Every great movie Danny Boyle could have directed, but didn’t
When your early filmmaking attempts include beloved British classics like Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, you’re not exactly going to be struggling to find more work.
Danny Boyle had the film industry at his fingertips following the release of his darkly comedic tale of drug addiction, and soon offers were reeling in that could’ve seen his career diverge in a completely different direction.
You see, Boyle was approached to direct various hugely successful films that he ultimately didn’t make, and it’s interesting to think what would’ve become of these movies if he’d helmed them instead. Would they have been as successful? That’s not to doubt the director’s abilities, but take Scream, for example. Can you imagine anyone else directing the horror satire other than Wes Craven? Boyle was optioned as a potential director, and while he has proved himself to be great at horror and comedy, Scream benefited from having an established horror director take on its satirical and meta themes.
Another movie it’s hard to imagine him taking on is 8 Mile, the Eminem-starring film that captured the Detroit hip-hop scene. With that being said, the rapper’s manager Paul Rosenberg believed that Boyle’s ideas had potential, but Eminem wasn’t as convinced. “[Danny Boyle] had a cool take, really raw and aggressive. He came to Detroit, but Marshall didn’t connect with him the way he did with Curtis Hanson so we didn’t go with him,” he told Vibe.
What about American Psycho? It’s certainly a film that thrives on having a female director, Mary Harron, behind the camera, which makes the satirical explorations of masculinity even greater. Still, there’s no doubt that Boyle could’ve done a good job, with the dark comedy of Shallow Grave perhaps teasing what could’ve been from a Boyle-directed American Psycho.
“Basically, as soon as I said I didn’t want to compromise my position, Lionsgate wanted me out,” Harron told The Guardian. Harron’s reluctance to adhere to the studio’s demands, which included having Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead instead of Christian Bale, meant that Boyle was brought in as a potential director – chosen by DiCaprio himself, no less – but luckily, Harron and Bale were ultimately given the go-ahead to bring Bret Easton Ellis’ book to life.
Fight Club is another 1990s classic that Boyle almost got his hands on instead of David Fincher, going as far as meeting with a producer and reading Chuck Palahniuk’s book in preparation. It wasn’t meant to be for him, though, and he boldly turned the project down. Instead, he pursued The Beach, which would allow him to finally work with DiCaprio. Little did he know the worldwide sensation that would become of Fight Club; maybe he missed a trick there.
If there’s one film from Boyle’s rejected pile of titles that you can imagine him directing, however, it’s The Full Monty. The black comedy, which was eventually directed by Peter Cattaneo, was set in Northern England, with Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle in the lead. Boyle could’ve brought his penchant for blending gritty explorations of working-class life with humour to the project, but he actually declined the job. Believe it or not, he thought the story was bad.
More recently, Boyle was going to make No Time to Die, and he actually came up with an idea for the story which John Hodge was tasked with turning into a screenplay. Boyle and Bond seemed like a pretty good fit, and fans were looking forward to seeing the director put his own spin on the classic franchise, but sadly it was creative differences between Boyle and Hodge that led to the filmmaker walking away from the project.
Perhaps he’ll direct a James Bond film in the future, but for now, No Time To Die remains a real ‘what could’ve been’ moment in his filmography. Boyle evidently has quite a few of these, but he has instead gone with his gut instincts, which seem to include terrible ideas like Yesterday.
