Irvine Welsh’s fantastic feedback on the Trainspotting screenplay.

[mod]

I love this. Very positive and honest feedback that they (thankfully) followed.

Initially he comes across unfazed by the prospect of a film adaptation but by the end he’s asking for a part….which he got as Mikey Forester. EDIT (I read this part wrong….he wasn’t buttering them up for a part. My mistake).

Shame they murdered the sequel/Porno (aka T2) but let’s forget about that. Trainspotting the book and film are both masterpieces IMO.

 

[DaveCinzano]

by the end he’s asking for a part….

No he's not..?

 

[mod]

No he's not..?

In a jokey way….he is. Why pick up on this point though when there’s so much there you could comment on….Get a hauld o yersel, ye doss cunt!.

 

[keybored]

He's saying plenty of people in Leith have asked if he could get them a part.

 

[Elpenor]

The glassing scene is certainly one which benefits heavily from the Edinburgh vernacular

I read it at 14 and was thinking in Edinburgh patois a la Spud for weeks afterwards, anyone else get this?

 

[mod]

He's saying plenty of people in Leith have asked if he could get them a part.

So he is. I read that wrong. I’ve corrected my post.

 

[mod]

The glassing scene is certainly one which benefits heavily from the Edinburgh vernacular

I read it at 14 and was thinking in Edinburgh patois a la Spud for weeks afterwards, anyone else get this?

Yep. Completely.

 

[hitmouse]

I like the bit where he presumably meant to write "this is not being negative" but forgot the crucial word "not", which does tend to change a sentence's meaning a bit.

 

[paul mckenna]

Dunno why T2 gets such a bad rep. It was its own thing without being a typical sequel. Really good movie that

 

[planetgeli]

I saw this here.

Trainspotting: behind the scenes by Danny Boyle, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh and more

The bust-up with Harvey Weinstein, Irvine Welsh’s verdict on the script (‘too effete’), the problem with the excrement scene … the cast and crew relive the making of the classic 1996 film

www.theguardian.com

Worth a look.

 

[mod]

Dunno why T2 gets such a bad rep. It was its own thing without being a typical sequel. Really good movie that

I think it’s dreadful. As did all the people I seen it with at the cinema that night. I waited ages years and gave it another go as I thought the expectation and hype might have blinded me but no…it’s fucking terrible and I didn’t make it too the end. Shame.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

The glassing scene is certainly one which benefits heavily from the Edinburgh vernacular

I read it at 14 and was thinking in Edinburgh patois a la Spud for weeks afterwards, anyone else get this?

Aye, some made a permanent home in my head

 

[mod]

I saw this here.

Trainspotting: behind the scenes by Danny Boyle, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh and more

The bust-up with Harvey Weinstein, Irvine Welsh’s verdict on the script (‘too effete’), the problem with the excrement scene … the cast and crew relive the making of the classic 1996 film

www.theguardian.com

Worth a look.

That’s a great article. Nice one.

 

[weepiper]

I think it’s dreadful. As did all the people I seen it with at the cinema that night. I waited ages years and gave it another go as I thought the expectation and hype might have blinded me but no…it’s fucking terrible and I didn’t make it too the end. Shame.

Everyone I know in Scotland that saw it loved it the scene in the pub had everyone howling.

 

[dessiato]

T2 is OK in its own right. But the book Porno, the real Trainspotting sequel, is a far better.

I like the book Blade Artist and think it would make a good spin off from the Trainspotting movie.

 

[spanglechick]

What I think is absolutely perfect about T2 is that it lacks the delightful creativity, the excitement and spontaneity of the original… which is absolutely fucking right, because it’s about a bunch of fortysomething has-beens. Like most on urban, I’ve aged more or less exactly with the characters, and that sense of uncool desperation felt as personal as the pounding maverick energy of the first film felt to me as a freshly independent 22 year old in 1996.

It’s not as good. I don’t think anyone was claiming it is. I have issues with the main female character, who never quite shakes the weight of being put there for middle aged men to have their egos flattered. And the production design and soundtrack of the first film were both masterpieces, not equalled in the sequel. But in focusing on Spud, the film makes its best choices, and it’s hard to hate a film that becomes spud’s redemption.

