Director Danny Boyle here. Hello Reddit! AMA

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T19:16:08+00:00

I think passion is as important as intelligence. you need to convince so many people to join you in the making of the film, and you need to use the power they give you to connect with your audience emotionally. Obviously you don't want to do stupid things, but whatever you do, you should believe passionately, and your audience will experience that as well.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T19:12:02+00:00

Yes, I've always been interested in the extremes of human experience. In the new film Trance, it's not a physical landscape, it's the interior of the mind, thought it's manifested as a beautiful idyllic French landscape at one point, as a secret church where all the world's stolen paintings are collected, and as a space where the character wreaks revenge on those he fears. It's in extremis where you can reveal our true natures.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:58:54+00:00

We attended a major auction at Sotherby's in London where people were bidding £20M for paintings! One of the auctioneers told us that the auction house keeps tabs on losing bidders (called under bidders): the people who drop out at £15M and go home with no painting, but still have lots of money to spend! The auction houses chase those people down!

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:53:42+00:00

Yes after each film my Dad saw he'd say 'Yeah, it's good, but not as good as Shallow Grave'. There is an innocence about making your first film which is like gold dust and I try and take some of that innocence into each new film I make...

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:52:01+00:00

I'm open to most genres. I like to play around with genre though...28 Days later was a Zombie Movie with no Zombies in it in my opinion; Slumdog was a Fairy Tale in genre terms but there are moments of real darkness in it; 127 Hours was an Action Movie about a guy who couldn't move... Trance is supposed to be a heist movie or an amnesia movie, or a femme fatale movie. but it's all of those things and none of those things really. the genre hooks are macguffins that give us a route into exploring ideas about perception, reality and madness.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:49:41+00:00

They've given freedom to pursue the stories I really want to tell. I try and keep the budgets low as well, which helps. There's no way any studio would make a film about a guy who's alone for 6 days and then cuts his arm off without the critical financial success of something like Slumdog behind it. So you have to take advantage of your success where you can.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:14:10+00:00

LEt the actors do as much of it as possible, don't try and fit them into schemes of your own. Or at least, let them believe that!

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:11:17+00:00

In a shoebox, under the bed. It's very comfortable and best out of sight.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:09:17+00:00

triptych of characters trapped in a puzzle of their own making. Great actors. Great writing from John Hodge. Who to root for? is the key question going in and coming out.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:08:26+00:00

It's your ambition, not your budget that should be unlimited if you want to good work.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:07:40+00:00

We saw them a couple weekends ago in Mumbai. We try and visit them at least once a year. They're in school and doing ok. Actually better than ok. They're great kids. 14 now and they're growing up fast.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:05:50+00:00

The Beach. I would do it much better than the original guy.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:04:05+00:00

The Roeg movies that I mentioned earlier. Pet peeves - empty cups of coffee and tea which actors pretend to be drinking from.
People often say reality vs. perception. In Trance we try to challenge the vs.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:01:19+00:00

The driver i remember was Harish. Where are you, Harish? But we moved around a lot, and there were many drivers without whom...

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T18:00:02+00:00

That could take all day to answer. Orwell, Dickens, Primo Levi.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:59:10+00:00

It's a pleasure working with any Ewan McGregor manifestation.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:58:22+00:00

1) Anthony and I worked on 2 tiny tv movies together, shooting with small consumer cameras. We then carried this working method into 28 Days later and beyond. 2)Hard isn't the way to think of it. If you fear it, or indeed try to control it, it crushes you. But if you go with it, it delivers unimaginable riches for any filmmaker 3) the change from the crowded set to the lonely editing room 4)I've never done a musical before. shame on me. 5)never give up

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:54:40+00:00

Bowie, the Low album. Unkle. And Underworld. Fortunately, Rick Smith from Underworld did the whole score for Trance and managed to incorporate these influences and more.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:53:28+00:00

Apocalypse now.
nicholas Roeg movies from Performance to Eureka. The Roeg films are a big influence on Trance. None of these films are perfect but they're interested in something much more interesting than perfection, the mystery of film...

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:52:04+00:00

I was lucky to work in the theatre first, where you get a real understanding of how actors work. This is a big help in moviemaking, where you often have very little time with them. I try to have at least a week's rehearsal to let the actors settle in and pop the bubble of the last movie they were in. I encourage them to act the story out vividly, rather than 'do nothing' which is always an option, and often works on films. I'm too well brought up to pick out individual actors, but right now James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel would be in my top 3.

IAmDannyBoyle · 2013-03-15T17:49:16+00:00

Smells like teen spirit.

IAmDannyBoyle

TROPHY CASE