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Choose Life. Choose a Job. Choose a ‘Trainspotting’ Sequel?

Ewen Bremner, Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle in 'Trainspotting,' 2006
Ewen Bremner, Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle in 'Trainspotting,' 2006

Director Danny Boyle wants to get back some of that old "Lust For Life."

"Shallow Grave" (1994) may have put Boyle on the map, but "Trainspotting" (1996) made everyone actually check that map. Adapted by screenwriter John Hodge from Irvin Welsh's 1993 novel, "Trainspotting" painted a feverish portrait of wandering Scottish youths drowning their disillusionment with the expectations of modern society under a haze of alcohol and smack, a hedonistic lifestyle that quickly leads to harrowing tragedy (set to a hip soundtrack, of course). It made a star of Ewan McGregor and an A-list filmmaker out of Boyle, and you were one of the cool ones if you got to see it.

Welsh published a sequel, "Porno," in 2002, and talk of a film adaptation has been off and on in varying degrees of intensity and disinterest ever since. Now, upon the release of his new feature, "Trance," Boyle brings new hope to those looking to see the further misadventures of Renton (McGregor), Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) on the big screen.

"This has been a long time coming," Boyle said in a recent interview with The Playlist at SXSW. "There's always been this long term plan for 'Trainspotting 2,' if John [Hodge] can produce a decent enough script, I don't think there will be any barriers to Ewan [McGregor] or any of the cast coming back. I think they'll wanna know that the parts are good so they don't feel like they are letting anyone down."

Welsh's "Porno" picks up ten years after the events of "Trainspotting" with Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie now lurking about on the fringes of the porn industry. However, Boyle predicts that the film probably won't be a direct adaptation.

"It's very loosely based on 'Porno'" says Boyle. "There's a couple of things that are based on the book, but obviously we'd have to have Irvine on board."

No matter what "Trainspotting 2' ends up being about, Boyle hopes to make a 20-year reunion out of it with a projected 2016 release date.

"The ideal time would be 'Porno' in 2016, because it was 1996 when 'Trainspotting' came out. Twenty years, it's like 'Wow, where did that go?'"

Heh heh... We're asking ourselves the same question.

Anyway, there’s something to (possibly) look forward to in a few years. Back in 2013, we've got Danny Boyle's "Trance" opening April 5.

Watch 'Trance' Clip, Everybody Out: