Timing was 'right' for Trainspotting sequel
T2 Trainspotting star Jonny Lee Miller likes how new movie targets different issues
Jonny Lee Miller learnt of director Danny Boyle's intention to do a sequel to the seminal 1996 film Trainspotting via a postcard he received in 2015, which simply said "we are going to have a go at T2, script is following".
The British actor waited with bated breath, and what eventually arrived was well worth it.
Miller, 44, reprises his role as Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson in T2 Trainspotting - which opens here tomorrow - alongside original cast members Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner and Robert Carlyle.
After 20 years abroad, Mark Renton (McGregor) reunites with old friends Spud (Bremner), Sick Boy and Begbie (Carlyle) as the gang embarks on more wild adventures.
Miller said: "We were all quite nervous about it. After reading the script though, it was pretty much, 'Yeah we are going to do it', because the script was great. And we realised we all felt that, and the time was right really.
"I liked that it is different, and I liked what it has to say. I found it quite reflective and moving, and it is about a completely different set of issues."
Where do you see Sick Boy 20 years later?
I think he is a little bit stuck as a person, and he has, emotionally, not matured much. He is at a point of being quietly desperate.
In the first movie, they were all cool. People were like, 'Oh Sick Boy is cool', and he was the hair and everything.
Now, he is not cool at all because he is kind of stuck. And that is interesting for me, to show that he is still trying to be that, but it is not working.
Hopefully, that is relatable to people.
Is there anything in Sick Boy's character that parallels your own personality?
Apart from being a devious crook, yes. (Laughs)
You know, not really, and people always expected me to be like this slick, cool guy who just did not care. I am the opposite of that. I am an oversensitive kind of awkward person.
What was the first day like on set?
People ask that a lot, and there is no first day on set. It does not really work like that.
There are a few days when we get together for rehearsals and conversations. Some of us are there before others because of the way timing works out.
So the first time I saw (McGregor, Bremner and Carlyle) was in a rehearsal space, and we sat down and talked and that was pretty amazing.
We slowly started to catch up, and we went out to dinner a couple of times.
Just to be there in the same place, talk about a script that we all really dig - it was a pretty surreal experience, to visit something 20 years later with the same group of people.
Is it interesting to realise that young people find the original film influential even after 20 years?
What is interesting is a lot of people I work with are in their 20s, the PAs (personal assistants) and the crew, and they are obsessed with Trainspotting.
I am like, 'How old were you when it came out?' And they are like 'six', and it is kind of depressing. (Laughs)
But they are really into it, so I know it is a good movie because it still stands the test of time.
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