As a producer, Andrew Macdonald has played a definitive role in revitalising and shaping British cinema, and bringing worldwide attention to the Scottish film industry. His creative partnerships with Danny Boyle and writers John Hodge and Alex Garland, which produced classics such as Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Sunshine, have shown just how inventive and talented us Brits can be. Here he talks fondly about working on Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, Danny Boyle’s success and how he got into filmmaking.
LWLies: How true is the legend that John Hodge came up to you at the Edinburgh Film Festival with the idea for Shallow Grave on scraps of paper?
Macdonald: He did come up to me in Edinburgh, in Bannerman’s Bar, and he did come up to me there with scrap paper, with the idea of the script.
LWLies: Did it take you a long time to persuade him that you could get it made?
Macdonald: I probably lied to him a bit about it. I met John Hodge through his sister, Grace, who was an assistant film editor, and he was a doctor. I was working as a location manager at Scottish Television and he wanted to be a screenwriter and I wanted to be a producer. So we were both trying it on with each other a little bit.
LWLies: I read a story that the production of Shallow Grave had to auction off props to in order to raise enough money to get film stock. How true is this? Was it really that hard?
Macdonald: It was quite a hard film because it was everybody’s first film – Danny Boyle, John Hodge and myself. And we certainly ran out of money that’s for sure, numerous times. We had hardly any film stock left at all, and the props from the inside of the house and the flat were from my dad’s house. But we managed to get through it, and your first time is always a great experience and you look back at it with the problems you have now and it kind of looks ordinary.
LWLies: How involved was Irvine Welsh in the making of Trainspotting? I read that he had resisted previous approaches to adapt his novel – was it hard to get permission from him to go ahead?
Macdonald: When we first got hold of Trainspotting, I don’t think anyone had ever thought about it being a movie. By the time we tried to finalise the rights it had become a bigger deal. But because of Shallow Grave and, I guess, because we wanted to make it cheaply, it was kind of obvious we could get it done if we put our mind to it. He was very, very generous once we discussed it; I don’t remember it being particularly hard. I remember being very nervous about meeting him the first time, in case he made us get through tons of alcohol and drugs. And I remember he had a water in the GFT [Glasgow Film Theatre] bar the first time I met him. He’s a great guy though, really great and very generous. He just wanted a remix of the book.
LWLies: And didn’t he play a small character in the film?
Macdonald: Yeah, I was very keen to get him to play, he played Mikey Forrester, as he jokingly said, ‘One of the most unpleasant characters in the entire book’. And I thought once Irvine played a part he couldn’t really slag it off too much. He was very keen, he came over from Amsterdam. And it was obviously good for all the actors and the crew to have the guy who was the creator of the book.
LWLies: And I guess it’s always hard to please the original author and stay faithful to the book.
Macdonald: Yeah, and obviously fans, because everyone sees it differently. But what I think John Hodge did was to capture the tone and that’s the hardest thing when you are doing these books and he did that brilliantly. And perhaps not as well when we did The Beach. It shows how difficult it is.
LWLies: Did you see foresee the problems that were going to happen with Trainspotting in the US, what with having to re-dub some dialogue and the controversy that the film got after people like Senator Bob Dole said the film was glorifying drug use?
Macdonald: We re-dubbed a few bits of Begby but it didn’t really make much difference to be honest. And we had to take out the shot of Ewan McGregor pulling his condom off and I think we had to take out a shot of a syringe breaking the skin. You just worry how it is at Mother Superior’s. But they were seconds and it was all a bit silly really. And of course we had the controversy about drug use here, but we knew right at the beginning that if we were going to make this film we were determined to show on one side why people might take drugs, and on another side what they might do to you. And particularly heroin, and that’s what the book did so brilliantly – it didn’t describe them just as victims. And it was incredibly funny and black. But I think from our experience with drug and recovery groups and people involved in the hard end of that life, what we did is really representative. And people seem to be pleased with that. And I think it’s mainly conservative individuals who believe differently. And it all helps our publicity. I remember it was on the Today programme the day it came out that somebody was offering prayers for the people about to see it.
LWLies: And was it hard selling a film with such dark subject matter?
Macdonald: I think because we were very aware of that we wanted it to be as funny and as fast-paced and entertaining as it could be, while preserving that tone. And we were very aware of, why would anybody want to see this movie?. So we tried very hard to make the film fit, and what we began from was that we had made Shallow Grave which was successful and had made a star of Ewan, and Ewan McGregor was in this film. So we had a head start and I think people underestimate that. And also we made it for two million quid for Channel 4. The risk was pretty minimal.
LWLies: And did you realise what stars the films would make of its lead actors?
Macdonald: We were just very fortunate, we had the cream of young actors, particularly Scottish ones. It was a bit of magic; you had Robert Carlyle, Ewan McGregor, Peter Mullen, Ewen Bremner, Kelly Macdonald… And the rest of the cast were just the crew, Irvine and myself, which made them look even better. There isn’t anything like that now, hasn’t been since. I knew they were all great.
LWLies: You’ve worked on numerous projects with Danny Boyle and John Hodge now. Do you have a very close working relationship?
Macdonald: We haven’t made a film together for a while now, but obviously we did back then. And it was great because it was the only thing we knew. Then of course lots of other temptations get thrown in everybody’s way. And it’s hard to work together for a long long time because apart from me everybody has to like the same idea, and it’s very hard to come up with lots of good ideas.
LWLies: And how did you first meet Danny Boyle?
Macdonald: I had the script of Shallow Grave and I went around meeting all the directors that were interested who I thought had a chance of getting funding. So he had done a lot of great television work and that’s how we met. And he was desperate to make a film and he loved Shallow Grave – he understood its black humour and obviously it was a great choice.
LWLies: Is there still an intention make the sequel to Trainspotting, Porno with Danny Boyle and John Hodge?
Macdonald: We wanted to make a sequel to those characters’ story and Irvine wrote Porno and that’s what it is and it’s about them growing up. It’s in the works but we never quite get it together for lots of reasons and we’re still at the very early stage. But the main thing is that Irvine and John Hodge have been talking about ideas of how to adapt the book. We want to make it with exactly the same cast, and that will be another problem, getting everybody together at the same time. But I’m sure everybody would like to do that who liked the first film, because it’s all about the characters.
LWLies: What did you think of the recent success of Boyle’s Slumdog? Do you think it will change the British film industry in any way?
Macdonald: I don’t think it will change the British film industry but I do think it means that Danny can do any film he wants now, and I think it’s a fantastic film. It’s great for everybody in Britain because it shows that a small film can win everything and Danny’s done that over and over again. It’s pretty amazing.
LWLies: Seeing as your grandfather was Emeric Pressburger, was it a natural step for you to get into filmmaking? Were you immersed in that world from the start?
Macdonald: Well, I grew up on the West coast of Scotland and my father and mother, who was his daughter, wasn’t in film production. Then I discovered his films as a young guy, and it just led me to believe that it’s possible when somebody in your own family has been in that business. And that’s what started me off because it’s quite a leap and obviously his films have been incredibly inspirational. And in a sense continuity and working in London you get it pretty good really and it’s very difficult to go and do something else sometimes. You know, it’s the craziness of producing small British films for the world , that’s what we try to do.
Trainspotting and Shallow Grave are available on DVD Blu-Ray now.
