What happened to the Trainspotting stars 20 years after the first film

Home Top

show ad

EXCLUSIVE: How Caitlyn Jenner's BFF Candis Cayne went from a gawky boy relentlessly bullied for being too 'girlie' (and having a twin brother who was a high school football star) to a sassy transgender woman
'My parents officially sent me away friends': Cryptic Facebook posts of teenage son found dead alongside his parents and sisters in Minnesota mansion murder-suicide
Is a comet about to destroy Earth? Best-selling author GRAHAM HANCOCK argues that a cosmic explosion will soon strike Earth - triggering epic floods
British Airways Boeing 777 surrounded by fire engines on the runway after 'full emergency' landing at Heathrow airport
US government blocks release of new CIA torture documents detailing alleged torture of 'top Al Qaeda operative' held in Guantanamo Bay
Missouri man, 37, is charged with involuntary manslaughter after a boy, 14, died in a crash while a nine-year-old was behind the wheel driving at 100pmh
Is your toddler a psychopath? Traits such as a lack of emotion or empathy for others can be detected from the age of THREE
America marks the 14th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with moments of silence and remembrance across the nation
'Today is Pearl Harbor': Never-before-seen 9/11 emails capture White House staff reaction to the horror of the terror attacks
Florida man, 20, arrested for 'plotting a Boston Marathon-style attack on 9/11 memorial'
Stunning rainbow emerges from the World Trade Center on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks
Brother of the Mormon high school shooter who gunned down a classmate before killing himself asks police for the rifle back
Man accused of killing his seven-month-old son by throwing him off a bridge into the Connecticut River pleads not guilty to murder charges
'It was almost like they were sharks that could smell blood': Jewel explains how she has fought off sexual harassment from men since she was EIGHT-years-old
Indian girl, 17, 'is raped by up to 27 men after being lured to a hotel on the promise of a job'
South Korean attacker who slashed the face of US ambassador is sentenced to 12 years in jail
A victim's bloodied shoes, bullet-pierced soda cups and chilling trails of blood: Never-before-seen evidence photos from inside the movie theater where James Holmes murdered 12 innocent victims
PICTURED: The suspect who cops were searching for when one mistakenly body-slammed James Blake as it emerges officer involved 'tried to cover up mishap'
NYPD cop who tackled tennis star James Blake is an 'arrogant liar' claims woman that he wrongly arrested in 2013
Hitler was high on heroin and his troops carried out the Blitzkreig on METH: New book reveals the extent to which the Nazis pursued their evil dream on narcotics
Pittsburgh Steelers detail headset problems following opening night loss to New England Patriots saying it is 'always the case' when playing the team
She's his biggest cheerleader! Gisele Bundchen 'wears Tom Brady jersey to watch Patriots crush Steelers' as marriage trouble rumours fade
PIERS MORGAN: Run, Joe, run! Biden and Trump could not be more different but they have one thing in common - what you see is what you get. Which is why the veep is the Democrats' only hope
The shocking moment Hillary Clinton's stage backdrop collapses before campaign speech and sends the American flag crashing into her podium

Ewan McGregor became a household name and leading man
After Kelly Macdonald's first role she's now award-winning actress
Jonny Lee Miller had string of high-profile romances
Danny Boyle announced the film's follow-up for 2016

By Phoebe Jackson-edwards For Mailonline

Published: 09:10 EST, 10 September 2015 | Updated: 02:38 EST, 11 September 2015

270

View
comments

It catapulted them into the limelight with a gritty tale of drugs and crime and created a star out of Ewan McGregor.

Trainspotting was a hit on its release in 1996 and director Danny Boyle confirmed he'll be directing the sequel set for release next year to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original film.

But from alcoholism to BAFTA Awards and a black-leather wedding complete with blood, the five leading actors from the film have gone on to drastically different career paths.

Scroll down for video

Ewan McGregor said at one period he was a functioning alcoholic and is now tee-total

Ewan had been in smaller films before but Trainspotting, pictured during the toilet scene where Ewan bursts out of the basin, was his breakout film

The novel was longlisted for the 1993 Booked Prize, reportedly not making it any further because its content offended two judges.

Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting was Boyle’s first major hit following 1994’s Shallow Grave, and helped catapult Ewan McGregor to stardom.

The Academy Award-nominated screenplay by John Hodge followed the group of heroin addicts around Edinburgh through urban poverty and squalor.

The film made £12 million in the UK and $72 (£46.79) million internationally despite only costing £1.6 million to make.

Filming was so low-budget most scenes were done in one take and the cast and crew worked out of an abandoned cigarette warehouse in Glasgow.

