Irvine Welsh: ‘Trainspotting 1 and 2 are as big as ‘The Godfather’ trilogy’

'T2' is officially out in UK cinemas tomorrow (January 27)

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has compared the two movies with The Godfather trilogy.

He claims the forthcoming sequel – T2 – which is out in UK cinemas tomorrow (January 27) and February 3 in the US, is also better than the first film.

Speaking in this week’s issue of NME, which will be available nationwide from tomorrow, with interviews with the cast available digitally the same day, he said: “I think it’s better than the first film – it’s more emotional, more layered, there’s more subtext there. It’s like watching a deconstruction of 35 years of neoliberalism, from beginning to end, what that’s done to Britain and where we stand now.

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“In the UK, we don’t really make “big” films – our shtick is interesting, quirky wee films. But this film is massive, and when you put the two together it’s almost like The Godfather trilogy – a huge emotional landscape that gives you a sense of what’s happened during our times.”

Robert Carlyle, who plays Begbie in both movies, also said like the characters in the film, the cast, which also includes Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremner, hadn’t seen each for 20 years when they first got together for T2.

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“What was lovely was meeting up with each other the week before filming began, looking at each other and thinking, ‘How did all these years go by and we haven’t seen each other?’” he explained.

“We’d sort of kept in touch through email and social media, but face-to-face it hadn’t happened for so long. Ewan and I hadn’t seen each other for near enough the whole 20 years. Of course, that’s what the film is about: these friendships you make when you’re young, and whether they’re worth keeping alive, worth thinking about, all these years later.”

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For more on the Trainspotting sequel and it’s cast members pick up this week’s NME, which is out tomorrow.

Welsh meanwhile, recently discussed the possibility of another movie in the franchise.

“I think there’s probably room for one more kind of Trainspotting-themed film. You never know what’s going to happen with these things,” he added.

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