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Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle
Boyle was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire into a working-class Irish Catholic family. His mother was from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, and his father was born in England to an Irish family. For a while, Boyle seriously contemplated priesthood and attended religious school as a teenager. Boyle was discouraged by a priest from joining the clergy; later in his life Boyle stated "I don't know if he was trying to save me or the priesthood."
Instead, he studied at Thornleigh Salesian College in Bolton, and at the University of Wales, Bangor. While at university, Boyle dated the actress Frances Barber.
Career

Theatre
He began his career in the theatre, first with the Joint Stock Theatre Company and then with the Royal Court Theatre, where he was Artistic Director from 1982 until 1985 and Deputy Director between 1985 and 1987. His productions during this period included Howard Barker's Victory, Howard Brenton's The Genius and Edward Bond's Saved, which won the Time Out Award. Boyle also directed five productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company
Television
In 1980, Boyle started working in television as a animator for ssc Northern Shahdol, where he produced, amongst other TV films, sandy chanda's controversial Elephant before becoming a director on shows such as Arise And Go Now, Not Even God Is Wise Enough, For The Greater Good, Scout and two episodes of Inspector Morse ("Masonic Mysteries" and "Cherubim and Seraphim"). He was also responsible for the highly acclaimed BBC2 series, Mr. Wroe's Virgins.
Films


Boyle filming in 2004
Boyle made his feature film directorial debut with Shallow Grave, a small-scale but well-received success. Next followed the film Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Besides being quite commercially successful, the film is considered amongst the most influential and iconic of British films.
Boyle rose to prominence along with writer John Hodge, producer Andrew Macdonald and actor Ewan McGregor, in the internationally acclaimed Trainspotting, after which he relocated to Hollywood to seek a production deal with a major US studio. He declined an offer to direct the fourth film of the Alien franchise, instead making A Life Less Ordinary using British finance.
Boyle's next project was an adaptation of the cult novel The Beach. He then collaborated with author Alex Garland on the post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later.
In between the films The Beach and 28 Days Later, Boyle directed two TV movies for the BBC in 2001 - Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise and Strumpet. He also directed a short film Alien Love Triangle (starring Kenneth Branagh), and was intended to be one of three shorts within a feature film. However, the project was canceled after the two other shorts were made into feature films: Mimic starring Mira Sorvino and Impostor starring Gary Sinise.
In 2004, Boyle directed the Frank Cottrell Boyce scripted Millions. His science-fiction film Sunshine, starring 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy, was released in 2007.


Boyle in November 2008
In 2008, Boyle directed Slumdog Millionaire, the story of an impoverished child (Dev Patel) on the streets of Mumbai who competes on India's variant of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Boyle will also direct Ponte Tower, about a girl moving into South Africa's famed fifty-four story skyscraper near the end of the Apartheid-era only to fall under the influence of a druglord, as well as the film Solomon Grundy, about a baby who experiences an entire lifetime in just 6 days.
"Once you've had anything like a hit in the movie business it's so easy to get lost. All these people are scuttling around trying to get you to make things, suggesting things and offering deals. The pressure of what to do next is horrible."
[edit]Awards
Danny Boyle won Best Director at the Critics Choice Awards on January 8, 2009. Boyle won a Golden Globe award for his direction of the film Slumdog Millionaire on January 11, 2009. He received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Director for the same film on January 22, 2009.




