and Slumdog
Millionaire, Boyle has asserted himself among the great indie filmmakers to
come out of the 1990s who have gone on the be Oscar winners in the 2000s/2010s
and certainly as one of Britain leading filmmakers working right now. Boyle is
also one of the pioneers of digital photography through his collaborations with
Anthony Dod Mantle. Digital is the medium of the future (somewhat sadly, as
film still has a certain magical quality to it) with more and more films being
shot on the medium each year.
Upcoming:
The long anticipated sequel to
Trainspotting
Porno looks
like it will be finally entering production with a scheduled release year of
2016. Boyle has stated that all the cast members will be returning and he will
be directing again.
Career Highlights:
*Editor’s picks
