When we caught up with Trance director Danny Boyle for an exclusive video interview, Movie Fanatic had the most fascinating take-away. The helmer behind Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours found it cathartic to simultaneously create the opening ceremonies for the 2012 London Summer Olympics and film Trance.
Orchestrating his country's opening ceremonies would have been anyone else's full-time job. Not Boyle, and in fact he found the experience of filming the psychological thriller Trance therapeutic. "The truth is -- and it’s funny to say this about this movie as it is a dark and disturbing movie at times and it’s about insanity -- this kept us sane because it was the Olympic games that was driving us insane," Boyle said. "To be able to go to a night shift where you were shooting this dark, disturbing film was delicious."
As teased in the Trance trailer, the film deals with hypnosis and how it can hold the key to unlocking the mystery of an art heist. James McAvoy is an art auctioneer who, due to amnesia, does not remember a thing after a $25 million painting at his auction house is stolen. He visits Rosario Dawnson's hypnotherapist in an effort to try to unlock the memories that are eluding him.
Boyle treasured his moments filming at night due to the immense pressure of an entire nation and their collective expectations for him to stage an opening ceremony worthy of a country of Britain's historical power.
"To make a movie that is a series of hypnotic trances that delved deeper and deeper into this character and that all the characters get lured into them, was fantastic when your day job was building a lovely portrait of the nation," Boyle said and chuckled.
And don't miss what the director said about his effort to make Trainspotting 2!
