T2 Trainspotting



T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 British black comedy drama film, set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland. The film was 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, and worldwide throughout February and March 2017.

A sequel to Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, T2 stars the original ensemble cast, including leads Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle, with Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo, and Kelly Macdonald. T2 features a new character, Veronika, played by Anjela Nedyalkova. T2 includes film clips, music, and archive sound from the first film.

T2 Trainspotting was a critical and commercial success, grossing £42.1 million against a production budget of £18 million.

Plot
Twenty years after stealing £12,000 in drug money from his friends and making a new life in Amsterdam, 46-year old Mark Renton returns to Edinburgh after suffering a heart attack in a gym. Though now decades clean from heroin, he is on the verge of divorce and imminent job redundancy. On the brink of a mid-life crisis and at a loss for direction, a nostalgic trip back home was the result. Daniel "Spud" Murphy has returned to a cycle of heroin addiction after losing everything, including his wife, Gail, and visitation with his teenage son, Fergus, whom he fathered shortly after Renton left. Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson abuses copious amounts of cocaine, runs a failing pub, and engages in blackmail schemes with his Bulgarian girlfriend, Veronika. Francis "Franco" Begbie is still serving a 25-year prison sentence following the botched drug deal of twenty years before, and attacks his lawyer after being denied parole once again.

Renton visits Spud just in the nick of time to save him from himself. Suicide attempt thwarted, Renton offers to help Spud overcome and redirect his addictions. Renton visits Sick Boy at his pub, but reunion initially goes sour as they soon get into a fight, as Sick Boy, still seething from being ripped off, can't resist giving Renton a good thrashing with whatever's at hand, including snooker cues. Afterward, Renton meets Veronika and pays Sick Boy back his original share of the money. Sick Boy is not appeased, outraged at the audacity of not even a cent of interest; he informs Veronika that he's going to string Renton along, reel him right back in, then make him pay fourfold for his betrayal.

Begbie escapes from prison via the ruse of a self-inflicted injury, and returns to his girlfriend's flat, where he meets his college-bound son, Frank Jr., whom he forces to join him in burgling houses. Affronted by his son's choice of studying hotel management instead, he mocks his probability of not being his son. Begbie visits Sick Boy, who pretends to have heard of Renton living in Amsterdam and promises to provide Begbie with a false passport so he can travel to the Netherlands to exact his long-awaited revenge.

Renton, Sick Boy and Veronika fraudulently apply for a £100,000 European Union business development grant to turn the upper floor of the pub into the business venture he'd promised Veronika, a "sauna" - or, basically, a brothel. Veronika, however, finds herself getting more drawn to Renton and they begin an affair. Spud, meanwhile, joins in the renovation and too befriends Veronika, who inspires him to write his memoirs. One of Sick Boy's blackmail targets reports him to the police, and Renton seeks legal advice from his ex-girlfriend, Diane Coulston, now a successful (and expensive) solicitor. The proceeds of their crimes are quickly used up in legal fees and Sick Boy's sizeable cocaine addiction. Renton manages to escape from Begbie after a chance encounter at a nightclub, but not before Begbie slashes him with a knife. Renton and Sick Boy are kidnapped by Doyle, owner of a rival brothel, who drives them to the countryside and intimidates them into abandoning their scheme, leaving them to walk back to Edinburgh stark naked.

Begbie visits Spud, and in reading his memoirs, discovers that Renton left Spud his share of the money. Veronika arrives and Begbie steals her phone, which he uses to text Renton and Sick Boy to come to the pub at midnight. Veronika takes Spud to her apartment and asks him to leave with her, promising him half of the £100,000. Spud is afraid he will spend it on heroin again, so she offers to give his share to Gail and Fergus. He helps transfer the money to Veronika’s account by forging Renton's and Sick Boy's signatures. After reading another excerpt of Spud's writings about their encounter with Begbie's alcoholic father in the derelict Leith Central railway station, Begbie visits his girlfriend's flat for the last time, apologising to Frank Jr. for his abuse and telling him to be a better man than he or his father were.

At the pub, Spud arrives too late to warn Renton and Sick Boy of Begbie's trap. Begbie knocks Sick Boy unconscious and chases Renton across the upstairs floor. He throws Renton through the floorboards, leaving him suspended by the neck from electrical wiring; Begbie tries to strangle him, but Sick Boy douses him with pepper spray and saves Renton. Begbie pulls out a sawn-off shotgun and tries to kill them both, but Spud knocks him out with a toilet bowl.

They leave Begbie in the boot of Sick Boy's car outside the prison. Veronika returns to her son in Bulgaria. Spud puts together his book of memoirs and mends his relationship with Fergus and Gail, who suggests a title. Renton and Sick Boy resume their old friendship. Renton moves back into his widowed father's home and embraces him in reconciliation, before going to his bedroom and dancing to a remix of "Lust for Life".

