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Ewan McGregor might be popularly known for playing the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars franchise, but one of the most defining roles of his career has been as Mark Renton in the 1996 black comedy Trainspotting. The cult classic follows a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh as they struggle to break free from addiction.

McGregor’s character, Renton, is an unemployed man deeply entrenched in heroin use. To prepare for the physically demanding role, McGregor had to lose a significant amount of weight. One unusual method he adopted was switching from beer to gin.

How Ewan McGregor got in ‘shape’ for his role in Trainspotting

Ewan McGregor went to great lengths to prepare for his role in Trainspotting, a role that the filmmakers and producers had entrusted to him with confidence. “Give me a couple of months and I’ll be ready,” were his words after reading...

Stars: Snars, Olly Bassi, Shaun Davidson, Mark Burdett, Valerie Birss, Adam Harper, Andy Moore, Irvine Welsh, Graham Scott, Colin Mcafferty | Written and Directed by Robbie Davidson

Let’s get this out of the way… Robbie Davidson’s Dick Dynamite: 1944 is a raucous, full-throttle plunge into wartime absurdity that feels like a Molotov cocktail hurled into the traditional war movie genre and somehow, it works to deliver a loud, stupid, exhilarating, and utterly unforgettable movie!

From the first minute I knew I was in for something audacious. Davidson doesn’t flirt with the idea of parody, he detonates it. Dick Dynamite: 1944 is a pastiche of 1940s wartime propaganda, exploitation cinema, and hyper-stylized action flicks, all layered with a gonzo sense of humor that would make early Peter Jackson proud. It’s a film that, at every turn, seems to ask: “Why the hell not?”

The plot, and I use that term loosely,...

Exclusive: Scottish author Irvine Welsh, best known for writing the original 1993 Trainspotting novel, has teamed with screenwriter Dean Cavanagh to write a biopic based on the life of notorious Ibiza hotelier Tony Pike.

Pike, who died of Cancer in 2019, earned notoriety in the early 1980s after establishing the Pikes Hotel in Ibiza. The hotel, which occupied a former rural farmhouse, quickly became a hedonistic haven for celebrities and musicians. Frequent visitors included Freddie Mercury, Princess Margaret, and George Michael, who shot the music video for Wham!’s “Club Tropicana” at the hotel. Pike also has a cameo in the video. Pike’s appetite for the party life once famously led Boy George to dub him the “Hugh Hefner of Ibiza”, which the hotelier often tried to play down.

“There’s a big difference between Hugh Hefner and me in that he has used women to make money,” Pike told local...

By the time they joined forces for Trainspotting, filmmaker Danny Boyle and leading man Ewan McGregor had already worked alongside one another in Boyle’s feature-length directorial debut, Shallow Grave. Rejoining forces on the adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel of the same name would prove to be an excellent decision for both parties, with the title remaining a classic piece of beloved cinema almost 30 years later. In the new year, Paramount+ is inviting audiences to tune in for the 90% Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes movie when it arrives on the platform on January 1.

Warning: This article contains Spoilers for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The news that Danny Boyle’s 2008 hit Slumdog Millionaire could receive a sequel keeps a bizarre streak alive for the legendary director. A look back on Danny Boyle’s career proves that the British filmmaker is nothing if not versatile. One of Danny Boyle’s best movies is a brutal, intense zombie horror, another is an inspiring coming-of-age epic, and another is a heroin-fueled crime dramedy. However, thanks to the upcoming 28 Years Later, these three movies now have more in common than their critical success and their director. 28 Days Later is set to receive a second sequel soon.

Related The Movie 28 Years Later "Rips Off" All But Confirms The Zombie Franchise's Tragic Ending

After Alex Garland revealed which movie heavily inspired 28 Years Later, all hopes of a happy ending to the zombie apocalypse franchise are over.

Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later...

Paramount+ has released first-look images of the upcoming U.K. original series The Crow Girl with Eve Myles, Katherine Kelly, Dougray Scott and Elliot Edusah.

The six-part thriller, an adaptation of Erik Axl Sund’s bestselling novel of the same name, is produced by Emmy-winning creative team Buccaneer (Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Marcella).

When the bodies of unidentified young men start to show up around the city, beaten and full of the anaesthetic lidocaine, Dci Jeanette Kilburn (Myles) and partner Di Lou Stanley (Scott) are on the hunt for the killer.

With a lack of evidence and pressure to solve the case mounting, Jeanette enlists the help of prime suspect Carl Lowry’s psychotherapist Dr Sophia Craven (Kelly) who offers a fresh but troubling perspective on the case. But with the killer inching ever closer to home, Jeanette and the team are in a race against time to untangle the web of secrets.

