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.