Why Robert Carlyle’s “two best performances” turned him against British cinema
If there’s one film moment that sums up what life in Britain was like in 1996, it is probably the scene in Trainspotting when Begbie, played by Robert Carlyle, is upstairs in a bar telling a very much made-up story about how tough he is, downing his pint before casually flinging it back over his shoulder into the crowd below.
Now this is not to say that ‘96 was an era shot through with wanton violence, in fact it was anything but, however there was definitely a prevailing feeling of 1) everything requires beer and 2) “fuck it who cares it might be fun” going on throughout the country, and Trainspotting was the film that arrived right on time to encapsulate it.
Begbie, meanwhile, was the perfect film anti-hero, the Scottish version of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, the character everyone hated yet couldn’t take their eyes off. Like many of the cast of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh’s tale propelled his career forward, although he was older at that point than the likes of Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller and Kelly Macdonald.
Carlyle moved straight onto the enormous comedy hit The Full Monty, which saw a group of unemployed steel workers decide to form a male striptease group and was the highest-grossing film of 1997 after Titanic. Carlyle received huge acclaim for his performance and picked up a Bafta for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’.
Over the next ten years the Glaswegian racked up several major movies, including a Bond film and Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Beach, Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel 28 Weeks Later, before in 2008 and 2009 he made a pair of films that he was he believed in so much, and was so disappointed by the reaction to them, that he reconsidered making films altogether.
First up was Summer, a drama about a man caring for his dying best friend and coming to terms with ageing when his first love comes back into his life. Secondly, I Know You Know was a thriller written and directed by Human Traffic’s Justin Kerrigan, which told the story of a young boy dragged into his father’s life as a spy.
Both films were critically acclaimed; however, as Carlyle told the Daily Record at the time, “I made two movies about 18 months ago. In my opinion, I think they are the best performances I have ever given. I am very, very proud of these films. But they were only seen by about 20 people and I’ve had it. I’m not doing it for a while.”
It certainly seemed to have some effect on Carlyle’s choices, as for the next six years or so, he pivoted to video game voiceovers and making appearances in the US on sci-fi shows like SGU Stargate. But if there was one character that was going to tempt him back to making films in the UK, it was Begbie, and he duly lined up for T2 Trainspotting in 2019 as everyone’s favourite Argyle-sporting psychopath.
Two years later, he made a particularly affecting cameo in the Beatles-inspired Yesterday, and this week it was announced he’ll be playing a major role in the long-awaited Line of Duty return to the BBC with series seven. He’ll take his place in the hit crime thriller as Detective Constable Shaun Massie as the original writer and director Jed Mercurio returns to helm some episodes alongside all of the main cast, including Martin Compston and Vicky McClure.