Cineflix Rights has closed several deals for “Irvine Welsh’s Crime,” starring Dougray Scott in his International Emmy award-winning lead role.

The series has been acquired by Telefonica’s pay TV platform Movistar Plus+ (Spain), Sbs (Australia), Rte (Ireland), Blue Entertainment (Switzerland), and Canal+ for viewers in Luxembourg, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

“Irvine Welsh’s Crime” was commissioned by Itvx and BritBox in the U.K.

The show follows Detective Inspector Ray Lennox (Scott), a man engaged in his own disturbing battle while undertaking serious crime investigations in a city on the edge of the abyss.

The series, adapted by “Trainspotting” author Welsh from his own novel, also stars John Simm, Joanna Vanderham, Angela Griffin, Ken Stott, and Jamie Sives.

Tim Mutimer, CEO of Cineflix Rights, said: “The combination of Irvine Welsh’s own adaptation of his best-selling novels, together with Dougray Scott’s powerful, award-winning performance has...

The second season of Irvine Welsh’s Crime debuts on ITV1 on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, at 9:00 p.m. The season has previously been available on Itvx. In the opening episode, Di Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) is eager to move on from the Confectioner case and prove his mental fortitude. However, when a former colleague is […]

Irvine Welsh’s Crime Season 2 ITV1 Premiere on Wednesday 7 August...

“Has anyone worn a tracksuit to the Oscars?”

It’s not a question Naoise O’ Cairealláin — one-third of the fast-rising Irish-language hip-hop group and provocateurs Kneecap and better known by his stage name Móglaí Bap — ever thought he’d be asking. But with “Kneecap,” the anarchic semi-fictitious biopic in which he plays his perma-tracksuited self, gaining momentum ahead of its U.S. release on Aug. 2 and poised to become Ireland’s international feature submission for the 2025 Academy Awards, whether he should don his trademark polyester attire to the ceremony isn’t too unreasonable a consideration.

“We could do black tracksuits with white ties,” suggests bandmate JJ O Dochartaigh (aka DJ Próvaí), who is also wondering about the Irish-tricolored balaclava he’s rarely seen without (and has on for much of the film). “But we’d try to bring the Ruc jeep to the Oscars with us.”

Ruc stands for Royal Ulster Constabulary,...

Based on the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name, Filth is a surreal, funny, tragic, and disturbing film. In the genre-bending dark comedy, James McAvoy gives us his boldest character ever as a despicable protagonist. Beyond the wild chaos of his performance, Filth's story is also bolstered by the genuinely unexpected plot twists adding to an overall thrilling onscreen experience.

Exclusive: Motive Pictures had acquired the rights to develop popular British economist and YouTuber Gary Stevenson’s autobiography The Trading Game into a limited TV series.

We understand Motive Pictures landed the rights following a competitive and lengthy option process. The Sunday Times bestseller will be adapted by screenwriter Gregory Burke. The deal was negotiated by Lesley Thorne of Aitken Alexander Associates Ltd on behalf of Gary Stevenson and his literary agent Chris Wellbelove.

Described as a “propulsive, deeply compelling, and human exploration of the dark side of capitalism,” The Trading Game tells the story of Stevenson’s journey as a working-class kid from East London who rises to become the top trader in the world for Citibank before a crippling descent into depression.

The synopsis reads: Intense, funny, and sometimes grotesque, the narrative takes readers on an unvarnished, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating...

As his dazzling debut, Shallow Grave, gets a 30th anniversary rerelease, here’s to an extraordinary career that ranges from Trainspotting to Slumdog Millionaire and that unforgettable London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony

Lancashire-born film-maker Danny Boyle holds a special place in the nation’s heart, having been responsible for not one but three defining moments in our recent pop-culture history. In 1996, his daringly inventive adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting changed the face of young British cinema, with star-making performances from the likes of Ewan McGregor, Kelly Macdonald and Robert Carlyle, and a magpie soundtrack that out-hipped Pulp Fiction. I was co-hosting Radio 1’s film programme when Trainspotting hit UK cinemas, and Mary Anne Hobbs and I immediately ditched our opening station jingles in favour of the thumping drum intro to Lust for Life, which remained the show’s theme tune in perpetuity.

A decade later, Slumdog Millionaire (2008) scooped eight Oscars,...

Paramount+ may have culled a raft of international originals last month but UK commissioning appears to be continuing apace.

The streamer has given the green light to The Crow Girl from Buccaneer Media, the producer that saw another of its shows, The Doll Factory, ditched by the platform last month.

