Renton and Sick Boy hit up the Scottish Highlands in this latest picture for Danny Boyle’s long-in-development sequel, Trainspotting 2.
Bearing the official title T2: Trainspotting, today’s teaser comes to us by way of Empire, showcasing a shirtless Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller moseying through a herd of caged cattle. Lifted completely out of context, it’s impossible to gauge how this scene filters into the actual story, but based on their respective track records, we can assume the boys are up to no good.
Staying true to the real-time gap between Trainspotting 2 and the ’96 cult classic, what we do know is that the 2017 sequel is set a full 20 years after the original, and follows McGregor’s Mark Renton as he tries to make amends with his former partners in crime. That means Spud (Ewen Bremner), Diane (Kelly Macdonald) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle), the loosest of loose cannons, are also firmly on board for T2, and here, the film’s producer Andrew Macdonald stresses the importance of that aforementioned time gap.
“It’s just more interesting that it’s 20 years later. In movie terms, ten years earlier felt like a couple of days after. The worst thing will be if it feels like a film from 1996 as opposed to a film from 2017.”
Drawing inspiration from Irvine Welsh’s novel sequel Porno, there are many questions still to be answered when it comes to the actual story of Trainspotting 2, but at least based on early trailers, fans of the ’96 original can rest assured that neither Danny Boyle nor the core cast have lost their touch for electric drama.
Those in the UK can expect Trainspotting 2 to debut on January 7, before Danny Boyle’s follow-up makes the trip across the pond in time for March 3. Sony’s recent reshuffling effort is to blame for that postponed US release, and it also affected Jumanji, Flatliners and even Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver.