Trainspotting: Task One

Synopsis: Mark Renton lives in economically depressed Edinburgh, and like most of his friends Renton is a heroin addict. After too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks the habit and moves down to London, but its not long until his junkie friends have followed him to bring him back to a life of crimes and drugs.

Director and other films with FilmFour: Danny Boyle directed Trainspotting with FilmFour and also directed the following with FilmFour, Shallow Grave and Slumdog Millionaire.

Budget: £3.5 Million, a low budget film, this was Boyle's second film so a big budget would not have been available as it was not known if Boyle would be a successful director.

Companies: Channel 4 Films, Miramax Films to sell the film in the US as the British Pulp Fiction.

Where was it filmed? : set in Edinburgh but filmed in Glasgow, chase scene filmed in Princes Street Edinburgh, London scenes in West Kensington

Main Actors:

• Ewan McGregor: Star Wars, Angels and Demons, Molin Rouge!, Robots (voice), starred in ER. Found international fame after Trainspotting
• Johnny Lee Miller: Mostly period drama's like Mansfield Park, Emma, internationally famous for marrying Angelina Jolie.
• Ewen Bremmer: Hallam Foe, Fools Gold, Alien vs Predator, Pearl Harbour, Snatch, My Name is Earl
• Robert Carlyle: 28 Weeks Later, Eragon, The Beach, Angela's Ashes, The Full Monty (British Films or films by British directors)
• Kelly Macdonald: No Country For Old Men, Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland.

Distributed By: Miramax Films, Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Distributed in: UK, US, AUS, Canada, France, New Zealand, Brazil, S.Africa, Hong Kong, some parts like Rentons narration at the beginning had to be redubbed for other countries due to his thick Scottish accent.

What country is the film from? : Scotland: Scottish producer (Andrew Macdonald), Screenplay by Scottish writer John Hodge, based on Scottish author Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting, lead character is Scottish, set in Scotland and is highly influenced by the country. England: Film Four, Danny Boyle (Lancaster)

The film is from Scotland due to the many people making and starring in the film being Scottish, also it is based on Irvine Welsh's novel which 'explores the dark side of Scottishness'

Awards: 3 BAFTA's including Best Film, Best British Film and Best adapted screenplay. Ewan McGregor recieved Best Actor from the London Film Critic Awards, BAFTA Scottish Awards and Empire. Hodge nominated for Writing Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards.

Controversy: Does it promote drug use or not? US Senator Bob Dole accussed it of moral depreavity and glorifying drug use although he later admitted that he had never seen the film.

Issues of poverty, crime and anti-social behaviour, shows the horrifying consequences of drug use like with the dead baby, however the characters answer to the problem is to take heroin.

Film contains sex, drugs, crime, swearing and shows the tabboos of society in the most extreme forms however critics from Empire, NY Times, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, The Guardian and many others internationally praised the film.

The film also sends an important message out about drugs as Renton says:

'Drugs are good at first...but it's not worth it because the side effects will screw you up forever'