Starring Eve Myles, Katherine Kelly and Dougray Scott, The Crow Girl is adapted from the Erik Axl Sund novel and begins with the gruesome discovery of a teenage boy’s body discarded in plain sight. Determined to find who is responsible, Dci Jeanette Kilburn joins forces with psychotherapist Sophia Craven to hunt the killer, despite opposition from her superiors including confidant Di Lou Stanley.

The Crow Girl is the first major TV writing gig for Milly Thomas,...

In a move reminiscent of Hulu’s latest dealings, BritBox is now coming under the control of a single company.

It’s a little strange to see streaming services that are controlled by more than one company these days. Hulu, for example, is finally in the process of coming under the full ownership of Disney, after years of being split between that company, Fox and Comcast. The journey of BritBox from multiple owners to one has been far swifter, as BBC Studios has announced it has acquired ITV’s 50% stake in the international arm of British-focused streaming platform.

BBC Studios paid $322 million for ITV’s stake in BritBox. Extended licensing agreements will keep ITV content available to stream on Britbox for years to come. A change in ownership could signal big incoming changes for BritBox. 7-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month BritBox.com

BBC Studios, which is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC British public service broadcaster,...

Of the many terribly interesting things touched on in Danny Boyle’s smart and skillful adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s 1993 debut novel, Trainspotting, it’s most tempting to contemplate facets that are only mildly developed. There is, for instance, the pointed, oddly chilling, and deeply funny monologue that Renton (Ewan McGregor), the closest thing that the audience is given to a hero here, delivers in opposition to his straight-arrow friend’s buoyant Scottish nationalism. As Renton barks at Tommy (Kevin McKidd), personal despondency is connected directly to lack of a unique cultural identity, which Renton is quick to see as a reflection of Scotland’s muddled ties to the United Kingdom.

The whole spiel doesn’t quite account for the astounding amount of heroin that Renton and his cronies pump into their corroded veins, attained through various burglaries and scams, but coupled with the dour, decrepit environs of Glasgow and...

What links: a drug dealer in Trainspotting, a wrestling referee in The World According to Garp, a disgruntled restaurant guest in The Night Manager, an Aunt who slaps Madeline Brewer’s face in The Handmaid’s Tale, and a police officer in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back?

Correct! They were all cameo appearances in films and TV shows made by the author of the original books. While writers are as a rule happier out of the limelight thinking up their metaphors while hunched solo over a keyboard, every so often they straighten their spines to walk self-consciously through the back of shot in a movie based on one of their books. It’s fun for them. Gets them out of the house.

Best-selling thriller author Harlan Coben (the man behind the ever-growing Harlan Coben Screen Universe) is no different. Of the dozen TV series adapted from his twist-packed novels, he’s...

Exclusive: The BBC is developing a drama series about Bible John, one of Britain’s most notorious unidentified serial killers.

The as-yet-untitled show is understood to be in early-stage development with the BBC drama division. Buccaneer Media, which produces the likes of Irvine Welsh adaptation Crime and Paramount+ series The Burning Girls, is behind the development. The Pembrokeshire Murders scribe Nick Stevens was writing but is no longer attached, we understand.

Nicknamed due to his repeatedly quoting from the bible and condemnation of adultery while in the company of his final victim, Bible John is thought to have murdered three young women – Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock – between 1968 and 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland.

He has never been found, although several suspects have been linked to the case, including convicted serial killer and rapist Peter Tobin, but this was eventually disproved by DNA evidence.

Bible John joins the likes of...

BBC News has reported that David Soul, the famed star of the 70s police show, Starsky and Hutch, has died at the age of 80. Helen Snell, Soul’s wife revealed that the actor had passed on Thursday “after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family.” She added, “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.” Soul is known best for co-starring with Paul Michael Glaser in Starsky and Hutch, where he portrayed Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson. The popular cop drama ran from 1975 to 1979. He would reprise his role in a tongue-in-cheek cameo in the 2004 Todd Phillips comedic film adaptation, Starsky & Hutch, alongside Paul Michael Glaser.

David Soul can also be remembered for his work in Here Come the Brides, Magnum Force and The Yellow Rose. Soul also had a recording career as a singer. Before finding success with acting,...

The starry new version of Alasdair Gray’s book expunges almost all of its Scottish context. Along the writer and artist’s trail through the city, locals let their feelings be known

Alasdair Gray was one of Scotland’s most distinctive talents. A Glaswegian artist and writer, he celebrated his native city in tales that combined fantasy with dark urban realism and in paintings that evoked civic life in vivid detail.