Cast

 * Ewan McGregor as Mark "Rent Boy" Renton
 * Hamish Haggerty as young Renton
 * Ben Skelton as 9-year-old Renton
 * Connor McIndoe as 20-year-old Renton
 * Ewen Bremner as Daniel "Spud" Murphy
 * Aiden Haggarty as 9-year-old Spud
 * John Bell as 20-year-old Spud
 * Jonny Lee Miller as Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson
 * Logan Gillies as 9-year-old Simon
 * James McElvar as 20-year-old Simon
 * Robert Carlyle as Francis "Franco" Begbie
 * Daniel Jackson as young Begbie
 * Daniel Smith as 9-year-old Begbie
 * Christopher Mullen as 20-year-old Begbie
 * Kelly Macdonald as Diane Coulston
 * Shirley Henderson as Gail Houston
 * James Cosmo as Mr Renton
 * Anjela Nedyalkova as Veronika Kovach
 * Steven Robertson as Stoddart
 * Elek Kish as Dozo
 * Simon Weir as Jailhoose
 * Bradley Welsh as Mr Doyle
 * Pauline Turner as June Begbie
 * Kyle Fitzpatrick as Fergus
 * Charlie Hardie as 9-year-old Fergus
 * Scot Greenan as Frank Jr.
 * Katie Leung as Nurse
 * Eileen Nicholas as Mrs Renton (archival footage)
 * Kevin McKidd as Tommy MacKenzie (archival footage)
 * Elijah Wolf as 9-year-old Tommy
 * Michael Shaw as 20-year-old Tommy

Footage included McGregor, Bremner, Miller and Carlyle from the original Trainspotting film. The author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, appears near the middle of the film as Mikey Forrester, reprising his role from the first film. Carlyle also plays Begbie's father, the briefly seen wino in the Leith Railway Station.

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. Having previously expressed doubts about a sequel, Ewan McGregor stated in a 2013 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."

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.

On 6 May 2014, Welsh said that he had spent a week with Boyle, Andrew Macdonald and the creative team behind Trainspotting to discuss the sequel. Welsh said the meeting explored 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." 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 November 2014, Welsh said that McGregor and Boyle had resolved 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."

On 7 September 2015, Boyle stated his next film would be a sequel, tentatively titled Trainspotting 2.

In a 27 September 2015 interview, 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.

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.

In November 2015, Robert Carlyle said he would 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. Carlyle praised Hodge's screenplay and said 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?'"

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 return.

Filming
Principal photography on the film began on 10 March 2016, in Edinburgh, according to Boyle. Filming was previously scheduled to take place in May 2016.

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.

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. T2 also screened out of competition at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

T2 Trainspotting grossed $2.4 million in the United States and Canada, and £39.7 million in other territories (with £21.7 million from the United Kingdom), for a worldwide gross of £42.1 million, against a production budget of £18 million.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 234 reviews, with an average rating of 6.97/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "T2 Trainspotting adds an intoxicating, emotionally resonant postscript to its classic predecessor, even without fully recapturing the original's fresh, subversive thrill." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph rated the film 3 out of 5 stars. Collin praised writer Hodge for refinding the voices of the characters, and called McGregor the dramatic lynchpin of the film. Although the film doesn't match up to the first, Collin concludes "it's worthwhile on its own terms." Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian rated the film four stars out of five, saying it has "the same punchy energy, the same defiant pessimism" as the first film. Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called the film "respectable exercise in fan service".

Future
In March 2017, Danny Boyle discussed the possibility of a third Trainspotting film, suggesting that it could be a spin-off centred on the character of Begbie, in a story based on the Irvine Welsh novel The Blade Artist. "I think [Robert Carlyle] would love to do that because it's an interesting twist on the character", Boyle said. "That may be made into a film. You couldn't call it T3 because, although some of the other characters come into it, they're only featured just momentarily. It's a solo story. You could call that a spin-off. [The Blade Artist] is a great read." Carlyle was likewise open to an adaptation of The Blade Artist. "We've been talking about that, I am up for doing it", he said at the T2 premiere in Edinburgh. "So maybe we ain't seen the end of Begbie just yet".

Boyle stated he would be more interested in directing a true sequel rather than a spin-off, preferring to work with all of the principal actors. "My affection is toward all four of them", Boyle said. "People regarded the first movie as being Renton's movie, and I never really saw it like that, though he does dominate because of the voice-over. I always saw it as an ensemble movie, so I'm still very much in that mode."

Irvine Welsh has also hinted that a Trainspotting television series is possible.