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The Rewatchables ·

Trainspotting

year 1996decade 90sdirector Danny Boylegenre Comedygenre Drama
host Chris Ryanhost Andy Greenwaldproducer Craig Horlbeck format 25th Anniversary
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 33:38

Begby and Tommy’s competing bar story

Chris Ryan: The first forty minutes are treated as a single thrilling rush before the movie turns darker.

Chris Ryan: The ceiling-crawling baby during withdrawal is explicitly rejected as the movie’s most never-watch-again scene.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 48:27

The drugs-washed-streets line

Chris Ryan: The speech beginning “It’s shite being Scottish” is explicitly called one of the movie’s most quotable passages.

The film

Trainspotting (1996)

Directed by Danny Boyle · Comedy

93 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

30:59

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:59Read transcript
  • The stated score is three stars. — Chris Ryan
  • The quoted review credits the movie’s energy and close observation but asks whether it leads anywhere or says anything. — Chris Ryan
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59:39

Casting What-Ifs

A performer whose name is transcribed as You and Bremer had played Renton onstage; Christopher Eccleston was consider...

A performer whose name is transcribed as You and Bremer had played Renton onstage; Christopher Eccleston was considered for Begby, and Robert Carlyle had earlier pursued Shallow Grave.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:39Read transcript
  • A performer whose name is transcribed as You and Bremer originated Renton in a stage production. — Chris Ryan
  • Christopher Eccleston was the initial Begby image in the director’s mind. — Chris Ryan
  • Robert Carlyle had auditioned for the Ewan McGregor role in Shallow Grave but refused to soften the character’s working-class accent. — Andy Greenwald
  • After also playing Renton in a reading, Carlyle was invited back and chose Begby after considering Sick Boy. — Andy Greenwald
  • The director’s belief that small psychos are best resolved Carlyle’s concern that he was physically unlike the novel’s Begby. — Andy Greenwald
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1:15:09

Half-Assed Internet Research

Locations, Begby’s private backstory, preparation films, US edits, and early accent replacement

Locations, Begby’s private backstory, preparation films, US edits, and early accent replacement

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:09Read transcript
  • The story is set in Edinburgh but was largely filmed in Glasgow. — Chris Ryan
  • Kelly Macdonald is reported to have been a 19-year-old Scottish waitress who answered a casting flyer. — Chris Ryan
  • The cast was shown Goodfellas, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, and The Hustler as preparation. — Chris Ryan
  • Robert Carlyle privately played Begby as a closeted gay man whose rage turns against friends rather than the person he meets at the club. — Andy Greenwald
  • The Lost Boys was another preparation film used to evoke young people living dangerously. — Andy Greenwald
  • The US cut shortened explicit needle footage and showed less of Ewan McGregor during the sex scene. — Andy Greenwald
  • For the US release, some opening dialogue was replaced to make the Scottish accents easier to understand. — Andy Greenwald
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1:17:57

Picking Nits

The condom continuity, bus-locker key, late AIDS context, Sick Boy’s compressed arc, Begby’s fugitive behavior, and t...

The condom continuity, bus-locker key, late AIDS context, Sick Boy’s compressed arc, Begby’s fugitive behavior, and the unseen drug tester

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:57Read transcript
  • The discussion of edits for the American release introduces a continuity nitpick: Renton appears naked in the bedroom, then removes a condom in the hallway. — Andy Greenwald
  • The panel asks how Renton gives Spud the bus-locker key while retaining access to his passport, then suggests he relocked and mailed it. — Chris Ryan
  • AIDS and HIV arrive abruptly midway through the movie despite being central to Tommy’s fate. — Andy Greenwald
  • Sick Boy’s grief, nihilism, and turn to pimping receive less space than their emotional importance warrants. — Andy Greenwald
  • The violent fugitive claims to be on the run yet returns to Scotland for the drug deal and travels openly by bus. — Andy Greenwald
  • The young man who tests the heroin enters a bathroom, never reappears, and is not mentioned after the dealer returns. — Andy Greenwald
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1:19:06

Recasting Couch

No replacement cast

No replacement cast

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:19:06Read transcript
  • The panel declines to recast because it lacks enough knowledge of the period’s Scottish and English actors. — Chris Ryan
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1:27:55

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How might an earlier sequel have landed? Did Kevin McKidd’s absence from the campaign change his career?

How might an earlier sequel have landed? Did Kevin McKidd’s absence from the campaign change his career?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:55Read transcript
  • The panel wonders whether a sequel made ten years earlier would have reached a different cultural moment. — Andy Greenwald
  • Kevin McKidd missed the one-day promotional photo shoot while on vacation, prompting a question about whether inclusion might have changed his career. — Andy Greenwald
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