He wrote Lanark, one of the greatest British novels of the 20th century; adorned many of the city’s bars, restaurants and stations with his distinctive murals; and inspired a generation of younger Scottish writers, including Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh.

Stream ‘Luther,’ ‘Downton Abbey’ and much more new and classic British TV with a subscription to BritBox.

British TV has a dedicated following essentially everywhere around the world. The quirky, dry British wit creates rollicking laughter in a certain crowd every time, and British murder mysteries have a huge and passionate fanbase.

That’s why BritBox dedicates itself to offering the very best in British television, with titles such as Irvine Welsh’s “Crime” and its new original series “Archie” alongside classic titles like “Keeping Up Appearances” and fan favorites like “Downton Abbey” and “Luther.” For a limited time, new customers can take 20% off an annual subscription to BritBox and stream their favorite shows all year long for $71.99 instead of $89.99!

How to Get Annual BritBox Subscription for $71.99 (20% off) Click here to activate the deal from BritBox. Click “Sign Up and Save.” Enter your payment and contact information to finish signing up.

Get ready for a new month at BritBox! While the British streamer is only adding a handful of new titles this month ahead of more additions in February like Sir Lenny Henry’s “Three Little Birds,” its new picks, which includes psychological thriller mini-series “The Ex-Wife” and Season 2 of a popular Scottish crime series, are not to be missed.

Find out what’s coming to BritBox in January!

7-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month BritBox.com What Shows and Movies Are Coming to BritBox in January 2024? “The Ex-Wife” | Thursday, Jan. 11

Initially released on Paramount+ in the United States, the psychological thriller based on Jess Ryder’s novel of the same name and adapted by “Downton” Abbey actor Catherine Steadman follows Tasha, a young woman living an idyllic life with a perfect house, a loving husband, and a beautiful daughter. However, her husband’s ex-wife will not leave their family alone, intent on staying in the picture,...

Almost seven years to the day since it began, we’re about to give a royal wave of farewell to Netflix drama The Crown, but series six might be its most eye-opening yet, as its first part (out on November 16) deals with the events surrounding the tragic death of Princess Diana.

Some critics’ hackles might be up already after the show previously attracted condemnation for historical inaccuracies, so it will be especially interesting to see how the show covers such an emotive and important event in royal history, and just where the story ends when the final episodes are released on 14th December.

Even so, many fans will be disappointed not to see more recent events get The Crown treatment, like that Prince Andrew interview and Harry and Meghan’s very public royal uncoupling, but is it so far beyond the realms of possibility that the show might have a...

After Di Jimmy Perez deliberately sacrificed his career in the name of justice (if not the law) and went off to pastures new with nurse Meg at the end of series seven, Shetland now has a new sheriff in town. Sort of.

While DS Tosh performs the duties of acting Di at Lerwick Police Station, detective Ruth Calder has come up from London in search of a missing witness in a serious crime case. It just so happens that Calder is an old Shetlander who left the islands as a teenager and was glad to be rid of the place, where she’s confronted by some old ghosts.

Ugly Betty and Agatha Raisin’s Ashley Jensen plays Calder, along with a new guest cast of Scottish stars as well as Shetland’s returning favourites. The latter includes Alison O’Donnell as DS Alison ‘Tosh’ McIntosh, Steven Robertson as DC Sandy Wilson,...

Exclusive: Jon S. Baird, the Scottish filmmaker known for his work on Tetris and Stan & Ollie, has signed with Range Media Partners.

Baird’s most recent feature, the true-life thriller Tetris, earned him a nomination for Best Director – Fiction at the upcoming 2023 BAFTA Scotland Awards, after world premiering at SXSW. The Apple TV+ pic tells the story of Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton), a video game enthusiast turned entrepreneur, who stumbles upon a little-known title called Tetris at a tech expo and becomes embroiled in a high-stakes battle for its rights, facing off against rival companies, the Kgb, and even Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Baird previously directed Stan & Ollie, a feature about comedy legends Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Hardy (John C. Reilly), for eOne and BBC Films, which was nominated for Outstanding British Film of the Year at the BAFTA Film Awards. The filmmaker also with that title secured...

Robert Carlyle has revealed random stars appeared on the James Bond set.The 62-year-old actor played Victor 'Renard' Zokas, a former Kgb agent turned high-tech terrorist, alongside Pierce Brosnan's 007 in 1999's 'The World Is Not Enough', and he very nearly told former England goalkeeper David Seaman to move out of the way when he was shooting a scene with the lead star.He told Total Film magazine: "It kind of felt like you were working for MI6! The way people appeared on set - that was extraordinary.One day, I was in a scene with Pierce Brosnan, and I noticed that this person was quite close as we were in the middle of a take. I was distracted by this. I was going to turn around and go, 'Excuse me.' And it's f****** [footballer] David Seaman, standing there!"The 'Beach' actor admits he struggled to get...