The sequel, which will be based on Welsh's 2002 sequel Porno, has four main actors wanting to take part.

But since they parted ways on the film set, the cast have led vastly different lives since their career-defining roles.

Danny Boyle, pictured during filming Trainspotting, confirmed the sequel will be released next year

From left Spud, played by Ewen Bremner, Tommy, played by Kevin McKidd, Begbie, played by Robert Carlyle, Renton, played by Ewan McGregor and Sick Boy, played by Jonny Lee Miller, pictured in a still from the film

EWAN MCGREGOR (RENTON)

Ewan, 44, had already played parts in independent films like Danny Boyle's 1994 Shallow Grave before the life-changing role of heroin addict Mark Renton.

But it was Trainspotting and playing the lead role in the film set in 1980s Edinburgh that gave father-of-four Ewan his international breakthrough.

The actor, then 24, met Scottish drug addicts to prepare for the role and even had to tunnel his way through a public toilet and burst out from the basin, filled with chocolate rather than faeces for the now legendary scene.

Renton, played by Ewan, is the antihero of the film and the voice of relative sanity

The film based on Irvine Welsh's novel will have a sequel based on Porno, the book which catches up with the same characters 10 years later and all four lead actors hope to reprise their roles

However off-screen Ewan's life couldn't have been more different to his famous junkie character.

After marrying Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer in 1995, the Perth-born actor's star was in the ascendant and he went on to be a leading man, first in British film Little Voice with Jane Horrocks about a shy singer who finds her voice and also 2001's Moulin Rouge opposite Nicole Kidman as Satine a performer in the infamous Paris venue.

It was certainly a high point of my life. But it was also a time of massive debauchery – but then again, I was in my 20s

Next he clinched the coveted role in one of the decade's biggest franchises, playing young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels from 1999.

In 2004, the keen motorcyclist filmed an international journey from London to New York for a documentary series Long Way Round with best friend Charley Boorman.

Taking in visits to several UNICEF bases along the way, the trip became the basis of a successful television series and book.

However, behind the scenes his partying was getting out of control and he has described himself a 'a maniac on the booze', quitting for good in 2000.

He has said of that Britpop era, ‘It was unbelievable to feel part of it. I used to hang out a bit with Oasis, and Damon Albarn was always knocking about somewhere or other, and like a fan I felt part of it. It was certainly a high point of my life. But it was also a time of massive debauchery – but then again, I was in my 20s.’

Born in Perth, Ewan became a leading man after the film, pictured in 2002 in Edinburgh

His drinking was legendary and one commentator said, ‘Ewan’s alcohol intake made his friend Liam Gallagher look like John Selwyn Gummer.’

Becoming a sober family man clearly suits him as he has recently been cast as Lumiere in the live action version of the Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson.

Despite falling out with Danny Boyle over his decision to cast Leonardo Di Caprio in his 2000 film The Beach, the pair have clearly reconciled for the sequel.

JONNY LEE MILLER (SICK BOY)

Although he had bit parts to his name in everything from Doctor Who to Casualty, Jonny Lee Miller, now 42, became a success overnight for his role as Sick Boy.

Playing the amoral conman, who is Renton's oldest friend, he picks up women with ease on account of his practiced charm and good looks.

Jonny Lee Miller had many parts under his belt in Casualty and Doctor Who but the film was his big break

The amoral conman Sick Boy, pictured left in a still from the film, seduced women and was a drug addict

At the time it was filmed, Jonny was married to Angelina Jolie who he'd met on set on the film Hackers in 1995.

Their union fell apart 18 months after they married in 1996 but contrary to her femme fatale image at the time, Jonny described her as a 'big-hearted girl.'

On his wedding day, Miller dressed head to toe in black leather and Jolie wore a shirt on which she had painted his name in her own blood.

Following Trainspotting, however, he struggled to find a similar level of big screen success, with a few flops including e appeared in more than a few flops, Regeneration, in which he played a First World War veteran, and Afterglow, in which his Oscar-nominated co-star was Julie Christie, were well received but won only small audiences.

But Jonny continued to be high profile in his dating life after divorcing Angelina in 1999.

Miller began dating All Saints member Natalie Appleton sister and, later, Lisa Faulkner, who appeared in Holby City and became engaged before settling down with model Michele Hicks, the mother of his son Buster, who he married in 2008.

Jonny married Angelina Jolie in 1996 wearing black leather and Jolie wrote his name in blood on herself

He then enjoyed a high-profile romance with Natalie Appleton from All Saints

After starring in a play with Jude Law and living in Primrose Hill, north London, he became part of the gang which included Jude's then wife Sadie Frost and supermodel Kate Moss.

