Danny Boyle | |
---|---|
Born | Daniel Francis Boyle 20 October 1956 Radcliffe, Lancashire, England |
Alma mater | University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1980–present |
Awards | Full list |
Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on the films Shallow Grave (1994), Trainspotting (1996) and its sequel T2 Trainspotting (2017), The Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002), Sunshine (2007), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), 127 Hours (2010), Steve Jobs (2015), and Yesterday (2019).
Boyle's debut film Shallow Grave won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. The British Film Institute ranked Trainspotting the 10th greatest British film of the 20th century. Boyle's 2008 crime drama film Slumdog Millionaire, the most successful British film of the decade, was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, including the Academy Award for Best Director. He also won the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Director. Boyle received two more Academy Award nominations for writing and producing the survival drama 127 Hours.
In 2012 Boyle was the artistic director for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. He was subsequently offered a knighthood as part of the New Year Honours but declined due to his republican beliefs.
Danny Francis Boyle was born on 20 October 1956, [1] in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England, about 6 mi (9.7 km) north of Manchester's city centre, to Irish parents Frank and Annie Boyle, both from County Galway. He has a twin sister, Marie, and a younger sister, Bernadette, both of whom are teachers. [2] [3]
Although he now describes himself as a "spiritual atheist," [4] he was brought up in a working-class Catholic family. Boyle was an altar boy for eight years and his mother had the priesthood in mind for him, but at the age of 14 he was persuaded by a priest not to transfer to a seminary. [5]
Whether he was saving me from the priesthood or the priesthood from me, I don't know. But quite soon after, I started doing drama. And there's a real connection, I think. All these directors – Martin Scorsese, John Woo, M. Night Shyamalan – they were all meant to be priests. There's something very theatrical about it. It's basically the same job – poncing around, telling people what to think. [6] [7]
Boyle attended Thornleigh Salesian College, a Catholic boys' direct grant grammar school in Bolton, [8] and studied English and drama at the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University), where he directed several productions for the student drama society. [2] [9]
Upon graduating from university he began his career at the Joint Stock Theatre Company before moving on to the Royal Court Theatre in 1982 where he directed The Genius by Howard Brenton and Saved by Edward Bond. He also directed five productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. [10]
In 1987 Boyle started working in television as a producer for BBC Northern Ireland where he produced, amongst other TV films, Alan Clarke's controversial Elephant before becoming a director on shows such as Arise And Go Now, Not Even God Is Wise Enough, For The Greater Good, Scout, and two episodes of Inspector Morse . [11]
Boyle was responsible for the BBC Two series Mr. Wroe's Virgins in 1993. [10] In between The Beach and 28 Days Later Boyle directed two TV films for the BBC in 2001– Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise and Strumpet . [12]
In 2011 he directed Frankenstein for the National Theatre. [13] This production was broadcast to cinemas as a part of National Theatre Live on 17 March 2011. [14] He has also appeared on Top Gear and set the fastest wet lap at that time. [15] In 2014 both Boyle and Christian Colson signed to a first look deal with FX Productions. [16]
Boyle was announced to be directing a dance adaptation of The Matrix , titled "Free Your Mind", set to debut in October 2023 in Manchester. [17]
On 14 November 2010, he directed a one-night play at the Old Vic Theatre titled The Children's Monologues starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Gemma Arterton, and Eddie Redmayne, in aid of his charity Dramatic Need, which operates in Rwanda and South Africa, helping young people to come to terms with trauma and conflict. [18] He co-directed another performance of the play in 2015 at the Royal Court Theatre, [19] and again in 2017 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. [20]
Boyle was artistic director for the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London. Entitled Isles of Wonder, it charted aspects of British culture including the Industrial Revolution and contributions to literature, music, film, and technology. [21]
Reception to the ceremony was generally positive both nationally in the United Kingdom and internationally. [22] [23] [24] [25]
On 11 January 2021, it was announced that Boyle would be adapting the Steve Jones' autobiography Lonely Boy into a six-part TV series entitled Pistol that charts the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols. The series aired on FX and Disney+ on 30 May 2022, [26] and stars Emma Appleton, Louis Partridge and Maisie Williams, amongst others. The show was filmed in London. [27]