Exclusive: Crime star Dougray Scott and Buccaneer Media, the Scottish police drama’s producer, have hired a Creative Director for Buccaneer Scotland, as it seeks to supercharge the scale of its productions in the Celtic country.

The Lighthouse development chief Neil Duncan hired to run Buccaneer Scotland slate as Creative Director, focusing on showcasing Scottish literary, acting and behind the camera talent through its worldwide operations and partnerships.

Scott and Buccaneer teamed to launch Buccaneer Scotland in November 2021, with Mission Impossible 2 star Scott taking an equity stake in the business. He had moved back in Scotland after a long period living in the U.S. to film Crime and will be joint CEO of Buccaneer Scotland alongside Buccaneer Media bosses Richard Tulk-Hart and Tony Wood.

Wood, the veteran drama producer and co-creator of The Only Way is Essex, noted big budget U.S. productions such as Starz’s Outlander had...

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other politicians are hilariously depicted in a Trainspotting parody that critiques their inconsistent policies and controversial actions. The parody, titled "Trainstopping," cleverly reimagines the opening sequences of Trainspotting with political figures like Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, and David Cameron. This darkly comedic parody by PoliticsJOE effectively captures the chaotic changes and controversies brought by the current Conservative government, providing both entertainment and a critique of the UK's political landscape.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other politicians appear in a Trainspotting parody that retargets the movie's iconic opening satire to perfection. Danny Boyle's 1996 adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel followed a group of misfits in Edinburgh played by Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremmer, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Peter McKullan, and Robert Carlyle. Trainspotting is celebrated for its glimpse at substance addiction in the youth subculture, with the movie also launching...

Sound Unseen, the music documentary festival held in Minneapolis, is returning with a slew of rock docs including Alison Ellwood’s Cyndi Lauper film Let the Canary Sing and the North American premiere of Peter Doherty: Stranger In My Own Skin about the Libertines co-founder.

The 24th iteration of the festival runs between November 8-12.

Let The Canary Sing will open the festival on Wednesday November 8 and Katia de Vidas’s Doherty film closes the festival on Sunday November 12.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing some of the best and most buzzed about music documentaries and fiction films of the year to Minneapolis”, said Sound Unseen Festival Director Jim Brunzell. “The entire team has done an incredible job and after the success of last year’s festival, we hope the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota audiences will bring the same energy and excitement to Sound Unseen more than ever.”

Federation...

Irvine Welsh on Choose Irvine: 'I think as a subject you have to give yourself over to that process, you can't interfere. And I was very comfortable with the way both of them turned out' Ian Jeffries' Choose Irvine Welsh had its world premiere at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film features extensive interviews with Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, while his friends and associates, including everyone from producer Andrew Macdonald to musician Iggy Pop share their thoughts and memories of him. We caught up with Jeffries and Welsh at the festival to talk about the project - which is just one of two documentaries currently in the pipeline about the writer, with I Am Irvine Welsh, directed by Paul Sng also in the works.

How does it feel to be the centre of attention given that writers generally stay more in the background. You’ve also got another documentarian,...

We open with "Princess Street, Leith, 1958". That's the Scott Monument, and it's Princes Street with one S and even then not possessive, and the Leith border is a matter for discussion but it's on Leith Walk, at least some way down past Calton Hill. It's one of several geographical oddities and issues with what we could charitably call 'fact'. It's also not even 1958, because that's an electric tram and those stopped running on Friday 16th November, 1956.

The fake film-grain, typewriter noises for the the early title cards, a repeated use of hand-written reel start. Still photographs that are almost certainly digital in origin are presented with Kodak (sometimes Portra) 400 35mm frames around them. In search of authenticity that is a lot of artificiality. Anachronisms too. I hadn't known that Irvine Welsh had been on the bus of Hibernian supporters that had been in a fatal crash in...

Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh has said that he wrote a transgender character into Season 2 of Crime to show how people are struggling with their identity in the modern world.

The Dougray Scott drama will stream in the UK on Itvx next month and follows detective Ray Lennox as he returns to crime fighting in Edinburgh following a breakdown.

Lennox quickly becomes embroiled in a case about vengeance, identity, and social justice after one of his former colleagues is attacked.