 

[DaveCinzano]

What I think is absolutely perfect about T2 is that it lacks the delightful creativity, the excitement and spontaneity of the original… which is absolutely fucking right, because it’s about a bunch of fortysomething has-beens. Like most on urban, I’ve aged more or less exactly with the characters, and that sense of uncool desperation felt as personal as the pounding maverick energy of the first film felt to me as a freshly independent 22 year old in 1996.

It’s not as good. I don’t think anyone was claiming it is. I have issues with the main female character, who never quite shakes the weight of being put there for middle aged men to have their egos flattered. And the production design and soundtrack of the first film were both masterpieces, not equalled in the sequel. But in focusing on Spud, the film makes its best choices, and it’s hard to hate a film that becomes spud’s redemption.

Also T2 is a sequel to the film not the books, and the film's version of the characters - there is an emotional through-line.

I loved the book, and I loved the film when first it came out, but Boyle, Hodge and Macdonald had to do things very differently to Welsh in order to get the audience to invest in the characters, to identify with them rather than just be appalled by them, in a cinematic context. The energy and vim and sexiness and pace and glamour of the movie were creative solutions which made the ride work.

And the paunchiness and stupidity and torpor and unrealised goals of Mark and Simon in the sequel all helped emphasise the excitement felt by the characters in the original, and lent weight to their midlife listlessness, their failures stacked up over time, their lack of solid values, which in turn made Spud's need and determination to change that much more significant and noticeable.

T2 is at a further remove from the source novels than the 1996 film, but I really do think it does justice to the original film version.

 

[Ax^]

Dunno why T2 gets such a bad rep. It was its own thing without being a typical sequel. Really good movie that

i rather they explored glue and its characters move on a bit and was still resonablity relavant at the time


still know fellas who go to oktoberfest as a 40th birthday gig

 

[Sue]

I love this. Very positive and honest feedback that they (thankfully) followed.

Initially he comes across unfazed by the prospect of a film adaptation but by the end he’s asking for a part….which he got as Mikey Forester. EDIT (I read this part wrong….he wasn’t buttering them up for a part. My mistake).

Shame they murdered the sequel/Porno (aka T2) but let’s forget about that. Trainspotting the book and film are both masterpieces IMO.

His mention of Once Were Warriors is interesting. Good film but harrowing doesn't cover it.

 

[paul mckenna]

i rather they explored glue and its characters move on a bit and was still resonablity relavant at the time


still know fellas who go to oktoberfest as a 40th birthday gig

Yeah Glue was a great read and my favourite of all his books. Maybe a bit too real for the screen perhaps?

 

[mod]

His mention of Once Were Warriors is interesting. Good film but harrowing doesn't cover it.

Yeah I’d like to see that now. Watched the trailer. Looks bleak. My sort of thing!

 

[DaveCinzano]

Meanwhile

 

[D'wards]

I read an interview with Welsh years after Trainspotting film came out claiming he had never seen the film, but i wasn't sure if he was just being all cool and aloof.

Skagboys would make an excellent Netflix type series.

I'm also a big fan of Marabou Stork Nightmares - that would make an excellent film if the right director was on board - Panos Cosmatos could make a good fist of it im sure

 

[Ax^]

if they were to do a tv series of Marabous Stork Nightmares i'd bring back Mcvoy as the lead protanganist

 

[D'wards]

Yeah I’d like to see that now. Watched the trailer. Looks bleak. My sort of thing!

Its a brilliant film.

Jake the Muss is one of the most 'orrible characters ever seen on screen and now Welsh has mentioned it, is very similar to begbie, although jake is all muscles and begbie is all blades

 

[mod]

if they were to do a tv series of Marabous Stork Nightmares i'd bring back Mcvoy as the lead protanganist

One of my fav Welsh books but not sure I could watch a film version. For ‘that’ very long scene. Jesus.

 

[Ax^]

aye but its a better subplot than the movie version

 

[D'wards]

One of my fav Welsh books but not sure I could watch a film version. For ‘that’ very long scene. Jesus.

The book is reminiscent of The Room by Hubert Selby Jr
I'd be very surprised if it was a direct influence