DANNYBOYLE
From director Danny Boyle ‘5 upcoming opus to the best in music, fashion and technology, 2009 kicks off in rude health. First up, Miles Fielder meets cult director Danny Boyle to discuss
Slumdog Millionaire
t’s not uncommon for the films
that turn out to be the best of
any given year to have been released at the beginning of that year. Think of Last. Caution, No (,‘ountrv for Old Men. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Juno and There Will be Blood — all released before the end of February last year and each a contender for best
film of 2008. That confluence of
quality is explainable largely by the early new year being the awards season — Golden Globes. BAI’I‘As. ()scars. etc — so it’s no coincidence that all of the above films were in the running at last March’s Academy Awards.
Word of mouth has it Danny Boyle’s new film. Slumdog Millionaire. will be in the running at this year's Academy Awards. It won the coveted audience award at the Toronto Film Festival in September and closed the London Film Festival in November with a standing ovation. Even if it fails to pick up an Oscar in March. it’s a
sure bet that. come the end of 2009. it‘ll be on many a film of
the year list. In fact. reviews published in January are likely to bear that pre-emptive — though in no way premature — slogan.
Shot on the streets of Mumbai by Boyle and a small British crew
(including the director‘s supremely talented regular
cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle) working in conjunction with a larger local team. Slionrlog Millionaire is a tough and tender. hilarious and heartbreaking. realistic and fairytale-like adventure that mix-matches Bollywood melodrama (and musical). Dickensian street urchin yarn. gangster movie and love
‘THERE WAS INCREDIBLE ENERGY IN MUMBAI THAT I WANTED TO CAPTURE'
story. Lucid. coherent and dynamic. it’s as good as anything Boyle‘s made yet. and quite possibly his best film to date. which is saying something given the Mancunian‘s credits include Trainspotting. 28 Days Later. Millions and .S'anshine. As impressive as the film and its reception has been. however. like its protagonist ~- a kid from the slums who finds himself one question away from winning the
JANUARY
The Mighty Ioonh
\hnce Noir and Howard Moon (Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett) bring their hit surrealist comedy to the stage. Glasgow. SECC, 14—75 Jan.
18 THE LIST 8 22 Jan 2009
Franz Ferdinand Back with a new album and a single (Ulysses), which looks set to top the charts. Scotland's fab four have officially returned. Picture House, Edinburgh, 14 Jan.
The Lost Worm Arthur Conan Doyle's classic adventure is the book of this year's citywide reading mmpaign with tree copies of the book being issued across the country to get
peope reading. 30 Jan.
jackpot on the Indian version of
Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” — the making of Slmnrlog Millionaire is the story of an underdog.
‘My agent said. ”I‘m sending you a script about Who Wants to he a Millionaire?” and I thought. “I don't want to make a film about Who Wants to he a Millionaire 3"” says Boyle. who’s still trying to get his head around how the film came to be. let alone how it came to be talked up for Oscar glory. "l‘hen I saw it was written by Simon Beaufoy, who wrote The Full Monty. so I thought I should read it out of respect. I was gone after H) or l5 pages. I said. “Let‘s do it. It’ll be great“.’
In the film business. however. just doing it. never mind making it great. is easier said than done. And as Boyle would discover. making a movie in Mumbai is unlike making one anywhere else
on the planet. ‘You get this kind of
amnesia about making films.‘ Boyle laughs. ‘lt‘s a bit like what they say about women and childbirth: chemicals are released into a woman‘s body to make her forget how painful it was to have a kid. I don‘t know if that’s true or not. but it certainly happens with films.’
Bum‘s 250th Anniversary Weekend
The Bard gets a proper shindig in honour of his birthday to celebrate the launch of Homecoming with a wealth of events. 24-25 Jan.
NM! Awards Tour Glasvegas headline this annual tour in their home city also leatunng Friendly Fires. White Lies and Florence and the Machine. Glasgow Academy, 30-31 Jan.
not: Dyiam The Drawn Blank Series
A tree, highly comprehensive exhibition of Mr Dylan's artwork, and a peek into the icons creative realm. City Art Centre, Edinburgh, 31 Jan— 15 Mar.