Produced by Buccaneer Media, Crime Season 2 has cast Boy Meets Girl star Rebecca Root as a transgender character who is navigating a world that has not fully accepted her identity.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Welsh said he wanted to be “sensitive” to gender identity issues in the show, which engaged a trans advisor during filming.

He argued that the end of capitalism has sparked an identity crisis for many,...

The event is partnership with BBC Film, BBC Scotland and Mg Alba.

Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) is inviting previous festival alumni to join a special Talent Assemble event, to celebrate the festival’s community of filmmaking talent.

The festival is running as a streamlined edition this year as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, from August 18 to 23. While there is no formal industry strand this edition, Talent Assemble will take place on Saturday, August 19 as a way of bringing together Eiff’s filmmakers and the wider industry.

“This year’s edition is specifically to try to make sure people reconnect to the festival.

The indie filmmaking explosion during the 1990s introduced a new Hollywood, allowing filmmakers to imprint their style on their work. Many of today's greats, including Sofia Coppola, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Darren Aronofsky, got their start during the '90s, receiving audience praise before going on to have successful careers.

While the industry has changed significantly since then, indie filmmaking is still alive and well, taking inspiration from many classics. With new technology making hand-held video cameras more accessible, anyone with a great idea could get out and make a film. This newfound freedom from major studios and high budgets allowed more artists' voices the space to be heard.

Related: 10 Best Indie Films Of The 2000s

Trainspotting

Directed by Danny Boyle, Trainspotting is a British black comedy-drama based on Irvine Welsh's book of the same name. Starring Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting follows a group of heroin addicts...

Christian Petzold’s Afire and Celine Song’s Past Lives are among the titles set to screen at this year’s scaled-down Edinburgh International Film Festival (Aug 18-23), which is being mounted as part of Edinburgh’s wider cultural Festival.

The full programme announced includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, and a five pic short film programme. Five feature films will be presented as World Premieres, including the opening film Silent Roar. The festival closes with British Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali’s well-received Sundance pic Fremont.

The festival also today announced its new venue partners. Vue Edinburgh Omni and Everyman Edinburgh at the St James Quarter will host indoor festival screenings while the Old College Quad at the University of Edinburgh will be the site for a weekend of outdoor screenings titled Cinema Under the Stars.

Edinburgh had previously been based out of the Edinburgh Filmhouse cinema, which was sold...

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, who says still enjoys spikes in sales of his 1993 novel whenever the film 1996 film adaption is aired on TV in the UK, has shared details of the musical he is bringing to stage – a show he says will be even darker than the novel or film.

Welsh told the UK’s Observer newspaper:

“I wanted this to be something very different from either the film or the two versions of the stage play.

“So there are some new characters in there, and to be honest it’s quite a lot darker than the book or the film. It’s going to be quite full-on, but hopefully a great experience.

“Phil McIntyre [promoter and producer] had been asking me for years to do it, and I always said, nah, I’m not doing that.

“Then I thought, if I don’t do it, someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber will do...

The book was a stark warning about heroin use. But its author believes the message has changed

It was meant to be a warning against the excesses of heroin use, according to its author. A no-holds-barred, gritty – albeit often comic – portrait of the travails of a disparate group of misfits navigating Edinburgh’s dark, drug-riddled underbelly.

Yet 30 years after Trainspotting was first published, the book’s message has turned full circle, says Irvine Welsh – and now might as well be: “choose drugs”.

In 1993, author Irvine Welsh released his first novel Trainspotting into the world. The novel centered around the lives of heroin users Renton, Spud, Sickboy and their friends Begbie and Tommy. It was met with universal success and eventually adapted into a film. Trainspotting was directed by the mastermind Danny Boyle and has been captivating audiences for over two decades!

Released in the United Kingdom in 1995, and later released to America in 1996, the movie would also depict heroin addicts in Edinburgh, Scotland as they deal with life, drugs and their consequences as well as their various exploits. This wasn’t just some run of the mill movie adaptation…this is Trainspotting we’re talking about! Join us on Revisited as we look back on one of the best movies the 90’s had to offer.

In December of 1993, Andrew Macdonald, who would eventually become the producer of the film, was midflight reading...

Does Trainspotting have a sequel? Yes, and it is legitimate. The director of the acclaimed classic, Danny Boyle, took a leap of faith, reintroducing his iconic characters suffering from drug addiction. The societal rage projected by the heroin addict Mark Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, struck an emotional chord with the admirers of the film.

