Trainspotting director Danny Boyle has admitted he has now apologised to Ewan McGregor after “disrespecting” him when he was making The Beach.
McGregor starred in each of Boyle’s first three films, including Trainspotting, and has said he also believed he had been cast in Boyle’s 2000 adaptation of the popular Alex Garland novel. However, the Scottish actor was ultimately passed over in favour of Leonardo DiCaprio.
“We weren’t particularly respectful towards him, way back in the day,” Boyle told Empire. “But he’s always been very, very generous. So we met and talked and I said how sorry I was, the way we had treated him. And it rebuilt from there.”
Earlier this year McGregor gave his take on why he and Boyle fell out. He told The Times: “It was almost nothing to do with The Beach. I mean, of course, it was all over The Beach and my understanding that I was playing the role. To discover that I wasn’t, came as a bit of a shock. It wasn’t just not getting that role. It was [the way] it was handled that wasn’t very clever.”
Boyle and McGregor have now reunited for Trainspotting 2 – officially billed as T2 Trainspotting – which will be released on January 27, 2017 in the UK and February 3 in the US.
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has recently spoken to NME about the upcoming sequel. He said of the new movie: “It has managed to take the most dynamic elements of the [Trainspotting] book and Porno [Trainspotting sequel book, on which T2 is partially based] but also look forward to how it can be contemporary and present day… In some ways, I think it’s a better movie [than Trainspotting]… They have become such iconic characters and this is going to cement that status even more.”
Welsh previously revealed that the sequel will see his much-loved characters Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud find a “very innovative” way to get involved in the world of pornography.
“I tell you, this film is going to be quite emotional for people. Because the film sort of tells you to think about yourself. You are going to be thinking: ‘Fuck. What have I done with my life?’” Robert Carlyle told NME last year.
READ MORE: Trainspotting 2: Everything We Know So Far About Danny Boyle’s Upcoming Sequel
Meanwhile, the original Trainspotting soundtrack was reissued on vinyl in November and shot straight to the top of the UK vinyl charts.