But he's had a renaissance of late and Jonny was reunited with Danny Boyle in 2011 in his version of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch, each playing Frankenstein and his monster on different nights.

He's currently appearing in the successful American series Elementary, based on Sherlock Holmes but playing the sleuth as a drug addict alongside Lucy Liu as a modern Watson.

Although reportedly keen to take part, his US role could be a spanner in the works of the filming schedule so it remains to be seen if he will make it into the sequel.

EWEN BREMNER (SPUD)

Ewen Bremner played Renton, the starring role, in the 1995 stage play but was bumped down to playing Daniel 'Spud' Murphy in the film.

Spud and Renton share a tender moment over a milkshake in a still from the film

Ewen Bremner didn't set the world alight in the way of his colleagues and has mainly stuck to television

However the 43-year-old obviously held no animosity to Ewan McGregor though, going on to appear alongside him in Black Hawk Down and most recently Jack the Giant Slayer.

After Trainspotting and another notable role in Snatch in 2000, Ewen has been resigned to television roles, playing a vicar in the BBC drama Banished, documenting life for prisoners sent to colonise in Australia.

Aside from the small screen, he's played bit parts in British films such as last year's flop, Get Santa about a father and son trying to track down Father Christmas, and an appearance as Wemmick, protagonist Pip's friend, in the latest film adaptation of Great Expectations.

Spud's character was naive and treated as the whipping boy of the group

Ewen has kept a low profile since his breakout roles and blamed his lack of big parts on filmmakers choosing already established names to draw in the audience.

He told The Scotsman: 'From a producer's point of view, an actor is either going to make him money or save him money.

'If you're Orlando Bloom or Johnny Depp with a huge online following of girls, or boys, you're going to make him money.'

He's kept his personal life very private, with one daughter Harmony but his long-term partner is unknown and the actor refuses to comment on his life outside of his work.

Ewen Bremner, Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle pose for the camera during shooting

ROBERT CARLYLE (BEGBIE)

Robert's sociopathic character Francis 'Franco' Begbie was the villain of the piece and he's said the character was a mixture of three or four people he's known who are all in jail now.

The 54-year-old even said he would wind up the other actors on set to keep a rougher side to his personality.

Robert Carlyle's Begbie is sociopathic but still loyal to his friends despite attacking Ewan McGregor's Renton

Robert Carlyle is currently in US fantasy drama Once Upon A Time, pictured at San Diego Comic-Con

Psychopathic and violent with a short fuse, Begbie terrorises his friends and acquaintances into going along with whatever he says, but has intense loyalty to his friends, seemingly oblivious to the fact that none of them actually like him.

One of the more recognisable faces in Trainspotting, having appeared in crime drama Cracker as a serial killer and Ken Loach film Riff-Raff, the gritty Scottish film put him in another league.

The following year he had his second break, playing Gaz the leader of a group of amateur strippers in The Full Monty, which he won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

His career continued from strength to strength starring as arch villain Renard in James Bond film the World Is Not Enough in 1999 and also playing a lead role in zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later in 2007.

He's become well-known in pop culture thanks to his recognisable roles and appeared in Oasis's 2002 video for Little By Little.

After Trainspotting, Robert continued his line of gritty British films with The Full Monty about a group of amateur strippers in Sheffield

Pictured in character for Once Upon A Time, Rober plays Mr Gold, a version of Rumpelstiltskin

Surprisingly, the actor made famous by Begbie's violent tendencies revealed he loves yoga in 2008.

He said: 'I do a bit of yoga, regularly when I'm doing it regularly, if you catch my drift. I love it, though, and it's certainly the only exercise that works for me.

'I hate gyms, weights, anything macho.'

Beginning in October 2011 Carlyle has portrayed Mr Gold, a version of Rumpelstiltskin, in the US fantasy-drama television series Once Upon A Time. The character is a wizard, deal-maker, and master manipulator.

Although based in Glasgow with wife Anastasia Shirley, a make-up artist, and their three children, he now splits him time with the US to film the series.

He's now branched out into directing with the Legend of Barney Thompson out this year, with Carlyle in the title role.

He persuaded British actress Emma Thompson to play a haggered prostitute in the film.

KELLY MACDONALD (DIANE)

With no acting experience and working in a bar in Glasgow, Kelly Macdonald was 19 when she saw Trainspotting's open audition, to play schoolgirl Diane.

After her role as the teenage seductress who becomes Renton's girlfriend, her next major role was in Gosford Park as an aristocrat's maid in 2001.

Her personal life fared better when she married her partner Travis guitarist Dougie Payne in August 2003 and the couple have two children.

But her fortunes turned when she received a Golden Globes nomination for her performance in The Girl In The Cafe, a Richard Curtis directed drama.

