Trainspotting
Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that?
Ewan McGregor as Mark ‘Rent Boy’ Renton
Directed by: Danny Doyle
Written by: Irvine Welsh (novel), John Hodge (screenplay)
Starring: Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle
Released: 23 February 1996 [UK], 19 July 1996 [USA]
Genre: Drama / Crime
Budget: $3,500,000 (estimated)
More Information: Internet Movie Database
Synopsis
A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who’s never touched drugs but can’t help being curious about them…
Images
Trivia
Although set in Edinburgh, most interiors, and some of the exteriors, were shot in Glasgow. A notable exception is the chase down Princes Street.
For its American release, the first 20 minutes had to be re-dubbed to make the Scottish accents more intelligible.
To play the skinny heroin-addicted Renton, Ewan McGregor was placed on a simple diet consisting of no alcohol or dairy products in order to lose weight. It only took him two months to reach Renton’s desired size.
The toilet-diving scene is a reference to Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel “Gravity’s Rainbow”.
The scene where Sick-Boy and Renton lie in the park and take potshots with their air-rifle was originally going to be set to the theme from “Mission: Impossible” (1966). Unfortunately Brian De Palma was setting up the film version of the TV show at the time so getting to the rights to the music simply proved to be too expensive – approximately three times the film’s budget. Both actors were very hungover for the scene in question.
For the close-up shots of Ewan McGregor injecting himself with heroin, a prosthetic arm was constructed by the make-up department, complete with pulsing veins, smack tracks and small pockets of blood that would appear when the skin was punctured by a hypodermic needle.
From the minute the film went into pre-production, Ewan McGregor was always first choice for the part of Renton.
Quotes
Renton: Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?
Renton: I don’t feel the sickness yet, but it’s in the post. That’s for sure. I’m in the junkie limbo at the moment. Too ill to sleep. Too tired to stay awake, but the sickness is on its way. Sweat, chills, nausea. Pain and craving. A need like nothing else I’ve ever known will soon take hold of me. It’s on its way.
Renton: Swanney taught us to adore and respect the national health service. For it was the source of much of our gear. We stole drugs. We stole prescriptions or bought them, sold them, swapped them, forged them, photocopied them. Or traded drugs with cancer victims, alcoholics, old-age pensioners, AIDS patients, epileptics, and bored housewives.
Renton: Thank you, your honor. With God’s help I’ll conquer this terrible affliction.
Renton: We would have injected vitamin C if only they had made it illegal!
Renton: I fantasize about a massive pristine convenience. Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of Chanel no.5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll. But under the circumstances I’ll settle for anywhere.
Renton: 1,000 years from now there will be no guys and no girls, just wankers. Sounds great to me.
Renton: I wished that I’d gone down instead of Spud. Here I was surrounded by my family and my so-called mates and I’ve never felt so alone. Never in all my puff. Since I was on remand, they’ve had me on this program, this state sponsored addiction. Three sickly sweet doses of methadone a day instead of smack. But it’s never enough. And at the moment it’s nowhere near enough. I took all three this morning and now I’ve got eighteen hours to go until my next shot. I’ve got sweat on my back like a layer of frost. I need to visit the Mother Superior for one hit. One final hit to get us over this long, hard day.
[to Swanney 'Mother Superior']
Renton: What’s on the menu this evening, Sir?
Swanney: Your favorite dish.
Renton: Excellent.
Swanney: Your usual table, Sir.
Renton: Oh, why thank you.
Swanney: Would Sir care to pay for his bill in advance?
Renton: No. Stick it on my tab.
Swanney: Ah, regret to inform, sir, credit limit was reached and breached quite some time ago.
Renton: Oh, well in that case…
[hands him some cash]
Swanney: Ah, hard currency. Thank you, Sir. Can’t be too careful these days. Would Sir care for a starter of some garlic bread perhaps?
Renton: No, thank you. I will proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.
Awards & Nominations
Won – BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Won – Empire Award for Best British Actor
Won – London Film Critics’ Circle Award for British Actor of the Year
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
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