Ewan McGregor has said he was hesitant to make a Trainspotting sequel because the original was the “Oasis of the film world”.
The actor will reprise his role of Renton from the 1997 movie in the highly-anticipated sequel T2: Trainspotting, which is released in cinemas on January 27.
Speaking to the Guardian, McGregor has discussed how the first film’s quality and success made him hesitant to be involved with a follow-up.
“I wasn’t touched by it in the same way,” he said of Irvine Welsh’s Porno, the book sequel to the original novel. “And I didn’t want anything to tarnish the film. No one wants to make a shite sequel. Trainspotting was the Oasis of the film world, something quite amazing.”
McGregor also spoke about being reunited with the film’s cast, saying he hadn’t seen Robert Carlyle “since the premiere for Trainspotting, and I don’t remember the premiere for Trainspotting, so I don’t know if I saw him there or not” and described working with Jonny Miller, who plays Sick Boy, again as “really lovely”.
“When Renton is back with Sick Boy there’s something complete about them again,” he said. “There’s shots of me and Jonny watching telly on the sofa… It all came back. And there’s a moment where I have to come up through rafters and it became like coming out of the toilet in the first film.
“But only inside me. It wasn’t written that way. Danny [Boyle, director] didn’t say, ‘Do it like that,’ it just happened. It was like a direct connection to something I did 20 years ago. That happened all the time, because Renton is me, and I am him.”
McGregor has previously spoken of his love for Oasis and praised Mat Whitecross’ documentary about the band’s early years, Supersonic. In the interview, he spoke about the latter again saying it “really slayed me”.
“I can’t describe it, I was so upset afterwards,” he said. “Because I was such a huge Oasis fan. Like, ridiculous, a schoolboy fanaticism, when I was a dad already, you know? Embarrassing. And watching that film, I really wanted to go back.
“I loved that documentary. I mean, I loved it and I hated it. Because it made me so sad and it made me so happy. That time has gone, it can never happen again – but it changed our whole existence.”
Source: NME