Trainspotting was released in 1996 and became an instant pop-culture moment for its stylistic and defiant interpretation of the coming-of-age genre films. In it, the characters are miserable and loathsome, but somehow manage to win empathy for being angry for the right reasons. The film was an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Irvine Welsh and was a proud British moment for claiming its relevance for being as competent as Hollywood Independent films released in the 90s.

Keeping in mind the sequel to the novel published in 2002, Porno, Boyle had wished to...

It’s been quarter of a century since Robert Carlyle led a group of unlikely strippers to box office glory in The Full Monty, and now the original cast is back in a brand new series on Disney+. Over 25 years older, Carlyle is joined by Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, Hugo Speer, Lesley Sharp, Paul Barber, Steve Huison and Wim Snape on a new comical journey that will no doubt tug at the heartstrings as it catches up with the characters last seen baring all a generation ago. You can check out the first trailer for the series below.

While there is no sign of any stripping this time around, the legacy sequel is firmly placed in the same comedy-drama wheelhouse that made the original movie a massive success. According to the official series synopsis:

“The Full Monty follows the same band of brothers as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield,...

Alex Wolff has been cast as legendary singer Leonard Cohen in So Long, Marianne, the Nrk drama series we first revealed last year.

Thea Sofie Loch Næss will play Canadian musician Cohen’s muse Marianne Ihlen. Anna Torv has also been cast Charmian Clift and Noah Taylor is George Johnston.

Wolff appeared opposite Joachim Phoenix in indie flick Pig and has been cast in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Before that, he reteams with Pig filmmaker Michael Sarnoski on Paramount Pictures’ A Quiet Place: Day One alongside Lupita Nyong’o in 2024.

In further developments, Canadian streamer Crave has boarded So Long, Marianne, which began principal photography on March 24 and is shooting in multiple locations including the Greek island of Hydra, Oslo in Norway,...

If you love the 1980s – specifically, the neon-lit, Talking Heads-blaring, Delboy swagger of the 1980s Cockney – then Sky’s new crime thriller A Town Called Malice is right up your street.

Meet the Lords

Created by The Sweeney’s Nick Love, this eight-part drama centres on the Lord family, a South London gang whose criminal heyday might be behind them, but who are still up for causing trouble. After a spot of bother with a rival gang (and leaving a policeman for dead), they flee to Spain’s Costa del Sol to lay low, and in amongst the pina coladas and palm trees realise they have a chance to recapture their former glory and become criminal top dogs once more.

The series premiered on Sky Max at 9pm on Thursday 16th March, and the full box-set is already available to watch on Now.

Who’s in the cast of A Town Called Malice?...

Apx Group has snapped up production company Burning Wheel’s development slate for a six-figure sum, Variety has confirmed.

The exact figure was not disclosed.

As part of the deal, Burning Wheel, who recently produced Danny Boyle’s biopic “Creation Stories,” will effectively be fully absorbed into Apx.

Altogether, the slate includes over 20 projects, both features and episodic. Among them are “American Tabloid,” a drama series about the U.S. press co-created by best-selling authors Bret Easton Ellis, pictured above, and Irvine Welsh (“Trainspotting”), an as-yet untitled project being developed with the Bram Stoker Estate and writer director Bruce Robinson (“The Rum Diary”) and another untitled project with writer Lily Robinson.

Apx intends to develop the slate alongside its U.K. subsidiary Herd International, which will include completing many of the distribution deals already in the works with U.S. networks.

“I am absolutely delighted that we have been given...

Cinematographer who brought his imaginative sensibilities to films such as Trainspotting, Billy Elliot and Quadrophenia

The cultural aesthetic of the Britpop and New Labour years was shaped partly by the cinematographer Brian Tufano, who has died aged 83. In films such as Trainspotting (1996), East Is East (1999) and Billy Elliot (2000), he combined social realism and absurdist fantasy, smudging the joins between the two. A typical Tufano production, said the film-maker Saul Metzstein, had “technical polish and a cinematic ambition at odds with its financially modest status”.

He worked for the BBC throughout the 1960s and 70s with directors including Lindsay Anderson, Ken Russell, Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. But it was in his work with a younger generation in the 90s that his imaginative cinematic sensibility was most strongly felt. For Danny Boyle, with whom he had already made the BBC period drama series Mr Wroe’s Virgins (1993), he shot the...

Six world premieres, 16 European and international premieres and 70 UK premieres feature in the line-up

Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has unveiled the full line-up for its 19th edition, taking place March 1-12, with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Sundance title Polite Society the closing night film.

The festival will screen 123 features, including six world premieres, 16 European and international premieres and 70 UK premieres.