Kelly Macdonald, pictured at the Golden Globes in January has enjoyed success in America

At just 19, Kelly was a barmaid when she saw an open casting call for the role of teenage Diane

In 2007 she managed to secure a supporting role in the Academy Award-winning No Country For Old Men.

Her agent was unsure she was right for the part and had to fight for the role, but it paid off when she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Although she's not seen on screen, Kelly played the starring role in Disney Pixar's animated Brave providing the voice for Merida in 2012.

The character was Pixar's first female lead, which Kelly hadn't realised.

Kelly, now 39, said: 'I kind of didn’t realise until quite recently that I was the first female [lead] – like way after I’d started my voice recordings and everything.

Kelly, pictured winning her Emmy Award for The Girl In The Cafe in 2006, starred in all five series of Boardwalk Empireand appeared in Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley in 2012

She voiced the first female Disney/ Pixar lead for Brave but said she didn't realise and was delighted

'I’m delighted but it’s kind of scary.'

She also had a small role as Dolly in the film adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina with Keira Knightley in the title role.

From 2010 until its ending in 2014, she starred in the crime drama Boardwalk Empire as Margaret Thompson, the wife of Prohibition-era Atlantic City crime boss. She appeared in all five seasons of the series.

In 2016, she'll be one of the leading characters of Ricky Gervais's Special Correspondents as Claire Maddox.

The film about a radio journalist and technicial faking their own kidnapping will also star Eric Bana and Ugly Betty's America Ferrera.

KEVIN MCKIDD (TOMMY)

He played the ill-fated Thomas 'Tommy' Mackenzie but his career has continued on and he also followed his fellow cast members over to the US.

Kevin McKidd as Dr Owen Hunt on Grey's Anatomy with Patrick Dempsey as Dr Derek Shepherd

Tommy, right, becomes addicted to heroin after being dumped by his girlfriend and contracts HIV

His character is dumped by his girlfriend and he begins to use heroin like his friends but he contracts HIV and dies, with his group of friends travelling back to Edinburgh for his funeral.

The 42-year-old is almost unrecognisable from his role with the floppy hair gone and a more groomed appearance in its place.

After playing Tommy, he took several bit parts on television including an appearance on Father Ted but it wasn't until 2005 when the HBO/ BBC series Rome proved a success for Kevin.

He continued US success with a role in Grey's Anatomy from 2008 and is still playing Dr Owen Hunt to critical acclaim.

In 2012 he was reunited with co-star Kelly Macdonald in Pixar's Brave.

Kevin, who is married with two children, lives in Los Angeles, and has reconnected with Ewan McGregor, who also moved out there with his wife, both reminisce about Scotland.

WHERE ARE THE REST OF THE CAST AND CREW NOW

Shirley Henderson is now well-known for playing Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter

Shirley Henderson (Gail)

Trainspotting saw Shirley‘s character Gail going home with Ewen Bremner‘s character Spud in a particularly awkward encounter.

But the Scottish actress has made a name for herself in high-profile films like Bridget Jones Diary and Marie Antoinette.

The 49-year-old's youthful looks also scored her the role of Moaning Myrtle, the teenage ghost who haunts the Hogwarts' bathroom in the Harry Potter series.

In 2013, she starred in Filth, another adaptation of an Irvine Welsh novel.

Peter Mulllan is a veteran actor who has been in numerous films including Harry Potter

Peter Mullan (‘Mother Superior’ Swanney)

Peter, 55, played drug dealer Swanney and is now a film veteran, he played Yaxley in the Harry Potter series and has scored roles in movies including Children Of Men and Boy A.

Peter has three children with long-term partner Anne Swan.

Danny Boyle

The director is now well-known internationally after his hugely successful 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire which was dominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, including Best Director.

Danny dated Sin City's Rosario Dawson until splitting in 2013 and also directed the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, which was watched by 62,000 people in the stadium as well as an estimated one billion worldwide.

Novellist Irvine Welsh made an appearance as a drug dealer in the film which made his novel even bigger

Irvine Welsh

The novellist behind Trainspotting made a cameo appearance in the film as a drug dealer and the sequel will be based on his book Porno.

Last year another of his book's Filth was made into a film starring James McAvoy and Shirley Henderson was also part of the cast.

His ninth book A Decent Ride was published last year.

Dale is well known for presenting game shows and made an unexpected cameo in the film

Dale Winton

The gameshow host made a cameo appearance as a game show host while Renton was suffering a hallucinogenic episode.

Dale is currently filming a new series of game show In It to Win It and was distraught to be unable to go to Cilla Black's memorial because of unmovable BBC commitments.