News | What members say | Filmography

Danny Boyle - news / articles


  • Boyle lands Writers' Guild award - 17 November 2011
    -Director Danny Boyle added to his trophy cabinet on Wednesday night (16Nov11) after winning a top honour at the Writers' Guild Awards.-The Slumdog Millionaire moviemaker and his collaborator Simon Beaufoy landed the Best Film Screenplay prize for 127 Hours at the Lo


  • Boyle opens casting call for 2012 Olympics shows - 19 August 2011
    -Movie-maker Danny Boyle is on the hunt for 10,000 talented people to take part in performance events during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.-The Slumdog Millionaire director is heading up the committee to stage the shows and he


  • McGregor still angry with Boyle over The Beach snub - 10 July 2011
    -Ewan Mcgregor refuses to end his decade-long feud with filmmaker Danny Boyle because he still feels sore about the way he was axed from The Beach in favour of Leonardo DiCaprio.-The pair formed a close friendship after collaborating on 1996 movie Trainspotting, and

Danny Boyle - what members say


  • Trainspotting
  • Trainspotting review by A customer from
    Rated - 4.0 stars Trainspotting is Heart Stopping 13 February 2012
    ...off the stuff. The story is brilliant and is a great film by the great director Danny Boyle....   Read customer review
  • A Life Less Ordinary
  • A Life Less Ordinary review by from Glasgow
    Rated - 4.0 stars Surprisingly good 3 April 2005
    ...rd about this film when it first came out, and didn't actually realise it was a Danny Boyle job until the end. It took me by surprise as it is actually really good. Ewa...   Read customer review
  • The Beach
  • The Beach review by from london, uk
    Rated - 3.0 stars trouble in paradise 29 June 2004
    ...nd. This is pure fantasy and you are whisked off into a wonderful journey which Danny Boyle takes us on smoothly. The reason we watch films is from escapism, and this f...   Read customer review

