T2 Trainspotting



T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 Scottish crime comedy drama film, set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland. The film is 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 and James Cosmo, and Kelly Macdonald in a cameo. T2 features a new character, Veronika, played by Anjela Nedyalkova. T2 is deliberately self-referential, with film clips, music and echoes from the first film. The screenplay is based on Porno, with characters and elements lifted from the novel Trainspotting.

Plot
Twenty years after stealing £8,000 in drug money from his three friends and making a new life in Amsterdam, 46-year old Mark Renton returns home to Edinburgh after having a heart attack in a gym. While he has been clean from heroin for 20 years, his life has not otherwise improved; his marriage has failed and he is about to lose his job. Daniel "Spud" Murphy has returned to heroin addiction after having lost everything including his wife, Gail, and visitation with his teenage son, Fergus, whom he fathered shortly after Renton left. Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson now abuses cocaine, runs a failing pub, and engages in blackmail and filming schemes with his Bulgarian girlfriend, Veronika. Meanwhile, Francis "Franco" Begbie is serving a 25-year prison sentence after being arrested for the drug deal in '96 and a robbery, and viciously assaults his lawyer after being denied parole.

Renton, who rented a hotel room, stops by his childhood home, where his father tells him about his mother's death, and they reconcile. He goes to Spud's apartment just in time to save him from a suicide attempt. Spud initially resents the intervention, but Renton offers to help him out of his addiction. Renton visits Simon at the pub, where Simon attacks him. Afterward, Renton meets Veronika and pays Simon back his original share of the money. Simon informs Veronika that he is going to string Renton along and make him pay for his betrayal.

Meanwhile, Begbie has an inmate stab him in order to land him in the hospital. He assaults a doctor and takes his clothing in order to escape. He visits his former girlfriend and meets his college-bound son, Frank Jr. Staying in the apartment, he resorts to a lucrative burglary scheme into which he drags Frank Jr., selling the merchandise to a local fence. Begbie also visits Simon in his pub, where Simon promises to provide him with a false passport to Amsterdam in order to exact his revenge on Renton.

Renton, Simon, and Veronika become partners in crime, robbing a Protestant social club and using the proceeds to renovate the upper floor of Simon's pub into a brothel. They fraudulently apply for an EU business-development grant. Veronika and Renton begin an affair, while Spud also joins in the renovation, befriends Veronika, and takes pleasure in renovating the pub. Inspired by Veronika, he decides to write his memoirs. One of Simon's blackmail targets reports him to the police, and Renton seeks legal advice from his former girlfriend, Diane, now a high-priced solicitor. The proceeds of their crimes are used up in legal fees and Simon's cocaine habit. Doyle, the owner of a rival brothel, intimidates Renton and Simon into abandoning their business (and forcing them to walk home to Edinburgh naked), but then they receive the £100,000 grant.

One night, Renton and Simon decide to go to a nightclub and snort cocaine while listening to Queen. Incidentally, Begbie, who was hanging out at his fence's place, takes a large dose of speed and Viagra and decides to go out. By chance, Begbie and Renton end up in adjoining bathroom stalls of the nightclub, and they recognize their voices while inside. Renton flees to a parking garage, where he is able to escape from Begbie, but not before Begbie slashes his arm with a knife.

Veronika, tired of Simon and Renton's petty schemes, visits Spud and asks him to leave with her, promising him half of the £100,000. He says he will only buy heroin, so she offers to give his share to Gail and Fergus. He helps her steal the money by forging Renton's and Simon's signatures. Later on, Begbie visits the terrified Spud, reading his memoirs and mocking his continuous addiction. Veronika arrives and Begbie intimidates her, but lets them go in exchange for Veronika's phone, which he uses to text Renton to have him come to the pub at midnight. Begbie visits his girlfriend's place for the last time, apologising to Frank Jr. for his behavior and telling him to be a better man than he is, before departing.

At the pub, Spud arrives too late to warn Renton and Simon of Begbie's trap. Begbie knocks Simon down and chases Renton across the pub. Begbie throws him through the floor, and Renton's neck gets caught in electrical wiring that begins to slowly strangle him. Begbie tries to pull down Renton to strangle him, but Simon doses him with pepper spray and saves Renton by pulling him over to the floor. 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 trapped in the boot of Simon's car, at the door of the prison from which he'd escaped. Veronika returns to Bulgaria, and her young son, leaving Spud half of the money. Spud channels his addiction into his writing, and begins mending his relationship with Gail and Fergus, to whom he left his share of the money. It is implied that Spud writes a book entitled Trainspotting from his writings. Renton and Simon resume their old friendship. Renton moves back into his father’s home and embraces him before going into 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.
 * 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. Carlyle plays Begbie's father, the briefly seen wino in the Leith train 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. Ewan McGregor stated in an 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, during a BBC Radio interview with Richard Bacon, 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, at the Telluride Film Festival, Boyle stated his next film would be a sequel, tentatively titled Trainspotting 2.

In a 27 September 2015 interview with ComingSoon.net, 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, Scotland, according to director Boyle. Filming was previously scheduled to take place in May 2016. Brief sequences were also filmed in Glasgow (where the majority of the first film was actually shot) and in Budapest, Hungary.

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 has grossed $1.6 million in the United States and Canada, $21.1 million in the United Kingdom and $15.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $37.9 million, against a production budget of $18 million.

Critical response
The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 188 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's 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 score of 67 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".