Danny Boyle Asked About ‘Alien 4’, ‘Lady Vengeance’, ’28 Days Later…’ Sequel, and More

‘Slumdog Millionare’ director Danny Boyle recently sat down with Empire Online to do a Q&A with the readers of the site. Â  Here are just a few samples of the more interesting subjects broached:

ON DIRECTING ‘ALIEN 4’:

“Oh my God, that one. Very close actually. In fact I met Sigourney and Winona, which was a great pleasure. Had chips – French fries I should say – with Winona. But I backed out of it. I was terrified of the special effects.”

ON JUMPING FROM ‘SUNSHINE’ TO ‘SLUMDOG’:

“Bits of ‘Slumdog’ are quite dark early on. It’s not quite the feelgood movie of the decade all the way through. But the contrast between the isolation of outer space and the 21+ million inhabitants of Mumbai was welcome.”

ON CHOOSING MUSIC FOR HIS MOVIES:

“It’s critical for me. Music is more important than anything in a way. Music is the final effect you have on the film before it goes out.”

ON FILMING IN MUMBAI:

“Oh my God. A lot of people said it was going to be very difficult and frustrating. And I think if you go there thinking that, it is. But the 21+ million people give you the chance to do something different. And if you think of it like that, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ‘SLUMDOG’ AND Q&A, THE BOOK IT WAS BASED ON:

“It’s very different. Simon Beaufoy (‘The Full Monty’) hijacked the central concept – a slum kid goes on the big game show – and ran with it in his own way. So the love story was invented, to become the real spine of the film, rather than the show being the spine, as it is in the novel.”

ON THE NEXT INSTALLMENT IN THE ’28…LATER…’ FRANCHISE:

“Yeah, we’ve got a good idea for the third one. Very strange. And sadly we’ve run out of time to tell you about it…”

ON DIRECTING A SUPERHERO MOVIE:

“No. Not a great fan of superhero movies. We need those extremes of storytelling, but are reluctant to use them in anything other than fantasy movies. I think that’s a bit sad.”

ON ‘PORNO’, THE SEQUEL TO ‘TRAINSPOTTING’:

“Just waiting for the original actors to age. Help them if you can. Take them out drinking – get them away from the spas and those moisturisers.”

ON ‘LADY VENGEANCE’:

“Seriously, I was just asked to do a remake of Lady Vengeance, the one after Oldboy. My favourite is Audition.”

ON EDITING HIS FILMS:

“If you hire a good editor, you’ve got to let them edit the film, and you come in and assess what they’ve done. Give pointers, you know. It’s a clichà © that no-one is proud of, but filmmaking is a collaborative process. As director, you steal other people’s skills and get the credit for it.”

ON WHETHER HE’D RATHER WIN AN OSCAR OR SEE BURY WITH THE F.A. CUP:

“Bury and the FA Cup. Come on, no contest!”

Check out the full interview over at Empire Online.

Source: Empire Online