T2: TRAINSPOTTING Trailer

I am a huge fan of the original Trainspotting film, which, in my humble opinion, is a more sanitized and palatable version of the book. Trainspotting started life as a novel by Irvine Welsh. Published in 1993, it was not long before it was adapted, at first for the stage, and later for the big screen. The film version which came out in 1996, was directed by stage director Danny Boyle, who had, at that time, only directed one film, Shallow Grave.

He cast his Shallow Grave leading man Ewan McGregor as the main character Mark ‘Rent Boy’ Renton and surrounded him with a cast of actors who have since gone on to become highly recognizable and succesful actors in their own right such as Ewen Bremmer, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald.

The film made on a small £1.5m budget was a worldwide hit and the two wildly popular soundtrack albums were best-sellers. With all the above in mind a sequel was to be expected sooner rather than later and when Irvine Welsh wrote a sequel to his original novel, “Porno”, in 2002, speculation about a second film was underway.

In 2009 Danny Boyle joked that he wanted to make a sequel but only when the original actors had visibly aged enough to do it. After the release of Jobs in late 2015 he announced principal photography of T2: Trainspotting would start in mid-2016.

What Have You Been Up To?

The trailer opens with Simon ‘Sick Boy’ Williamson (Jonny Lee Miller) asking Mark ‘Rent Boy’ Renton what he’s been up to. This is a fairly cheap trick to ‘make the film talk’, especially when a character literally answers it. In this particular case, it’s a nice way of paying tribute to the legions of fans who have been asking themselves this question for years.

T2: Trainspotting is only loosely based on “Porno”, so there’s really no way of knowing what this film will be about, especially because the trailer doesn’t give away much of the plot. The good thing about the trailer is that it contains plenty of nods, both visual and as part of the narration, to the original film while introducing a new story.

I’m very cautiously optimistic – it does feel like T2 will be true to the spirit of the original. There is a good chance this might actually be good. Fingers crossed!

T2: Trainspotting is directed by Danny Boyle and stars Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremmer, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald. It will be released in the U.K. on January 27th, 2017 and in the U.S. on February 3rd, 2017. For international release dates, click here.

What are your expectations for the Trainspotting sequel? Let us know in the comments!