Geekscape Interviews: ‘Trance’ Director Danny Boyle

Opening wide this weekend is Danny Boyle’s (Slumdog Millionaire) edgy thriller, Trance, starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassell, and a naked Rosario Dawson. The story is a twisty, on-the-edge of you seat ride that drops you off in a completely different spot than where it begins.

The film opened limited a few weeks ago, and since then the word has gotten out that Trance is an experience you shouldn’t miss. Going from limited to wide distribution means big bucks and big bets that the film will be well recieved from the general public.

In a recent round table interview, Danny Boyle talks to Geekscape about his film ‘Trance’, the challenges of keeping the story straight, making sure the audience doesn’t get lost in all the twists and turns, as well as the creation of the characters and the plot.

Danny Boyle: “We wanted… to try and make a modern noir but not call it that really. You take some of the elements of noir, which usually involve crime, -they usually involve characters locked inside a bubble; trapped inside a bubble, -as they try to manipulate, control, overcome each other, rise up, and actually end up destroying each other. We wanted to use that element, but we wanted to put a twist on it so that the femme fatale, if you like, who appears to be behaving like a classic femme fatale at times using her allure, her beauty, to manipulate the man, the two men in this case, Vincent Cassel and James McAvoy.

Actually, she’s got a story that is not cold and it’s not about behavior. She’s not just behaving worse than the men morally. She’s actually trying to overcome the insurmountable odds herself that she faces, -her character; because of her story, which is unraveled toward the end. There is damage there and emotion there, -if you like, by the end.

That was intriguing for us to play with those, but the story and the characters all came together at the same time, to be honest. They develop and change as you work with different drafts of the script, but those key elements were there right from the beginning.”

Danny Boyle explains how he filmed “Trance” before the London Olympics, and then put it away for six months while he produced and created the opening ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympic games. When his Olympic duties were complete, he came back to his film to put it together with editor Jon Harris (127 Hours).

Telling a complex story is difficult, and a writer who sees the film over and over has to keep in mind that the audience is going to see it only once.

Danny Boyle: “One of the ironies of filmmaking is that you’re entrusted as director with presenting the film to an audience, whereas in fact, who are only going to see it probably once. Whereas in fact, you, as the custodian of that process, have seen it 200 times. So in fact, there is an argument that you’re the least qualified person to actually do that job because you’ve known the standing of what it’s like to see it first time.

In the case of Trance actually, because it’s such an important element of it, we were helped by the fact that we shot the film while we were preparing the Olympic opening ceremony in London, but we didn’t edit it until we’d finished the Olympics. There was a six month gap where the footage was put on ice, if you’d like. When we came back to it, it did feel, more than any other experience I’ve ever had on filmmaking, I did feel like I was seeing the story for the first time again, which you never get back to other than the first time you read the script. But it felt like we did a little bit on this and that certainly helped us in presenting the story. It’s one of the ironies and it’s one of the reasons, -I know a lot of filmmakers hate the preview, the testing process. I actually like those screenings because although what people say afterwards can be quite hurtful, it’s actually incredibly useful to experience live an audience watching the film for the first time, because you can feel where the rhythm of the film isn’t helping them, where they need more help.

I enjoy that process actually, but it’s a fascinating question and it’s one of the ironies of filmmaking for sure, really. I think what you compensate with, in the sense, because you’re over familiar with the material, you also are passionate about the material in a way. It’s like your own child. You love it, you know everything about it, you want the best for it, and I think people sense that and they’ll forgive you maybe that you didn’t help the audience enough at one point. They’ll forgive you that because of your passion for the project.”

What’s next for the writer/director?

Danny Boyle: “We’re also working on a 28 Days, a third part of 28 Days Later. We did talk about at one point about doing a different version of The Beach, Re-editing The Beach, because we left out a lot of material that I think we shouldn’t have…. That’s one that we’ve talked about.

Whether these things are realistic or not, it’s very difficult to say, but certainly Trainspotting will be something that we hope to work on in the coming year, in the near future.”

Boyle’s career began with his film Shallow Grave and then the illustrious film Trainspotting starring Ewan McGregor. He’s known for writing and directing projects with strong stories that captivate audiences including his 8 Academy Awards he won for Slumdog Millionaire. His film, 28 Days Later, which follows a zombie apocalypse, predates the current trend of shows like The Walking Dead, and coming soon film World War Z.

Bottom Line: Trance is masterful story-telling and will keep you guessing up until the very end. Thoroughly entertaining and satisfying, Trance delivers a meaty story with top notch performances from McAvoy, Cassel, and Dawson. The twists and turns are intriguing but not confusing, and an achievement in editing from Jon Harris.

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R, 1 hr. 41 min. Mystery & Suspense, Special Interest Directed By: Danny Boyle Written By: Danny Boyle