IGN: After filming '28 Days Later', what compelled you to do another 'genre' release? And why now in your career?
Danny Boyle:Well, Alex Gardner, who I worked with on '28 Days Later', wrote the script. He gave it to me in a pub in London - we met for an illicit cigarette, you know, which we do occasionally - and I just thought, "What an amazing premise for a film." This idea of eight astronauts strapped to the back of a massive bomb, the size of Manhattan Island, flying towards the heart of the Sun where they're going to try to explode it. I just thought "That's pretty cool."
I've always wanted to do a space movie. I know and I love them; and there's not been a movie made about the Sun, really. And yet, it's the most important thing. And you know, we think money's important - we make lots of films about that; we think love's important - we make lots of films about that. This is seriously important. And there's never been any movies made about it! So we thought, "Let's do that", because everybody's focussing on global warming and stuff like that. The fear is that everything is heating up - let's go the other way, flip it, and make a film about global freezing - like at the end of the film. And if Sydney's frozen, you know the planet's in a bit of trouble.
IGN: 'Sunshine' takes place 50 years from now. Why was this time period selected instead of the more distant future or present day?
Danny Boyle: Good question, that. There's no indication in the script, so the key question is 'When is it?' We have this rule called the 'Red Bus Rule', which is that in London 50 years ago there were red buses, and there still are today. They're slightly different, but basically they're something you can recognise.
We thought, right, 50 years in the future it'll have advanced to allow us to travel to the Sun, but the technology will still be recognisable. There will still be screens and buttons and there'll be a feel of familiarity. It's more NASA than Star Wars. It's not outrageous creatures or things like that - it's still within our world, within our possibility to touch.
IGN: What influenced your design choices in the film, such as the golden suits, gold-leaf reflective shield and glow of the Sun?
Danny Boyle: The gold-leaf was NASA - the satellites they send out need that to deflect the heat and radiation. So immediately you take that as being the shield that they hide behind, that the bomb is hidden behind, that the crew shelter behind. And if they have to go out there then you think, well, make the suit of gold - which is a very bold thing to do because basically the producers want you to use the NASA suit because it's the one everybody's familiar with and can't go wrong. But it's good to take a risk and push it a little bit.
The other big question is the helmet. What's the helmet gonna be like, because that's the nightmare of "Are you going to be able to see into it? And how are you going to cover it? Is there going to be light inside it?" All that.
IGN: You actually mounted the camera on the side of the helmet, didn't you?
Danny Boyle: Yeah, inside the helmet. With the helmet, the Sun is so, ah …dangerous that you have to hide from it. So you make this helmet based on a kind of medieval style to protect them. And it's sort of based on 'Kenny' from 'South Park', as well - the kind of funnel-shape sort of influences it. And you put the camera on the side so you can see into it. It's great. Although it's very uncomfortable for the actors to wear, it gave a kind of claustrophobia that they use, then, in their performances. They learn very quickly what's gonna work, and not. They learn how to use a tool like that, and then that benefits the film.
IGN: The final shot in the film features the Sydney Opera House quite prominently. Why was Sydney, above other cities, chosen for the closing moments of the film?
Danny Boyle: Because, basically you've got six monuments in the world that are universally recognisable and only Sydney has the heat-thing I think. I guess the Taj Mahal,I suppose I could've done as well. In fact, I've just been there [The Sydney Opera House] and it's really interesting - the Opera House. I was looking at it yesterday and it's got this kind grace that's very beautiful and it was nice to be able to do it like that. And hey, Rose [Byrne] is from here, and it's nice to have the connection with that, even though she's playing an American in the film.
We shot it in Stockholm, in fact - the scene and the snow was all shot in Stockholm, and the Opera House was from here.
IGN: And they made a composite of the two?
Danny Boyle: Yes! It's like they can do anything these days! (laughs)
IGN: 'Sunshine' is the latest film you've made that deals with ideas of God, humanity and morality. What is it that attracts you to scripts with these kinds of subtexts?
Danny Boyle: I was brought up a very strict Catholic and I don't practice anymore or anything. I kind of call myself an atheist, I suppose - although quite a spiritual atheist, I hope. You can't get rid of it; it's there. It kind of lurks and hovers all the time, behind you. I think for everybody, no matter what their upbringing - to go and meet the source of life in the solar system - is bound to create a spiritual dimension. You try to cope with something of this scale, of this power and this magnitude, against our smallness and insignificance.
And that was something really interesting - there is a spiritual side to it. But then there's an arrogance about science - a wonderful, necessary arrogance. It feels that it can create a bomb that can affect this enormous, unbelievable, unimaginable power. But science believes that they should be able to do this. That's wonderful; that's creation-science. I guess, if you believe in God, the star is His really.
IGN: Your cast had to endure some interesting training for their roles, such as living in close quarters and studying their movie professions with real-life counterparts. Can you discuss some of this?
Danny Boyle:I always think that actors, especially international actors like this who fly in to London from all these different places, they arrive in a kind of bubble. A little "actor bubble" - that's what I always think. And I was very keen to pop that bubble as much as possible - it pushes them together.
We made them all live together and we did space training and all sorts of weird things - scuba diving, watching films together. You're just trying to bond them as much as possible, because the film opens and they've been together 16 months. You want them to have that familiarity, that sense of togetherness. And indeed you hope that another bubble forms around all eight of them, so that they are a 'conspiracy' together, in a way. Which I think would happen, if they were in space that long together.
IGN: As director, what kind of special research and training do you take part in?
Danny Boyle: We did lots of stuff, really. We went to a nuclear submarine, which was really fascinating - which, apart from oil rigs, is the closest you get to this kind of claustrophobic living conditions. This sense of having to depend on each other at all times.
We went up in an acrobatic plane to do zero-G, which was really exhilarating as well. Scuba's quite a good way of doing it, because it gives you that sense of being in a different world. You just try and do as many of those different things as possible, really. And you get all these different people talking to you - scientific advisors, futurists and people who are developing products for the future. They say what the world will look like in 30 years time. And you kind of soak up as much as you can and then you dump it all, and tell the story.
IGN: Finally, it's been ten years since 'Trainspotting' so can we expect to see the sequel, Porno, in the near future?
Danny Boyle: That's the thing. We've been given the rights to do the sequel to it, and there is a script - a very early script from John Hodge, the writer of the first one. And we got the idea of doing it, but it depends on [the actors] being quite a bit older than they are at the moment. They need to have a bit of age. Our take on it is, their headiness - these guys who lived at the absolute brink, felt they were invincible and felt they could abuse themselves to the absolute limit - suddenly hit middle age. They're in their forties and they look it - but they don't really look it, those actors, yet. They're a bit moisturised up and looked after. So when they get a bit older, we'll have a go at sassing it up a bit, yeah.
IGN: Fantastic. It's been a pleasure!
Danny Boyle: Great! Thanks very much.