Polite Society is the feature debut of Screen Star of Tomorrow 2021 Nida Manzoor, who created Channel 4 and Peacock series We Are Lady Parts.

Her first feature is an action comedy about an aspiring stuntwoman who tries...

James McAvoy has said that two authors have said he was miscast in adaptations of their work.

In a new interview, the actor, 43, revealed that not all writers that he has worked with have been happy to see him cast in film or TV adaptations of their work.

McAvoy stars as Asriel in the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s books His Dark Materials. Season four will be released on 18 December.

Speaking ahead of the fourth season’s release, McAvoy told The Guardian that he had never spoken to Pullman because he was worried the actor would say: ‘“Hmmm, you’re not really my Asriel!’”

McAvoy went on to say: “I’ve had that with a writer, and it’s just not nice. I’ve had that with two writers, actually.”

Asked for the names of which authors disapproved of casting, McAvoy said it was not Irvine Welsh or Stephen King.

Exclusive: British author C.J. Tudor’s buzzy upcoming book The Drift is set for a TV adaptation.

Irvine Welsh’s Crime and Marcella producer Buccaneer Media and Chicken Soup for the Soul-owned Halcyon Studios, which is behind Prime Video’s Hunters, have won the rights to adapt the book following a competitive, hotly-contested six-way situation.

The companies bought the TV rights from Hannah Ladds at Madeleine Milburn.

The Drift, which Penguin Random House imprints Penguin Michael Joseph in the UK and Ballantine in the U.S. are publishing in January 2023, tells the story of three groups of frightened teens who find themselves thrown together in a frozen post-apocalyptic world. One group is involved in a coach crash, another wakes suspended across a ravine in a broken-down cable and the third hunks down in an isolated sky chalet, and stalking all three is an even greater danger.

For Tudor, who has...

Other winners included ‘Sex Education’ and ‘Help’.

UK thriller Vigil picked up best drama series at the 50th International Emmy Awards ceremony in New York on Monday (November 21).

The series stars Suranne Jones as a detective investigating a murder on a Hms submarine. It was produced by World Productions and premiered on BBC One in 2021.

TV shows and performers from the UK scooped up seven awards in total, the most of any country.

This included best comedy for Netflix’s Sex Education and best mini-series for Help which stars Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham and is set in a care home during the Covid pandemic.

Women in Film and Television International has appointed Dr. Susan Liddy as its new president.

The former chair of Women in Film and Television Ireland will step into the role that has been occupied by Swedish producer Helen Granqvist since 2018. The pair will work together for the coming months as co-presidents until Liddy assumes the helm in August 2023.

Welcoming Dr. Liddy to her new role, Ms.Granqvist said: “I’m looking forward to sharing the leadership of Wifti with Dr. Liddy during the transition period. Susan is a researcher and I am a practitioner but we are both activists who work strategically for change. I couldn’t wish for someone better to take over the leadership for Wifti!”

Speaking about her appointment, Liddy said: “I’m honored to be chosen to lead Wifti in the years ahead and I look forward to working with our international colleagues, in uniting chapters and affiliated organisations,...

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Comcast-owned pay-tv group Sky has snatched up rights across its European footprint for the upcoming Australian crime drama Last King of the Cross.

In a deal announced on the eve of international television market MIPCOM Cannes, Sky took exclusive rights across the UK, Ireland, Italy and Germany for the 10-part series starring Tim Roth and inspired by John Ibrahim’s best-selling autobiography about his rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul. Set in the 1980s and ’90s in Australia’s mini-Atlantic City — the decadent half-mile strip along Sydney’s Kings Cross where every form of vice is on offer — the series co-stars Lincoln Younes, Claude Jabbour, Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubrich, Maria Tran and Matt Nable.

Helium Pictures produced Last King of the Cross for Paramount+ Australia with Cineflix Rights handling international sales. Mark Fennessy and Karl Zwicky produced,...

Noah Media Group Boards Irvine Welsh Doc

Netflix’s 14 Peaks producer Noah Media Group has boarded a documentary on cult Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh and will shop the show at Mipcom Cannes next week. I Am Irvine Welsh, from Ls Films, followed a year in the life of the Scottish auteur as he adapted Trainspotting into a West End musical, published a new novel, launched a record label and worked on two TV series. The doc reflects on a remarkable life after Welsh was propelled into the spotlight when Trainspotting became a cult classic, starring Ewan McGregor, and he has since been prolific across literature, screenwriting and music. BAFTA-nominated Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché director Paul Sng is forging the doc, which is being exec produced by Sarah Drummond and produced by Natasha Dack. The show is 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible producer Noah’s first non-sport global sales project...