Boyle's love for film began with his first viewing of Apocalypse Now :
It had eviscerated my brain, completely. I was an impressionable twenty-one-year-old guy from the sticks. My brain had not been fed and watered with great culture, you know, as art is meant to do. It had been sandblasted by the power of cinema. And that's why cinema, despite everything we try to do, it remains a young man's medium, really, in terms of audience. [28]
The first film Boyle directed was Shallow Grave . [10] The film was the most commercially successful British film of 1995, [29] won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, and led to the production of Trainspotting. [30] Working with writer John Hodge and producer Andrew Macdonald, Shallow Grave earned Boyle the Best Newcomer Award from the 1996 London Film Critics Circle. [29] Critics credited these films with revitalising British cinema in the early '90s. [10] The BFI ranked Trainspotting the 10th greatest British film of the 20th century. [31]
Boyle declined an offer to direct the fourth film of the Alien franchise to make A Life Less Ordinary. [32] [33]
Boyle's next project was a film adaptation of the cult novel The Beach by Alex Garland. Filmed in Thailand with Leonardo DiCaprio, casting of the film led to a feud with Ewan McGregor. [10] He then collaborated with Garland on the post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later . [34]
He also directed a short film Alien Love Triangle (starring Kenneth Branagh), which was intended to be one of three shorts within a feature film. However the project was cancelled after the two other shorts were made into feature films: Mimic starring Mira Sorvino and Impostor starring Gary Sinise. [35] In 2004 Boyle directed Millions , [6] scripted by Frank Cottrell Boyce. [36] His next collaboration with Alex Garland [6] was the 2007 science-fiction film Sunshine , featuring 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy. [37]
In 2008 he directed Slumdog Millionaire , the story of an impoverished child (Dev Patel) on the streets of Mumbai, India, who competes on the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, for which Boyle won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Director. The most successful British film of the decade, the film won eight Academy Awards and seven BAFTA Awards. [38] [39] Boyle commented, "To be a film-maker...you have to lead. You have to be psychotic in your desire to do something. People always like the easy route. You have to push very hard to get something unusual, something different." [10] Andrew Macdonald, producer of Trainspotting, said "Boyle takes a subject that you've often seen portrayed realistically, in a politically correct way, whether it's junkies or slum orphans, and he has managed to make it realistic but also incredibly uplifting and joyful." [10] The success led a deal with Fox Searchlight. [40]
Despite the commercial success of Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle also faced great criticism for his portrayal of India through a Western, idealized lens. Some critics saw the film as "poverty porn," though Boyle argued he showed India's "lust for life" and "resilience." [41]
In 2010, Boyle directed the film 127 Hours , starring James Franco and featuring Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara. It was based on Aron Ralston's autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place , which detailed his struggle of being trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone in Bluejohn Canyon, southeastern Utah. The film was released on 5 November 2010 to critical acclaim and got six nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Boyle and Best Actor for Franco. [42] [43]
Boyle's next film was Trance , starring James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson. It has been reported another instalment of the 28 Days Later franchise is in the development stages. [44] [45] Boyle has stated previously that in theory the third instalment of the series would be titled 28 Months Later, but alluded to a film taking place somewhere else in the world he created in 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later . He was also stated to be producing the upcoming film Paani . [46]
Boyle told an interviewer about the eclectic range of his films, "There's a theme running through all of them—and I just realised this. They're all about someone facing impossible odds and overcoming them." [47] With a strong interest in music, Boyle has mentioned in interviews that he has considered a musical film with original compositions. Boyle has also expressed interest in an animated film. [48]
Boyle's eponymous biopic of Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs closed the 59th BFI London Film Festival. It was the third time Boyle has had that honour, after Slumdog Millionaire in 2008 and 127 Hours two years later. The BFI's London Film Festival Director, Clare Stewart, said Boyle had created an exhilarating and audacious film about a complex, charismatic pioneer. [49] He then directed the sequel to Trainspotting, T2 Trainspotting . [50]
In a BBC interview, Boyle stated that he didn't write his own films but they did reflect his personality. "I am not a big auteur fan and like to work with writers, but ultimately a film is a director's vision, because he gets all its elements together towards that vision." [51]
