Danny Boyle

Born on October 20, 1956 in Radcliffe, a town near Manchester, Daniel (Danny for as long as he can remember) Boyle belongs to a working Irish family of Catholic convictions. Although today the filmmaker defines himself as a ‘spiritual atheist’, until he was 14 years old he had in mind to listen to his mother’s advice to follow the Lord’s call, as also happened to Martin Scorsese . But a priest who regularly talked with him realized that he did not really have a religious vocation and convinced him to take another path.

“There is a certain connection between the priesthood and the job of a filmmaker, because in both cases they try to make people think,” the director later explained. In search of new paths, after finishing his studies at Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton, Danny Boyle enrolled in English and Drama at Bangor University.

When he finished his studies in the 1980s, he took his first steps as a theater director, just before being recruited as a producer for the BBC’s Northern Irish section. He produced several titles, including Elephant (1989) , the medium-length film about youth violence whose title Gus Van Sant borrowed for his film about the Columbine massacre. He directed several television productions and various episodes of the Inspector Morse and Mr. Wroe’s Virgins series , with which he gained immense prestige.

But Boyle was very clear that he wanted to work on the big screen since he was impressed when he saw Apocalypse Now in theaters . He became close friends with screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald, both eager to make their film debuts. The trio manages to secure modest financing for their debut feature, Open Grave , a mix of comedy and thriller about three roommates who interview candidates to occupy a room in their apartment. They choose a guy who suddenly dies leaving a suitcase containing a large amount of money. They trust for the main role a young actor who until then has only done supporting roles in mediocre films, a certain Ewan McGregor, who happens to be a great actor (his real mother appears in the film as one of the people interviewed as potential tenants). The other two inhabitants of the property in which the action takes place are Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox , completely unknown at the time. Among the secondary ones, Peter Mullan stands out , who was also taking his first steps in acting.

Boyle was happy with the result, but thought it was a very small film that hardly anyone would see. Until they select him for the San Sebastian Festival. He attended without much enthusiasm, and received the Silver Shell for best director. Critics compare him to Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers, and the filmmaker begins to believe in his product. Like who doesn’t want the thing, it becomes the highest grossing British film of the year.

In this way he gets a more comfortable budget for his next job, Trainspotting , an adaptation of the best-seller by Irvine Welsh . It again has Hodge as a writer, with Andrew MacDonald as a producer and with the actor Ewan McGregor . A stark portrayal of a group of non-aspirational drug addicts from Hamburg, the film attracts attention for its realism in dealing with the subject of drugs, and it sweeps the box office. Definitely consecrates McGregor, as Mark Renton, a young narrator trying to quit drugs. Among his particular friends, the sociopath Francis Begbie stands out, well played by the surprising Robert Carlyle .. Mullan appears again, as a drug dealer. Currently, Boyle is waiting for the original cast to age considerably to make “Porn,” another Welsh novel that brings back the original characters many years later, to the movies.

Trainspotting puts Boyle on the big industry map, to the point that he is offered to shoot the fourth installment of Alien, the Eighth Passenger . But he prefers to start his own project again with Hodge, Macdonald and McGregor. This is a different story , with a typical Hollywood invoice and a solid cast, since it featured Cameron Díaz, one of the stars of the moment, as McGregor’s co-star, and with such solvent supporting roles as Delroy Lindo , Dan Hedaya , Stanley Tucci , Ian Holm and Tony Shalhoub. Once again, he follows in the footsteps of a loser, in need of money, who kidnaps the daughter of his boss, who is delighted with the situation, to ask for a ransom. The heavenly comedy tone and abundance of humor marks a complete break from Boyle’s previous two films.

It seemed that Boyle’s career was always growing until he failed remarkably with The Beach , an adaptation of a successful novel by Alex Garland around the central theme of the filmmaker’s filmography, the search for happiness, impossible to achieve with money or the drugs. On this occasion, Richard, a ‘modern’ young man, tries to catch up with her in an idyllic paradisiacal place where, in theory, one can live carefree in the ‘hippy’ style. Before filming, Boyle argues with his usual actor, McGregor, who was going to be the lead, and ends up replacing him with Leonardo DiCaprio .. The film is screened in the official section at the Berlin Festival, but critics dismiss it. In addition, environmental groups accuse Boyle of having damaged the fragile ecosystem of the island of Phi Phi, which served as the setting.

Since then it would be said that–saving the distance–in the line of Stanley Kubrick, Boyle tries to navigate between different genres. He is better at terror ( 28 days later is a success) than science fiction (the interesting one in some elements Sunshine does not reach the level of other of his works). Both have a script by Alex Garland , the aforementioned novelist. “Whatever genre the film is, what interests me are the human relationships between the characters,” Boyle told me personally in an interview.

Frank Cottrell Boyce , a regular at Michael Winterbotton’s movies, writes him the inspired children’s story Millions, where two motherless children literally fall from the sky a bag full of money that comes from a robbery. His mix of comedy and surrealism works perfectly. “The protagonist is an idealistic child, who tries to do good things with the money he has found,” recalls Boyle in an interview with José María Aresté, from decine21.com. “And you want to know where your mother is, that person you have loved so much, and of course you want to believe that she is a saint, as we would also think of someone we love, it is a natural feeling. The important thing is to be faithful to what you what you think. For him, solving small problems is a small victory of the imagination, of idealism, over the limitations of reality.”

There was also a lot of money and children in Slumdog Millionaire, the director’s creative peak, adaptation of the novel by Vikas Swarup, about the children of the streets of Bombay. Visually brilliant (it includes a final musical number that pays homage to Bollywood cinema), the director’s desire to reinvent himself is evident. “What I would really like is not to know anything, always start over. Blank,” the filmmaker comments to Pablo de Santiago, also from decine21.com (Boyle often visits Madrid to promote his films). “I think the best movie we make is the first one. Because at that point we don’t know anything. And if you survive that first movie, then things change. Then technology comes in, and also cunning. But the first time all that does not exist. In Bombay for me it was similar, it was something new. And I like that with my films,

He received ten Oscar nominations, eventually winning eight, including film, directing and adapted screenplay (work undertaken by Simon Beaufoy ). The very young Dev Patel became popular as Jamal, a young man who is about to win the prize of the program “Do you want to be a millionaire?” recalls his harsh existence.

Since then it seems that Boyle has not managed to connect with the public again in cinema. His survival story 127 Hours , with an impressive acting job by James Franco , is very interesting , but the film attracts few viewers. He fails to come back with the disappointing Trance , again about money, as its protagonists are a group of thieves who try to get hold of a Goya painting that is going to be auctioned. Boyle’s biggest post-figurine success has been the astonishingly spectacular opening ceremony of the London Olympics, where the queen (actually a double) parachuted with James Bond.