Happy 64th Birthday, Danny Boyle! Born today in in 1956 as Daniel Francis Boyle, this English screenwriter, producer and director of film and stage is one of Britain's most celebrated breakthrough talents of the 1990s.
Boyle was a son to Irish parents from County Galway. Although he now describes himself as a "spiritual atheist", he was brought up in a working-class Catholic family.
Boyle was an altar boy for eight years and his mother had the priesthood in mind for him.
However, at age fourteen, Boyle was persuaded by a priest not to transfer from school to a seminary.
He later studied at Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton, and later studied English and Drama at University College of North Wales (now Bangor University). Boyle eventually graduated alma mater.
Upon leaving school, Boyle began his career at the Joint Stock Theatre Company, before moving onto the Royal Court Theatre in 1982.
In 1987, Boyle started working in television as a producer for BBC Northern Ireland where he produced television films. This was before Boyle became a director on television shows.
Boyle's love for film began with his first viewing Francis Ford Coppola's epic 1979 American war/drama film 'Apocalypse Now'.
Said Boyle of the film: "It had eviscerated my brain, completely. I was an impressionable twenty-one-year-old guy from the sticks. My brain had not been fed and watered with great culture, you know, as art is meant to do.
It had been sandblasted by the power of cinema. And that's why cinema, despite everything we try to do, it remains a young man's medium, really, in terms of audience."
The first feature that Boyle directed was the 1994 British black comedy thriller/crime film 'Shallow Grave', starring Ewan McGregor.
The following year, 'Shallow Grave' won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. This occurred at the 48th British Academy Film Awards in early April 1995.
Working with Scottish screenwriter and dramatist John Hodge and Scottish film producer Andrew Macdonald, 'Shallow Grave' earned Boyle the Best Newcomer Award from the 1996 London Film Critics Circle.
The film was later the most commercially successful British film of that same year.
It also led to the production of the first film of which Boyle is best known for directing one year later. This was the 1996 British black comedy crime/drama film 'Trainspotting'.
The film follows heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), of whom stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends.
These include Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). Renton also has an underage girlfriend, Diane (Kelly Macdonald), along for the ride.
After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.
The film is based on the 1993 travel literature fiction novel of the same name by Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer Irvine Welsh. He also has a bit part in the film as local drug dealer Mikey Forrester.
On a budget of £1.5 million ($1,933,950), 'Trainspotting' eventually grossed £48 million ($72 million) at the box office.
One year later, 'Trainspotting' won a BAFTA Award for Best Feature Film and Best Actor - Film (Ewan McGregor). This occurred at the 50th British Academy Film Awards in late April 1997.
The title of the film comes from a particular scene in the book where the main character, Mark Renton, meets an old drunk in a disused train station, who turns out to be his friend's estranged father. The old man asks Renton and Begbie, who is the man's son, if they are "trainspottin'".
'Shallow Grave' and 'Trainspotting' later caused critics to claim that Boyle had revitalized British cinema in the early 1990s.
'Trainspotting' was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British Films of the 20th century. In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.
The following year, Boyle declined an offer to direct the fourth film of the science-fiction horror/action media franchise 'Alien'. He instead made the 1997 British black comedy film 'A Life Less Ordinary'.
The position of director for the 1997 American science fiction action/horror film 'Alien: Resurrection' instead went to Jean-Pierre Jeunet ('Delicatessen', 'Amélie', 'A Very Long Engagement').
In the late 2000s, Boyle directed the second and final film of which he is best known. This was the 2008 British drama/romance film 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
The film was based off of Indian diplomat and well-known writer Vikas Swarup's 2005 drama fiction novel Q & A.
As eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) answers questions on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," flashbacks show how he got there.
Part of a stable of young thieves after their mother dies, Jamal and his brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal), survive on the streets of Mumbai.
However, Salim finds the life of crime agreeable, but Jamal scrapes by with small jobs until landing a spot on the game show.
The idea behind the story line for the novel was triggered by a report in a local newspaper about children living in the Indian slums using mobile phones and the internet - an indication that class barriers were breaking down.
At the same time, former British Army major Charles Ingram was accused and found guilty of cheating in the British version of the television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".
To quote Swarup: “If a British Army major can be accused of cheating, then an ignorant tiffin boy from the world's biggest slum can definitely be accused of cheating.”
One year later, 'Slumdog Millionaire' received seven BAFTA Awards for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound. This occurred at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards on February 8, 2009.
Two weeks later, the film won seven Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Music (Original Score), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. This occurred at the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009.
Three years later, Boyle was artistic director for the 2012 Summer Olympics (formally the Games of the XXX Olympiad and commonly known as London 2012) opening ceremony in London, England, United Kingdom.
Over the years, Olympic opening ceremonies have become multi-million-pound theatrical shows, which have become known for their extravagance and pageantry to celebrate the start of the largest multi-sport event in the world.
The ceremony, entitled "Isles of Wonder", charted aspects of British culture, including the Industrial Revolution and British contributions to literature, music, film and technology.
Reception to the ceremony was generally positive, both nationally in the United Kingdom and internationally.
In December 2012, it was widely reported that Boyle turned down a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. He told BBC Radio 4 "I'm very proud to be an equal citizen and I think that's what the opening ceremony was actually about."
On filmmaking, Boyle commented, "To be a filmmaker...you have to lead. You have to be psychotic in your desire to do something. People always like the easy route. You have to push very hard to get something unusual, something different."
In 2017, a poll of one hundred and fifty actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out ranked '28 Days Later' the ninety-seventh best British film ever.
In May 2018, it was announced that Boyle had been tapped to direct the then-as-yet-untitled 25th film in the James Bond franchise. However, the position went to American filmmaker and television director Cary Joji Fukunaga.
The film, 'No Time to Die', was scheduled for release in April 2020, but was postponed worldwide twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now scheduled for release on April 2, 2021.
Scottish film producer Andrew Macdonald, the producer of 'Trainspotting', said "Boyle takes a subject that you've often seen portrayed realistically, in a politically correct way, whether it's junkies or slum orphans, and he has managed to make it realistic but also incredibly uplifting and joyful."
According to Boyle's personal life, he is the patron of North West-based young people's substance misuse charity, Early Break, which was founded and based in his home town of Radcliffe.
He is also a trustee of the United Kingdom-based African arts charity Dramatic Need. This UK-registered charity sends international arts professionals (such as musicians, artists and actors) to host workshops in underprivileged and rural communities in Africa.
The charity promotes creative expression as a tool for conflict resolution, social development, gender empowerment and the assimilation of health messages in underprivileged communities.
Among his credits, Boyle is also known for directing 'The Beach' (2000), '28 Days Later' (2002), 'Millions' (2004), '127 Hours' (2010), 'Steve Jobs' (2015), T2 Trainspotting' (2017), and 'Yesterday' (2019).
With an eclectic array of films to his credit, Boyle had emerged from his native England to become one of the most celebrated and revered filmmakers of independently-minded cinema known for their bold visual imagery and exuberant energy.
Boyle has been active from 1980–present.
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