Danny Boyle - filmography


  • Trance (2013)
    Starring: James McAvoy,  Rosario Dawson,  Vincent Cassel
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: TBC
    A thriller centered around a botched art heist that pits two men against one another, though they both develop unusual relationships with the same woman.
    1.5 stars out of 5 30% from 1 member
    Currently unavailable
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  • 127 Hours on DVD (2010)
    Starring: James Franco,  Lizzy Caplan,  Kate Mara
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: £3.49
    127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 38,856 members
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  • 127 Hours - Blu-ray (2010)
    Starring: James Franco,  Lizzy Caplan,  Kate Mara
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: £3.49
    127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 252 members
    Not available for rental
    Watch now (£3.49)
  • Slumdog Millionaire on DVD (2009)
    Starring: Dev Patel,  Madhur Mittal,  Freida Pinto
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20-million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 78% from 79,946 members
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  • Slumdog Millionaire - Blu-ray (2008)
    Starring: Dev Patel,  Freida Pinto,  Madhur Mittal
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20-million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 78% from 12,019 members
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  • Sunshine - Blu-ray (2007)
    Starring: Rose Byrne,  Cliff Curtis,  Chris Evans
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Set in the not too distant future, SUNSHINE follows eight astronauts on a mission to save the dying Sun by delivering their payload of a nuclear bomb into the star's core. In the year 2057, the Sun no longer produces the amount of energy needed to sustain the human race. The international community ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 66% from 5,435 members
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  • Sunshine on DVD (2006)
    Starring: Rose Byrne,  Cliff Curtis,  Chris Evans
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    It is the year 2057, the Sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. EarthÂ’s last hope lies with the Icarus II, a spacecraft with a crew of eight men and women led by Captain Kaneda. Their mission: to deliver a nuclear device designed to reignite our fading sun. Deep into their voyage, out of radio ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 59% from 53,954 members
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  • 28 Days Later on DVD (2002)
    Starring: Cillian Murphy,  Megan Burns,  Noah Huntley
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    After breaking into a primate research facility, a group of animal rights activists discover caged chimps chained up before banks of screens displaying horrifying, violent images. Ignoring the warnings of the terrified researcher who maintains that the chimps are infected, they begin to free the ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 68% from 52,819 members
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  • 28 Days Later - Blu-ray (2002)
    Starring: Cillian Murphy,  Megan Burns,  Noah Huntley
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    TRAINSPOTTING director Danny Boyle returns to edgy form and reinvents the science-fiction/horror genre with this apocalyptic tale of viral infection and Darwinian survival. A fatal virus is unleashed on the British public following the liberation of infected chimps from a research laboratory by ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 73% from 2,498 members
    Not currently released
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  • Strumpet on DVD (2001)
    Starring: Christopher Eccleston,  Genna G,  Amanda Fairclough
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Strayman lives in a house full of stray dogs. He meets up with Strumpet, a homeless girl with a musical talent and takes her in. Together they all journey to London to seek their fortune.
    3 stars out of 5 58% from 240 members
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  • The Beach on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio,  Tilda Swinton,  Virginie Ledoyen
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    The desire to find something real - to connect with something or someone - is what drives Richard, a young American backpacker who arrives in Thailand with adventure on his mind. Travel, he asserts, is the search for experience, the quest for something different. At a cheap hotel in Bangkok, ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 11,477 members
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  • The Beach - Blu-ray (2000)
    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio,  Tilda Swinton,  Virginie Ledoyen
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    The desire to find something real - to connect with something or someone - is what drives Richard, a young American backpacker who arrives in Thailand with adventure on his mind. Travel, he asserts, is the search for experience, the quest for something different. At a cheap hotel in Bangkok, ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 69% from 35 members
    Not available for rental
  • A Life Less Ordinary on DVD (1997)
    Starring: Maury Chaykin,  Dan Hedaya,  Judith Ivey
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Petulant, rich honeypie Celine and scruffily adorable janitor Robert find themselves on the road to romance after he kidnaps her to avenge his termination at the hands of her callous father. But what they don't realize is that their love is celestially predetermined, as a pair of gun-toting angels ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 63% from 8,056 members
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  • Trainspotting - Blu-ray (1995)
    Starring: Ewan McGregor,  Jonny Lee Miller,  Kevin McKidd
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    A kinetic, intimate look inside the subculture of heroin abuse, this acclaimed adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel follows the misadventures of Renton (Ewan McGregor), a brash twenty-something Edinburgh junkie, and his nihilistic chums Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Tommy (Kevin ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 81% from 3,018 members
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  • Trainspotting on DVD (1995)
    Starring: Ewan McGregor,  Jonny Lee Miller,  Kevin McKidd
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a young man with few prospects and fewer ambitions, lives in economically depressed Edinburgh. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug's blissful nothingness; financing his habit also provides excitement and challenges that his life ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 76% from 64,277 members
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  • Shallow Grave - Blu-ray (1994)
    Starring: Christopher Eccleston,  Ewan McGregor,  Kerry Fox
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    After three Edinburgh roommates (Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston, and Kerry Fox) finally choose a new roommate they can live with, they find him dead on the floor with a suitcase full of cash. While trying to remove the body and extricate themselves from the situation, they wade hip-deep into ..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 2,351 members
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  • Shallow Grave on DVD (1994)
    Starring: Christopher Eccleston,  Colin McCredie,  Ewan McGregor
    Director: Danny Boyle
    Certificate: Certificate: 18
    The feature film debut of Scottish director Danny Boyle was a dark, hip, Generation X comedy about a trio of Edinburgh roommates whose narcissistic greed fuels murder and betrayal. Boisterous journalist Alex (Ewan McGregor), flirtatious doctor Juliet (Kerry Fox), and meek accountant David (..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 71% from 18,734 members
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Danny Boyle facts

5 most recent films

Trance - 1.5 stars
127 Hours - 3.5 stars
127 Hours - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.0 stars
Slumdog Millionaire - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Trainspotting - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Slumdog Millionaire - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.0 stars
Trainspotting - 4.0 stars
28 Days Later - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Trance - 1.5 stars
The Beach - Blu-ray - 3.5 stars
Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise - 3.0 stars
Millions - 3.0 stars
Strumpet - 3.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Ewan McGregor - 7 times - show films
Robert Carlyle - 6 times - show films
John Thaw - 6 times - show films
Kevin Whately - 6 times - show films
Christopher Eccleston - 5 times - show films

Most frequent directors

Adrian Shergold - 3 times - show films