Spurtle was unable to attend the world premiere of T2 Trainspotting on 22 January, but belatedly boarded the bandwagon last night in search of locations.
T2 filmcrew had been spotted all across Broughton over the spring/summer last year, and we confidently anticipated seeing a number of familiar faces or facades on the big screen.
On watching the film … sure enough, there was the interior of St Stephen’s, used as the fictional venue for an addiction-support group. And the top of Calton Road/St Ninian’s Row/Waverley Station featured at least three times, artfully shot from different angles.
We’re not sure about the filming behind Royal Circus. It may be that a property there featured as the rear view of a luxury home whose owner was the victim of a bungled burglary.
In fact, though, so many scenes are there which, though shot, do not appear – including a funeral scene beside St Mary's, and a 3-day shoot in Leith Walk's Central Bar – that an interesting conspiracy theory has been spawned. Shared with the Spurtle today, it alleges that the missing bits are the basis of a third Boyle movie, this time an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's The Blade Artist in which Begbie returns from his new life as a Californian sculptor to avenge the murder of his son.
You heard it here first.
In the meantime, we shall have to content ourselves with how the camera dwelt lingeringly on all parts of the barony in the scene where Renton and Spud sat on the summit of Arthur’s Seat and watched the sun set over Edinburgh. Many locals are in that sequence, although vanishingly small and far away.
If you spotted additional Broughton locations in the film, or know of ones that were filmed but later rejected, please let us know.
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Martin McMullen @martin_mcmullen