In March 2018, Boyle confirmed he would be directing the then-untitled twenty-fifth James Bond film (later known as No Time to Die) [52] but dropped out that August due to a dispute over the film's script. [53] [54]
He and writer Richard Curtis collaborated on Yesterday , starring Himesh Patel, Kate McKinnon, Lily James, and Ed Sheeran, released on 28 June 2019. [55]
While at university, Boyle dated actress Frances Barber. [56]
Boyle is a constitutional republican. [57] He lives in Mile End, London. [58]
Boyle was a founding trustee [59] in 2007, [60] of Dramatic Need, a charity which operated in Rwanda and South Africa, helping young people to come to terms with trauma and conflict. [18] The charity was wound up in November 2021. [61]
As of 2008 [update] Boyle was the patron of North West-based young people's substance misuse charity, Early Break, which was founded and based in his home town of Radcliffe. [62]
In 2014, it was announced that Boyle would become a patron of HOME in Manchester. [63]
In February 2017, Boyle announced a bid to launch a £30 million film and media school in Manchester. [64] Manchester School of Digital Arts was subsequently launched in June 2022 as part of Manchester Metropolitan University. [65]
In 2010, The Tablet named Boyle one of Britain's most influential Roman Catholics. [66]
The BBC referred to Boyle as a "titan of the British film industry – renowned for his spunky grit – typified by his 1996 film Trainspotting." [67]
In 2012, Boyle was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, to celebrate the British cultural figures of his lifetime. [68] [69]
In December 2012 it was widely reported that Boyle turned down a knighthood in the New Year Honours list. He told BBC Radio 4 "I'm very proud to be an equal citizen and I think that's what the opening ceremony was actually about." [70] [71]
Boyle's awards include:
Year | Title | Academy Awards | BAFTA Awards | Golden Globe Awards | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | Nominations | Wins | ||
1994 | Shallow Grave | 1 | |||||
1996 | Trainspotting | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | 10 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
2010 | 127 Hours | 6 | 8 | 3 | |||
2015 | Steve Jobs | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
Total | 19 | 8 | 25 | 8 | 11 | 6 |
Assistant stage manager
Year | Title | Theater |
---|---|---|
1978 | The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists | Joint Stock Theatre Company |
Assistant director
Year | Title | Theater |
---|---|---|
1981 | The Seagull | Royal Court Theatre |
Director
Year | Title | Theater |
---|---|---|
1982 | The Genius | Royal Court Theatre |
1984-85 | Saved | |
1985-86 | The Grace of Mary Traverse | |
1988-89 | The Bite of the Night | Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theater |
1989 | The Silent Woman | Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
1989 | H.I.D | Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida Theatre |
1989-90 | The Second Line | Cambridge Arts Theatre |
1990-91 | The Last Days of Don Juan | Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Barbican Theater, Newcastle Playhouse, Pit |
1991-92 | The Pretenders | Barbican Theater |
2010 | The Children's Monologues | The Old Vic |
2011 | Frankenstein | Royal National Theatre |
2023 | Free Your Mind [72] | The Factory |
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1994 | Shallow Grave | Yes | No | No |
1996 | Trainspotting | Yes | No | No |
1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Yes | No | No |
2000 | The Beach | Yes | No | No |
2002 | 28 Days Later | Yes | No | No |
2004 | Millions | Yes | No | No |
2007 | Sunshine | Yes | No | No |
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | Yes | No | No |
2010 | 127 Hours | Yes | Yes | Yes |
2013 | Trance | Yes | Yes | No |
2015 | Steve Jobs | Yes | Yes | No |
2017 | T2 Trainspotting | Yes | Yes | No |
Battle of the Sexes | No | Yes | No | |
2019 | Yesterday | Yes | Yes | No |
2025 | 28 Years Later | Yes | Yes | Yes |
TBA | 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple | No | Yes | Yes |
Short film
Executive producer
Year | Title | Director | Producer | Writer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Elephant | No | Yes | No | TV short |
1989–1993 | ScreenPlay | Yes | No | No | 3 episodes |
1990–1992 | Inspector Morse | Yes | No | No | 2 episodes |
1993 | Mr Wroe's Virgins | Yes | No | No | 3 episodes |
2012 | Isles of Wonder | Yes | No | Yes | Olympics opening ceremony |
2014 | Babylon | Yes | Yes | No | Episode: "Pilot" |
2017 | The Alternativity | Yes | Yes | No | Play of Banksy |
2018 | Trust | Yes | Yes | No | 3 episodes |
2022 | Pistol | Yes | Yes | No | Miniseries |
TV movies
Year | Title | Director | Producer |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Scout | Yes | No |
The Venus de Milo Instead | Yes | No | |
The Rockingham Shoot | No | Yes | |
1989 | Monkeys | Yes | Yes |
The Nightwatch | Yes | Yes | |
1991 | For the Greater Good | Yes | No |
2001 | Strumpet | Yes | No |
Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise | Yes | No | |
Irvine Welsh is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel Trainspotting was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.
Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy drama film directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald in her film debut. Based on the 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.
Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress. Known for her performances on film and television, she has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Vikas Swarup is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissioner of India in Canada and has been the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was best known as the author of the novel Q & A, adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire, the winner of Best Film for the year 2009 at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards.
Dev Patel is a British actor and filmmaker. He has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and nominations for an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. Patel was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2024.
Anthony Dod Mantle, DFF, BSC, ASC is a British cinematographer and still photographer.
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel in his film debut as Jamal, and filmed in India, it was directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and produced by Christian Colson, with Loveleen Tandan credited as co-director. As a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati, a Hindi Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Jamal surprises everyone by answering every question correctly so far, winning ₹1 crore, and he is one question away from winning the grand prize of ₹2 crore. Accused of cheating, he recounts his life story to the police, illustrating how he was able to answer each question.
Chris Dickens is a British film and television editor. For his work on Slumdog Millionaire (2008), directed by Danny Boyle, he won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic.
Loveleen Tandan is an Indian film and casting director. She is the co-director (India) of Slumdog Millionaire along with Danny Boyle. She has also been the casting director for several other films, including Monsoon Wedding (2001) and Brick Lane (2007). She has been a casting consultant for The Namesake (2007).
Slumdog Millionaire: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album of the British drama film of the same name, directed by Danny Boyle. The original score and songs were composed by A. R. Rahman, who planned the score in two months and completed it in 20 days, a far shorter time period than usual.
"Jai Ho" is a song composed by A. R. Rahman for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, featuring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. When Danny Boyle, the director of Slumdog Millionaire, approached Rahman to compose its soundtrack, he included the song. "Jai Ho" accompanies a choreographed dance sequence at the end credits of the film. Indian singer Tanvi Shah wrote and provided vocals for an English section of the song. "Jai Ho" is a phrase which can be roughly translated as "Let [the] victory prevail", "Let there be victory", or "May there always be victory".
"O... Saya" is a song from the soundtrack of the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. It was composed by Indian musician A. R. Rahman and British rapper M.I.A., both of whom performed on the recording.
Christian Patrick Colson is a British film producer. He is best known as the producer of the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he received numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and BAFTA Award for Best Film. In 2014, both Danny Boyle and Christian Colson signed a first look deal with FX Productions.
The film Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Academy Awards in 2009, has been subjected to a number of criticisms, notably regarding how it portrays Indian society and alleged exploitation of some of the actors.
Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail is an Indian former child actor, who played the youngest version of Salim Malik in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award. Following the film's success, he has been cast in the Bollywood film Kal Kisne Dekha (2009).
Rubina Ali, also known as Rubina Qureshi, also known as Rubina Jodiyawala is an Indian actress who played the child version of Latika in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award. Following the film's success, she was cast in the Bollywood film Kal Kisne Dekha (2009).
Longinus Fernandes (Longie) is an Indian choreographer and dancer, who won the Filmfare Best Choreography Award in 2009; and internationally he is most known as the choreographer of the closing credits dance sequence featuring Academy Award for Best Original Song winning song, Jai Ho and another featuring O... Saya, also nominated in the same category, in the film Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
127 Hours is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston must find a way to escape after he gets trapped by a boulder in an isolated slot canyon in Bluejohn Canyon, southeastern Utah, in April 2003. It is a British and American venture produced by Pathé, Everest Entertainment, Film4 Productions, HandMade Films and Cloud Eight Films.
T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel Trainspotting and its 2002 follow-up Porno. A sequel to Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, T2 stars the original ensemble cast, including leads Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle, with Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo, and Kelly Macdonald. The film features a new character, Veronika, played by Anjela Nedyalkova, and includes clips, music, and archive sound from the first film.