How Jarvis Cocker helped save Danny Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting’
Over the years, Danny Boyle has made several critically acclaimed gems that have touched fans all over the world, but almost none of them have managed to surpass the incredible impact of his 1996 magnum opus Trainspotting. Although it’s now universally recognised to be among the greatest cinematic achievements of the decade, that wasn’t the case when it first came out. Several notable figures came to the film’s defence, including Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.
Initially marketed by producer Andrew Macdonald as a British version of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting attempted to paint a vivid portrait of contemporary youth and the decaying sociocultural conditions that affected them. Featuring Ewan McGregor in the most iconic role of his career, Boyle conducts a moving examination of the terrifying mechanisms of addiction and the societal frameworks that push young people into that hole.
During an interview, Boyle revealed that the studio was very apprehensive about the content of the film and its approach to substance abuse. He said: “[The movie studio executives] were so nervous about it. ‘Cause there was quite a lot of flack attached to it early on. Those moral forces condemned it as being a film that was going to recommend drugs, and encourage drug use, etcetera etcetera. And they hadn’t seen the film, of course.”
The filmmaker added: “So I think they were very nervous releasing it. But I remember when it was released in a few screens in Scotland and in London… I remember this journalist. She was called Muriel Gray, a young Scottish journalist with a very forthright style. She wrote this argument for the film in the face of these people who were condemning it. And I remember thinking, ‘That’s interesting. She represents quite a lot of people — a lot of people will see the film in the way that we intended it, as she did.'”
In addition to the critics who saw the brilliance of Trainspotting, another key advocate was none other than Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker. Not only did Pulp’s ‘Mile End’ appear on the beloved soundtrack, but Cocker also defended Trainspotting against its misguided critics at a time when the public discourse almost threatened to relegate Boyle’s work to permanent obscurity. The UK release of Trainspotting was also beautifully paralleled by the infamous moment when Cocker invaded Michael Jackson’s strange performance at the BRIT Awards, adding to his credibility as a counterculture hero.
The Trainspotting soundtrack, divided into different segments such as Britpop and techno music, reflected the zeitgeist and the frenetic energy of lost youth. For modern audiences, the controversy surrounding Boyle’s film is almost forgotten because it has rightfully become an insignificant part of its legacy which extends far beyond those petty concerns. To anyone who has suffered through the nightmarish, seemingly endless cycles of addiction, Trainspotting is a wake-up call from hell.
Watch the segment below.
