STACK June 2017 Issue 152

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26 JUNE 2017
visit DVD&BD FEATURE
B ack in 1996, Kelly Macdonald’s Diane
declared in Trainspotting, “the world is
changing, music is changing, even drugs are
changing.” Just how much has changed over the
past 20 years for the Scottish foursome of Mark
Renton (Ewan McGregor), Simon/Sick Boy (Jonny
Lee Miller), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Begbie
(Robert Carlyle) is revealed in T2 Trainspotting.
With Renton’s “minor betrayal” the perfect
ending to Trainspotting, did screenwriter John
Hodge initially resist the idea of doing a sequel?
“We did put it off, but there were various
conversations about doing it over the years,” he
says. “At the same time, those characters all had
very distinct personalities and the actors playing
those parts had very distinct voices. How would
they have changed over the years?”
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh had published
a sequel novel, Porno, in 2002, but that didn’t mean
the groundwork was already done for Hodge. Nor
was it an option to write a straight adaptation of
the book for the screen.
“Simon gets involved in a get rich quick scheme
making porn films – as the title suggests,” he
explains. “Renton’s not in the book much and
it’s very dated. Technology has moved on. I did a
speculative draft in the early 2000s, but it didn’t
feel great and had the problem of being too soon.
But the framework was there, and I built on it.
“Within five years wasn’t appealing, because
there was no great shift – the characters were
essentially in the same situation,” he continues.
“Twenty years later, it’s youth straddling middle age
and that’s of enormous significance. A lot could
happen, like Begbie’s prison term and his son,
Spud still stuck in heroin addiction while life goes
on around him…”
T2 is a much more sombre and melancholic
film when compared to the reckless spirit of
Trainspotting, which comes with reflecting on life
in middle age. “When you’re young you can cope
with catastrophes, but at 40 to 50, the future isn’t
too bright anymore and you have to reflect on the
past,” agrees Hodge, “and that’s what we wanted
to do in this film.”
Indeed, one of T2 ’s most self-reflexive moments
sees Simon tell Renton: “Nostalgia, that’s why
you’re here. You’re a tourist in your own youth”
– which also applies to the viewers who grew up
loving Trainspotting. “It was the same with the
screenwriter,” laughs Hodge.
Prior to writing T2, Hodge says he deliberately
avoided revisiting the original film for about 18
years. “I was kind of over it, but it was a pleasure
to come back to it," he adds. “I also re-read the
book and started to hear the actors’ voices…”
While it was a daunting prospect to reunite the
Trainspotting foursome after two decades, Hodge
did have the advantage of knowing what the actors
would bring to their characters this time around.
“The characters really do tell the story for you.
You just imagine the actors speaking in your head,
like the scene where Begbie meets his parole
officer. That was easy [to write].”
Where Renton was the focus of Trainspotting,
there’s more for all four characters to do in T2 .
“The others don’t really exist outside of Renton’s
voiceover in the first film,” notes Hodge. “This
one’s more democratic and less of an insight into
Renton’s mind.”
Were there certain scenes he felt had to be in
the sequel, like Renton’s updated ‘Choose Life’
monologue, for example? “When Veronika asks
‘What does Choose Life mean?’ it’s like a bucket
of cold water on his head that galvanizes him
and reveals what’s inside, and encourages him to
express himself.”
Hodge confirms that two of T2’s best moments
come from Porno. “The 1690 scam is in the book,
which we embellished with a song,” he says,
referring to the pub scene in which Simon and
Renton fleece a group of rowdy Protestants. The
volatile reunion between Begbie and Renton in
adjacent toilet cubicles is also staged differently in
the film. “In the book it’s in prison, but I wanted
them to be divided by mere inches.”
Irvine Welsh – who reprises the role of drug
dealer Mikey Forrester in T2 – was very much a
part of the collaborative process on the sequel,
says Hodge. “He was very supportive. He’s a very
generous guy and not at all precious.”
Hodge began writing as a hobby whilst studying
medicine and cites our own Dr. George Miller as a
big inspiration on his move into screenwriting. “I
was always interested in writing. After I qualified
[as a doctor] I thought I’d have a serious go at it
and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t matter. The
first thing I wrote ended up getting made!”
That particular ‘thing’ was Shallow Grave, which
became the Danny Boyle-directed thriller in 1994.
As well as Trainspotting, for which Hodge received
an Oscar nomination in 1997, he has also adapted
Alex Garland’s novel The Beach for Boyle.
As to which is the more challenging from a
writer’s perspective – the adaptation process or
an original screenplay – Hodge leans towards the
former. “The hard work is already done – the great
idea and the characters,” he admits.
“You’re offered more
adaptations because they know
what they’re getting. Original
screenplays are speculatively
more fun – all the power –
but it’s a gamble if no one is
interested in it.”
CHOOSE
MIDLIFE
T2Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge talks to Scott Hocking
about reuniting Renton and the gang for a sequel, two decades later.
LONG TIME NO SEQUEL
63
years
Bambi II
29
years
Mad Max: Fury Road
20
years
Independence
Day: Resurgence
18
years
Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull
• T2
Trainspotting
is out on
June 14